Europe in 12 lessons (PDF)

Europe in 12 lessons
At the same time, unemployment and the
rising cost of pensions are both putting pressure
on the member states’ economies, and
this makes reform all the more necessary.
Voters are increasingly calling on their governments
to find practical solutions to these
issues.
Scarcely had the European Union grown to
encompass 15 member states when another
12 began knocking at its door. In the mid
1990s, it received membership applications
from the former Soviet bloc countries
(Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary,
Poland, Romania and Slovakia), the three
Baltic States that had once been part of the
Soviet Union (Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania),
one of the republics of the former Yugoslavia
(Slovenia) and two Mediterranean countries
(Cyprus and Malta).
The EU welcomed this opportunity to help
stabilise the European continent and to
extend the benefits of European unification
to these young democracies. Accession
negotiations with the candidate countries
were launched in Luxembourg in December
1997 and in Helsinki in December 1999. The
Union was on the way to its biggest enlargement
ever. For 10 of the candidate countries,
negotiations were completed on 13
December 2002 in Copenhagen. The
European Union will have 25 member states
in 2004, and will continue growing as more
countries join in the years ahead.
More than half a century of integration has
had an enormous impact on the history of
Europe and on the mentality of Europeans.
The member state governments, whatever
their political colour, know that the age of
absolute national sovereignty is over and
that only by joining forces and pursuing ‘a
destiny henceforward shared’ (to quote the
ECSC Treaty) can their ancient nations continue
to make economic and social progress
and maintain their influence in the world.
Integration has succeeded in overcoming
age-old enmity between European countries.
Attitudes of superiority and the use of force
to resolve international differences have
been replaced by the ‘Community method’ of
working together. This method, which balances
national interests with the common
interest and respects national diversity while
creating a Union identity, is as valuable
today as ever. Throughout the Cold War
period it enabled Europe’s democratic and freedom-loving
countries to stick together. The
end of east-west antagonism and the political
and economic reunification of the continent
are a victory for the spirit of Europe – a
spirit that European peoples need more than
ever today.
The European Union offers a response to the
huge challenge of globalisation – a response
that expresses the values Europeans believe
in. The EU offers, above all, the best possible
‘insurance policy’ for a free and peaceful
future.
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