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To envision the future and avenues for the revival of European construction, the often-unrecognized successes of the EU can inspire Europeans when deciding what they want to achieve together.
Sixty years ago, the founding members of the European Union agreed to settle their disputes around a table rather than on a battlefield, embarking on a path of integration unique in human history.
European construction has accompanied the longest period of peace on the European continent in history, acknowledged by the Nobel Prize in 2012.
Sixty years ago, only 12 of the current 28 member states were democracies where the devolution of power resulted from free elections. Today, all European citizens can vote and run in elections. As the enlargements progressed, joining the European Union symbolized, for many of the new entrants, the culmination of a return to the rule of law and democratic principles.
Today, 500 million citizens live freely in one of the most prosperous regions on the planet. Europe represents the largest market in the world and is the leading global trading power. Its currency is the second most-used currency.
Today, 500 million Europeans can move freely, work, study, and settle in any member state. Erasmus, celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, has allowed 3 million young Europeans, including students, interns, apprentices, professionals, teachers, and volunteers, to experience mobility in another European country – an essential experience not only for acquiring knowledge and skills but also (and perhaps especially) for discovering European diversity and the cultural and human richness it brings.
Europe is also the part of the world where gender equality is most respected. Nothing is guaranteed in this field, and particularly wage equality between men and women, enshrined in the Treaty of Rome in 1957, is still not fully realized. However, nowhere else in the world is the cause of gender equality championed with such vigor.
By Isabelle Jégouzo, Head of the Representation of the European Commission in Paris.
