2 research outputs found
Current challenges in EU politics. A perspective from North Rhine-Westphalia. ZEI Discussion Paper C216, 2013
I would like to briefly recapitulate where Europe stands today, and what
has been achieved. Because I maintain that in the EU’s 27 Member States
we have, despite the failings and shortcomings we all bemoan, reached a
level of unity, prosperity and rule of law unheard of in the history of this
continent, and possibly of the world.
As far as territory is concerned: the European Economic Community
started out with six members. The late Bronislaw Geremek, former Foreign
Minister of Poland and an eminent historian, used to point out that this, at
the time, corresponded in size and shape roughly to the empire of
Charlemagne, one of the greatest unified territories the continent has ever
known. And yet, a mere 55 years after the Treaty of Rome we have gone
far beyond that. Today’s European Union encompasses 27 countries, more
than 4 million square kilometers in territory and 500 million people.
When it comes to Europe’s policies, at present, all eyes are on the Euro and
the future of our common monetary and financial policy. But within our
common space, we have achieved so much more than a common currency
for a majority of Member States