Here is a snapshot of the European Union: there are 27 Member States, we pay for lunch in Finland in euro, we travel from one country to another with no border controls and, when floods strike one region of Europe, the other Member States offer financial aid for reconstruction.
Such solidarity between European states is no miracle. It is the fruit of several decades of intense negotiation, constant institutional adjustment, broadened competences and considerable progress along what seemed, at first glance, to be an impossible path on which diverging interests clashed.
Today, however, one thing is certain: there has never been such peace and prosperity in Europe, a continent which was ravaged by long and painful wars less than a century ago. The founding fathers of the European integration project certainly won their wager!
With the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon on 1 December 2009, the EU can now devote itself fully to meeting specific challenges which have direct and multiple implications for its citizens. It will be able to raise the money needed to improve growth and competitiveness, create more employment opportunities and better jobs, attempt to stabilise the economic and financial crisis, curb climate change, support sustainable agriculture etc.
Did you know...that Europe Day marks the anniversary of the date on which Schuman proposed the founding of the ECSC in 1950? Join in the celebrations of Europe on 9 May each year.