The Significance of the EU
The barbarians without and withinby Paul Grant
When ten nations joined the European Union on May 1, 2004, the European project changed in scale, but not in quality. The most significant work had already taken place. Consider the following thought experiment (no political commentary implied):
After a series of hugely destructive wars against Al Qaida, involving hundreds of suicide bombings in American cities, the terror network is destroyed. But in order to prevent the reawakening of that war, the US grants a general amnesty to Qaida members, eventually binding itself so completely to the fate of the international Islamist community that all radicals are given US green cards.
Does this sound fanciful? That is what happened in Europe after the Second World War. After the Germans initiated the largest war in world history, laying waste to much of Europe, the victors made a different-than usual response: They embarked on a bold project to reintegrate the Germans into the community of nations. In many respects, the successful reintegration of Germany into Europe was more significant than Germany's wartime defeat.
The EU's website explains:
For centuries, Europe was the scene of frequent and bloody wars. In the period 1870 to 1945, France and Germany fought each other three times, with terrible loss of life. A number of European leaders became convinced that the only way to secure a lasting peace between their countries was to unite them economically and politically.
[one proposal was] integrating the coal and steel industries of Western Europe. As a result, in 1951, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was set up, with six members: Belgium, West Germany, Luxembourg, France, Italy and the Netherlands. The power to take decisions about the coal and steel industry in these countries was placed in the hands of an independent, supranational body called the "High Authority".
The Treaty of Maastricht (1992) introduced new forms of co-operation between the member state governments - for example on defense, and in the area of "justice and home affairs". By adding this inter-governmental co-operation to the existing "Community" system, the Maastricht Treaty created the European Union (EU).
Economic and political integration between the member states of the European Union means that these countries have to take joint decisions on many matters. So they have developed common policies in a very wide range of fields - from agriculture to culture, from consumer affairs to competition, from the environment and energy to transport and trade.
During the 1990s it became increasingly easy for people to move around in Europe, as passport and customs checks were abolished at most of the EU's internal borders. One consequence is greater mobility for EU citizens. Since 1987, for example, more than a million young Europeans have taken study courses abroad, with support from the EU.
In 1992 the EU decided to go for economic and monetary union (EMU), involving the introduction of a single European currency managed by a European Central Bank. The single currency - the euro - became a reality on 1 January 2002, when euro notes and coins replaced national currencies in twelve of the 15 countries of the European Union (Belgium, Germany, Greece, Spain, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Austria, Portugal and Finland).
In other words, the purpose of the European Union from the very beginning was to make WWIII impossible. In the ensuing decades this goal has become more realistic - at least within the continent. (As other regions of the world rise in power, from East Asia, to South Asia, to Africa, a peaceful Europe becomes less of a guarantee of worldwide stability.)
In the twenty-first century, Europe has become so integrated, with a joint currency, and next to no barriers to trade or movement, that cultural unification is taking place. This cultural unification is possibly of greater long-term significance to the world than a joint currency.
Recently, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder was unable to attend an important EU event. He had French President Jacques Chirac sit in for him. The significance of such a development is far greater than the content of the event in question. After all, it was within living memory that German armies invaded France.
Currently the European Union is struggling over the problem of international terrorism. The March 11th, 2004 bombings in Madrid shook the EU into high concern over its Eastern and Southern borders. Turkey, which extends deep into the Middle East, and shares long frontiers in remote country with Iran, Iraq and Syria, is aspiring to join the Union. The question over Turkey's membership is possibly the hardest question the EU has yet faced, precisely because it raises questions of identity and future.
Where will Europe go? The question of enemies at the gates is a different one than was addressed by the integration of Germany a half century ago.
Unless otherwise noted, all materials on the urbana.org web site are Copyright InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA. All rights reserved.
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