New frontiers” “

With preparations for a new enlargement, the European Union is going through an essential phase in its long formation. Begun over fifty years ago, with the famous Declaration of Robert Schuman of 9 May 1950 which opened the way to the creation of the first European Community in 1952, the European Steel and Coal Community (ESCC) with six countries, it has gradually opened itself to other countries, growing to nine in 1973, then to twelve in 1986 and fifteen in 1995. But the Union’s new opening to other countries, some in the Mediterranean such as Cyprus and Malta, others in central and eastern Europe, once subject to the Soviet empire, inevitably raises questions about the new frontiers of Europe. There has been a good deal of talk of a Europe stretching “from the Atlantic to the Urals”. This prophetic expression dear to General De Gaulle, who thought like Benedict XV that “nations do not die”, has been taken up by John Paul II who emphasizes the fundamental unity of the European continent through its Christian civilization. In an article published by the Catholic University of Milan’s journal Vita e Pensiero (Life and Thought) in the summer of 1978, just a few weeks before he became pope, Cardinal Karol Wojtyla had posed the question: “A frontier for Europe: where?” and proposed a pan-European vision of the continent, emphasizing the central character of the nation. But this proposal is not devoid of complex consequences, because the Urals are neither a political frontier, nor a real natural barrier. For the West the Atlantic border, including the British Isles, is by now fixed, but the problem of the eastern frontiers remains open and brings with it the vexed question of the relations of the Russian world with the West, of Orthodoxy with Catholicism, and of the Holy See with the Patriarchate of Moscow. Paul VI’s creation of the Secretariat for non-believers in April 1965 (transformed by John Paul II into the Pontifical Council of Culture in 1982) already testified to the Holy See’s wish to emphasize the intrinsic unity of Europe. The aim was to open a permanent dialogue with the culture born from Marxism. In this sense Cardinal Paul Poupard, President of the Pontifical Council of Culture, declared to the Conference of European Ministers of Culture in Berlin in May 1984: “A speech, in Berlin, on the culture of Europe cannot fail to make reference to the whole of a continent whose historic destiny was marked by a distinct and specific culture in the world. The political and ideological divisions of the countries of Europe cannot make us forget their common identity, whatever their government regime may be… We need constantly to recall that the great European family extends beyond all the Continent’s particular and regional frontiers… The European heritage, enriched in the course of the centuries by so many geniuses, artists, scholars, mystics and saints, famous or unknown, constitutes the common inheritance of Europe as a whole”. We also need to pose the question of the north/south limits of Europe. This is an aspect of the European identity that is rarely tackled, but that is no less fundamental because it emphasizes the difficulty of her relations with Islam. The European Economic Community has been gradually enlarged southwards (Portugal, Spain, Greece), and also northwards, towards the Scandinavian countries, but we need to remember that these successive enlargements were not easily made, for various reasons. Today the problem is to know whether the Mediterranean forms a frontier at a time when so many people coming from its southern shore, that once formed part of the Roman empire, are already present in many European countries. There has been a lot of talk of a Euro-Mediterranean space, and in 1950 Robert Schuman reminded Europe of her responsibilities towards Africa. On the other hand, the question of the status of the Bosphorus – frontier or bridge between East and West? – and of Turkey’s place – is she in Europe or in Asia? – is becoming ever more acute. The question about Europe’s frontiers is fundamental, because it underlies the whole problem of Europe’s identity and diversity, as well as her relations not only with Islam but also with Orthodoxy and how its diversity should be managed. It also emphasizes the permanent tension between the technical and juridical requirements of a complex process of enlargement, and the political logic and prophetic need for a continental evolution unprecedented in the history of mankind.