A vote for the future

Robert Schuman, Catholic, “frontiersman”, and French Foreign Minister, was far-unusually sighted when on 9 May 1950 he presented the “Declaration” that would represent the founding charter for European integration: “Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements, first of all by creating a de facto solidarity”. This was an approach that Schuman had agreed on with Alcide De Gasperi and Konrad Adenauer. It would lead first to the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and then to the European Economic Community (EEC), thus wresting the continent from its “tragic condemnation” to cyclical wars, destruction and hatred between peoples. Following the Second World War, the “common home” represented the only possible medicine for achieving a lasting peace that would act as the necessary backdrop to material development and moral reconstruction. Now, over half a century after the baptism of the “little Europe” (with six founding countries), we can justly claim that the promises have been kept. The EEC, now the European Union, has grown; it has enlarged the sphere of its powers thanks to a progressive surrender of sovereignty by the member states: the four mainstays of the “single market” – the free circulation of persons, goods, capital and services – have become a reality. In the same way common policies have become effectively operative in many fields, ranging from regional development to infrastructures, from agriculture to consumer protection, not to mention the adoption of the “single currency”, whose usefulness is particularly clear in this phase of grave recession, by sheltering the national economies from far more devastating forms of instability than those with which we are now faced. The “great Europe”, which has now grown to comprise 27 member states after the fall of the Iron Curtain, can finally breathe “with two lungs”, that of the East and that of the West, as John Paul II had predicted. The institutions in Brussels and Strasbourg must of course reinforce their own democratic dimension and become still closer to citizens: but at the same time we have to recognize that they have acquired a good dose of political effectiveness, by mediating between national interests and “European common good”. The European Parliament, Commission and Council have shown their ability to reach in concert shared solutions to shared problems, while at the same time respecting the principle of subsidiarity; they act according to the criterion of solidarity, both within the frontiers of the EU and on the world scene. Remaining silent about the limits of this process of integration would be counter-productive: and so, precisely to enable the Union to grow still further, we need to reflect on Europe’s identity, on the roots of the Europe of the 27, re-united under the motto of “unity in diversity”. In any case, it is by now clear – only nationalists continue to deny it – that we cannot do without this Europe. The great challenges of the global era have various names: sustainable development, social protection, individual and community rights, climate change, energy security, fight against organized crime, intercultural dialogue, international cooperation… These new frontiers indicate the need to “close ranks”: the EU is moving in this direction and the European Parliament (which citizens are called to renew in these forthcoming European elections) is now a fundamental pillar of it. Today’s vote means choosing the future. And on the future we cannot turn our backs.