May 20 years not be wasted

On February 7 1992 the most important treaty in the history of the European building since the Treaty of Rome of March 27 1957 was signed in Maastricht. This Treaty of economic, monetary and political union, was stipulated only few years after the fall of the Wall of Berlin, the reunification of Germany and the collapse of the Soviet Union. It was an indirect consequence. It opened new, broad fields of action for a new Europe, that was to remain undivided. It extended beyond the economic objective of the European economic community of a common market, created thirty-five years earlier. It marked a new stage in the process, stated in the document of an "ever-closer union between the peoples of Europe". It led to the creation of a European Union among the twelve signatory countries which were members of the Community (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, United Kingdom and Spain), then fifteen in 1995 and twenty-seven today. The treaty bore witness to a new will to head towards a stronger political union: definition of European citizenship, extension of common responsibilities (education, culture, health, transport, Industrial policies, social policies…), stronger cooperation in foreign affairs and in the areas of justice and security. Perhaps the most important aspect was the economic and monetary union that paved the way to the adoption of the common currency on January 10 1999 with a European Central Bank. But progressing along the way of a closer union, that seemed to lead to a political union, in a near or distant future, the Maastricht Treaty contained the wisdom that balanced the whole endeavor, with the introduction of the principle of subsidiarity, borrowed from the social doctrine of the Church. Reading it after twenty years, the Maastricht Treaty remains a major document. Although it is complex and difficult, it is a far-reaching document, although it is also very technical. It was conceived, more than anyone else by three prominent statesmen, two of them Catholic, Jacques Delors and Helmuth Kohl, and socialist François Mitterrand. It embodied the will of giving all Europeans a common European sentiment, with the same passport for everyone, the free circulation of citizens and the creation of a common space, especially for young university students, that were thus given the possibility of studying in universities located throughout the EU, along with stronger powers of the European Parliament and simplified decision-making procedures by means of the majority vote within the European Council.Unfortunately the twentieth anniversary of the Treaty is overshadowed by the crisis of the euro currency and of public finances and it is celebrated in an atmosphere of concern and default. But we must not give in to pessimism. Maastricht had the courage of sharing the heart of State sovereignty: currency, defense, diplomacy, police, and justice. It gave European citizens a European conscience, in the full respect of the principle of subsidiarity, and of the specific national features. For the creation of the single currency, the euro, the Treaty stipulated a set of prevention and penalty mechanisms to avoid excessively high debts and budget deficit. But they weren’t respected. The crisis doesn’t stem from a document which some consider wrongly conceived. The financial crisis derives from the irresponsibility of politicians, at European and national level. To this regard, in December 2011, German chancellor Angela Merkel said: "During the years, politicians have dissipated the capital of confidence, disregarding the principles of monetary and economic Union".