A cornerstone

The "Christening" of the European Union; the launch of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU); the establishment of the subsidiarity principle; the introduction of a "European citizenship". The Treaty of Maastricht, namely, the "Treaty on European Union", ratified 20 years ago – on February 7 1992 – in the city of The Netherlands, is a cornerstone of the Community building. The document is rooted within the history of those years, and it bears the traits of political "protagonists" of the European stage. Indeed, the Treaty stipulates specific juridical tenets, which – as noted at the time – already presented significant limitations. The historical framework. The agreement reached by the heads of government or State of the 12 member countries of the Community in the European Council of December 9-10 1991 led to the ratification of the European Union Treaty in February 1992. The new document finally came into force (after a ratification stage fraught with difficulties), on November 1st 1993. The remarkable progress of the integration process – begun in the 1950s with the European Coal and Steel Community, followed by the European Economic Community, and the Atomic Energy Community – can be fully understood only if set against the background of the major political and economic events marking the years 1970-1980s. In particular, at Community level, an initial, albeit decisive amendment of the Communities’ founding treaties came about with the adoption of the Single European Act in 1986, which stipulates the completion of the single market, of the monetary union and extends Brussels’ and Strasbourg’s responsibilities. Notably, the "reconfiguration" of the integration process was thus compelled to come to terms with the developments in Eastern Europe, marked by the fall of the Berlin Wall (November 1989), Germany’s reunification, the implosion of the Soviet Union and of the Warsaw Pact, along with the dissolution of Yugoslavia. Europe was facing an unexpected reshaping process: East-European Republics recovered their long-lost freedom and they viewed the Community as the bulwark of the restored democracy and economic development. Three "pillars". In just a few months’ time a watershed marked otherwise stagnating political and historical European dynamics and the Community process undergoes major thrust. National and continental developments occur, whereby high-caliber protagonists like Lech Walesa and Vaclav Havel seize the reins of "soft" revolutions aimed at restoring citizens’ rights and dignity – stripped by Moscow’s authoritarianism for decades. To the West, statesmen with the stature of Helmut Kohl and Francois Mitterrand, and Community leaders such as Jacques Delors (president of the Commission) extend their hands to the East and sense that in the "new Europe", no longer divided by the Iron Curtain, EEC’s progress must come to a turning point. The text of the Treaty drawn up in Maastricht (incomprehensible to most of its readers, given its 252 articles, 17 protocols and 30 annexed statements) reposes on three "pillars", namely, the three pre-existing communities (ECSC, EEC, EURATOM); foreign and common security policy; cooperation in legal aspects and police. It is a "hybrid" definition, whereby the first pillar nears a "federal" interpretation and the other two bears strong intergovernmental features. Acquisitions and wants. However, some of its strong points prompt an integration process that "extends" and "strengthens" the newborn EU, namely, as stated in the opening paragraphs of the Treaty, "an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe, in which decisions are taken as closely as possible to the citizen". In fact, the EU’s objective is "to organize, in a manner demonstrating consistency and solidarity, relations between the Member States and between their peoples". The principle of subsidiarity, along with the principle of solidarity, both consolidated by the Social Doctrine of the Catholic Church, thus act as the guarantors of a political process in the service of European populations, to whom the Treaty confers "European citizenship", with related, specific rights. The most renowned outcome of Maastricht remains – along with the introduction of the European Union "name", still lacking juridical status – the establishment of the Economic and Monetary Union, planned in three stages, until the adoption, in less than a decade, of the single currency. New responsibilities were thus introduced such as economic and social cohesion policies (structural and cohesion funds), research and technological development, jointly created trans-European networks (transport, telecommunications and energy), environmental protection, consumer protection, cultural initiatives and vocational training. Three more Treaties were subsequently adopted to make up for Maastricht’s limitations. These are the Treaty of Amsterdam, signed in 1997; the Treaty of Nice, 2001; and Lisbon, (2007). Moreover, the results obtained twenty years ago constitute a turning point in the journey towards the "common European Home".