We’ll be measured by the young” “” “

The De Gasperi Foundation is planning a major international meeting on the life and work of the great Italian statesman Alcide De Gasperi in June 2003 – on the eve of Italy’s assumption of the EU presidency. It will be an occasion also to examine the thought and commitment of Adenauer, Schuman, Monnet. On page 3 is a report on the international colloquium “After the Euro, the political Union” promoted in recent days by the same Foundation in Rome. The year that is about to end began with an epoch-making event: the adoption of the single currency, the Euro, in eleven European countries, including Italy, France, Germany and Spain. It was the culminating event of the economic and monetary Union. Then the work of the Convention on the future of Europe began, while the decisions on EU enlargement to 10 other countries are approaching. Nonetheless, in spite of the enormous progress made by European integration over the last fifty years, Europe politically is still fragile. The nodal points of the structure of a political union, “common home” – as the Pope recalls – of democracies, are especially represented by the ethical and cultural values we place at its foundation: the conception of man as person, the affirmation of his dignity and responsibility, the respect for life, the ideal of freedom. A social model that responds to these ends shall only be defined in the light of the cultural heritage accumulated in Europe over the centuries, with the decisive contribution of Christianity, which undoubtedly represents the one true identity of Europe. The Union has the duty to recognize its Christian roots and at the same time to ensure the freedom of all faiths. The point of departure is provided by the Charter of fundamental rights. Starting from here we could build a system of relations able to reconcile the interests of individuals with those of the community, competitiveness with solidarity. The Europe we hope for is that of a union not barricaded in the defence of its own affluence, but dedicated to the vital problems of the world, to helping to correct their grave imbalances, to defend and promote everywhere peace and human dignity. The European and international phase we are going through is of great interest. We have reached the halfway stage in the work of the Convention. In the second half of 2003 the intergovernmental Conference will draw up the articles of the constitutional charter, the Union’s real juridical and political identity, and we’ll return to Rome to solemnly consecrate the birth of the new Community. Other European countries are in the process of joining us; they have waited half a century, deprived of their freedom. Then, in 2004, the peoples will elect a European Parliament representative of a far larger and more decisive geopolitical area for the world balance of power. A “revolutionary” process: the Union of European peoples may well be described as the first, great, peaceful, democratic and exemplary revolution ever to have taken place in the world. On this capacity we’ll be measured by the young and future generations. And it is a process of unity that must have as its basis values and inspiring ideas if it is to be valid and irreversible. The Pope exhorts us to “support the Union’s constitutional profile on ethical foundations so that it may have lasting stability, in the richness and diversity of cultures and traditions”.