The house-museum of EU integration, where basic information on its contents and organisation has been selected since 3rd March by a committee of about ten experts from different countries, will be housed in a building in front of the EU headquarters in Brussels. The president of the EU Assembly, Hans-Gert Poettering, made a speech at the installation session, to describe the role, objectives and steps of the House of European History. "The Expert Committee has been asked to provide a basic idea around which to build and developed the initiative the Italian historian Giorgio Cracco explains to SIR -. The starting framework is well known: since the pro-European process has been set in motion, after the catastrophe of two world wars, the continent has experienced a time of peace and progress. What is still missing is the Europeanisation of ideas and values, deep historical awareness, the awareness that creates an identity, a feeling of belonging. Hence the appeal to the historians to raise such awareness". During the discussion, the group reflected on the choice to stick to a "short history", from 1945 to date, "when all the European ideal roots (Hellenism, Christianity, Enlightenment…) have centuries-old significance". (continued)
