EUROPE, DARE TO BE YOURSELF!
EUROPE, DARE TO BE YOURSELF!

FOUNDING PRINCIPLES AS GUIDELINES FOR EU TODAY AND TOMORROW: SCHUMAN’S FRAME OF REFERENCE

Summary/Abstract: We know some of the new challenges that divide this family of nations, but what once brought them together? Given today’s rumblings of discontent, it is worthwhile to reflect on the founding principles of the European Union, for they are still capable of uniting Europe and bringing it to prosperity. The European unification project started in 1950 with the objective of achieving peace and security on a devastated continent. A flourishing economy was seen as a means to an end. Implementing this political integration project would lead to peace, make states interdependent and thereby war impossible. The main architect of this project, Robert Schuman, highlighted four key principles to guide unification: a) reconciliation b) effective solidarity, c) subsidiarity, and d) supra-nationality. Schuman hoped to see the unification of Western, Central, and Eastern Europe realised as soon as possible. Borders should become lines of communication rather than rigid lines of separation. Above all, Europe needed a soul. Today’s crises can be partly explained by Schuman’s frame of reference in which the person is at the heart of the economy, technology, and politics and not the other way around. Schuman’s key principles can contribute in a crucial way to solve crises and strengthen the ties between the European countries and beyond.

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