Columbia International Affairs Online
CIAO DATE: 8/5/2007
Europe: Crises of Identity
2007 February
Abstract
The European Union’s emergence as a leading global political and economic actor is an important, exciting and inspiring development in modern history.1 The signature in 1957 of the EU’s founding Treaty of Rome, creating the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) and the European Economic Community (EEC) has been followed rapidly by a spate of initiatives designed to draw EU members into an ever closer economic and political union.
As the world’s most sophisticated experiment in regional cooperation and collective sovereignty, the EU has long been an inspiration and model for countries seeking similar regional integration. An array of common institutions, legal treaties, and raft of regulations that bind EU states to each other make war among EU states unimaginable. Consequently, EU countries currently enjoy a period of peace and stability unprecedented in their history.
