The ancient
Greek storyteller Aesop once said, “United we stand,
divided we fall.” In the 1940s, the separate European
countries were as close to that fall as possible. The
continent had suffered through two wars which left it
in economic ruins, not to mention numerous previous wars
(War of Spanish Succession, etc).
Rather than
sit back and watch the system crumble, people began to
heed Aesop’s words. Notable figures such as Winston
Churchill called for the “United States of Europe”,
and the philosophy spread until it couldn’t be ignored.
Finally, the Maastricht Treaty was passed in 1993, creating
the European Union and beginning a great era. The European
Union makes communication easier through a common market
and creates an environment where all nations can prosper.
One of the
best aspects of the EU is that its members share a single
market. That means that there is free movement of goods,
currency, and people. Pre-1993, when one wanted to travel
even between bordering countries like France and Spain,
they would have to go through the trouble of exchanging
currency, obtaining a passport or visa, and other hassles
of international travel. Now, everything has been streamlined
and no passports or visas are required for EU nationals
within the member states. The majority of EU members use
the same currency (Euro), meaning no currency is exchanged
and values are standardized across the continent (e.g.
if someone lived in Italy and wanted to buy a house in
France, the value would be the same in both countries).
There are EU scholarships available to students to study
anywhere in the Union regardless of their home country.
As the insightful Gerhard Schroeder stated, “Indeed,
the creators of the Euro envisioned it as an instrument
to promote political union.” Another important aspect
of the EU is that it creates an environment where each
state can gain influence. Small countries like Denmark
now have an equal say in global affairs, but it wasn’t
always this way. Pre-Union Europe was constantly at war
within itself.
A little research
turns up hundreds of wars where competing world powers
such as France and Britain were fighting each other and
depleting each other’s resources. Although this
advanced internal technology, the loss of those resources
devastated all countries involved. For example, Britain
lost the American colonies in part because they couldn’t
focus full strength on the Revolutionary War due to a
recent war with France. A wise man once said, “Five
severed fingers do not make up a hand.” Countries
like France, Britain, Spain, Germany, and Italy made extremely
strong fingers, but could only realize their full potential
working together. One could make a strong argument that
if Europe had been unified for the last 500 years, its
current empire would surpass the imagination of mankind.
Now the EU is only beginning to realize the amount of
influence over global affairs that it gains by acting
in unison.
