How different the mood was twenty five years ago, when the Maastricht Treaty made Europe into the European Union and the euro into the ultimate symbol of fraternity that would hold the continent together. Today, nothing is left of the euphoria that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall.
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Donald Trump is set to become president of the United States thanks to a democratically enabled rebellion against the established order. This is the unexpected backdrop to the commemoration of 25 years of the Maastricht Treaty. Without doubt, it forces the EU to take better account of the grievances of some of its citizens. But the EU has other vulnerabilities too, such as the erosion of democracy in some Eastern European countries and increasing corruption in Southern Europe.
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Criticism is nothing new. Some people once feared further integration because they saw the ‘European project’ as a Catholic invention that would eventually put paid to the Calvinistic north. Others fretted that the political Big Boys would ride roughshod over the smaller countries, or eyed Brussels suspiciously as the capital of Big Business. There was always something. Still, things have never been as bad as they are now. With criticism is coming from all angles, left and right, the prevailing sentiment can be summed up in a single word: anti-Europe.
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How different the mood was twenty five years ago, when the Maastricht Treaty made Europe into the European Union and the euro into the ultimate symbol of fraternity that would hold the continent together. Today, nothing is left of the euphoria that followed the fall of the Berlin Wall.
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Despite the problems facing the EU, there’s plenty of reason to celebrate the birth of the EU as a political and economic entity twenty-five years ago. And in Maastricht, no less. But the celebration should include a healthy dose of self-reflection on how to proceed from here. Because if we fail to reflect on the problems and the necessary solutions, the EU may not be around to celebrate the next twenty-five years – or even the next ten.
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When you become 25 years old you hit some sort of existential point in your life. You’re still young, though not as young as you might think you are, and are virtually standing on the doorstep of the rest of your adult life. But the realization that I might be getting old really hit me when I figured out the age of the EU. Or better: the European Union as we know it since the Maastricht Treaty. Yes, we can both celebrate existing a quarter century this year.
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Questioning what the European Union (EU) means to me was raised to a different level when I woke up this morning. It is the 24th of June 2016 – Britain decided to leave the EU and the explosiveness of this decision remains yet to be unfolded.
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