ON APRIL 18th 1951, exalted by
the trappings of empire, ministers from West Germany, Italy, France and the
three Benelux countries put their names to the Treaty of Paris, the founding
document of what, four decades later, was to become the European Union. Fitted
out as a scheme to manage the production of coal and steel, the treaty was at
its heart a Franco-German peace accord. In keeping with its surroundings, its
physical instantiation was sumptuous and symbolic. Were they alive today, those
ministers would be amazed by how their successors have crammed that empty page
full to bursting with institutions and countries. The EU has a court, a
parliament, an executive and a president (several presidents, in fact), an
apparatus much of which can be traced back to that spring day in 1951. And
it has been fundamental to a great historical shift.
In a continent whose
history is written in blood, the idea of France, Germany or any of the large
European states taking up arms against each other has become unthinkable. The
community started out with six members, four languages, 177m people and (in
2014 money) $1.6 trillion in annual output. Today’s EU has 28 members, 24
languages, 505m people and a GDP of $19 trillion.
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