9 May is Europe Day, celebrating a project that for over 70 years has guaranteed peace and prosperity to the European continent, which has always been troubled by internal conflicts between peoples.
Today, the European Union represents a bulwark in the defence of democracy, rights, the rule of law and the protection of fundamental freedoms, but it is still an unfinished project.
The fact that European unification is a commendable example of integration and cooperation between states is also reflected in the enthusiasm of those citizens who want to join the Union and who see the EU as a source of hope for a better future.
However, for those already within the Union, all these positive elements are often taken for granted, and the limitations of the current structure become apparent.
The Europe imagined by Robert Schuman in his speech on 9 May 1950 had a clear objective: to pool Franco-German coal and steel production as a first step towards a European Federation. About 10 years earlier, in the Ventotene Manifesto, three visionaries had imagined a federal Europe as the only possible alternative to nationalist tendencies and the seeds of war inherent in a competitive international system based on the logic of nation-state power.
“Today we do not have a federation”, says Professor Roberto Castaldi, Director of CesUe, a partner of the Jean Monnet Network EUAMI, and for this reason “the European Union is an economic giant, a political dwarf and a military worm”.
“This means that where we have shared sovereignty, we are giants, and this is evident when the EU negotiates trade agreements with other major powers. It is a political dwarf because it is still bound by the principle of unanimity among states on fundamental decisions, and it is a military worm because it does not have a single voice in foreign and defence policy”.
Even in the management of migration flows, the European Union shows all the limitations of the lack of a truly common foreign policy among its member states. This “interregnum” in which it finds itself generates the greatest and most inhumane distortions, such as detention camps, agreements with third countries that do not respect fundamental rights, and migration containment policies that take the form of prison camps.
There is still a long way to go, but the goal is clear, says Professor Castaldi: “increasing integration is necessary to face the challenges that this century presents us with”.
