The Romanian economy and the standards of European Union

The idea of a united Europe was once just a dream in the minds of philosophers and visionaries. Victor Hugo, for example, imagined a peaceful United States of Europe inspired by humanistic ideals. The dream was shattered by two terrible wars that ravaged the continent during the first half of the 20th century.

However, from the rubble of World War II emerged a new kind of hope. People who had resisted totalitarianism during the war were determined to put an end to international hatred and rivalry in Europe and to build a lasting peace between former enemies. Between 1945 and 1950, a handful of courageous statesmen including Konrad Adenauer, Winston Churchill, Alcide de Gasperi and Robert Schuman set about persuading their peoples to enter a new era. There would be a new order in Western Europe, based on the interests its peoples and nations shared together, and which was going to be founded upon treaties guaranteeing the rule of law and equality between all countries.

Robert Schuman (French Foreign Affairs Minister) took up an idea originally conceived by Jean Monnet and, on 9 May 1950, proposed setting up a European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). Their plan involved the delegation of certain aspects of member state sovereignty to common, independent, and supra-national institutions. These institutions were to represent a common or joint European interest, rather than the interest of any one European state. In countries that had once fought each other, the production of coal and steel would be pooled under a shared authority the High Authority. In a practical but also richly symbolic way, the raw materials of war were being turned into instruments of reconciliation and peace. The achieving of a lasting peace has been the chief motivating factor behind the drive for unity.

However, economic advantage also played a role. This bold and generous move was a big success. It was the start of more than half a century of peaceful co-operation between the member states of the European Communities. With the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992, the Community institutions were strengthened and given broader responsibilities, and the European Union (EU) as such was born. The idea and dream of a politically integrated Europe possesses a long pedigree. Along the centuries, numerous intellectuals and political leaders have argued for, and, had attempted to bring order and unity to the fragmented political mosaic of the European continent. As part of this long-standing dream, an increased intellectual agitation for unity in Europe emerged in the nineteenth century, but almost exclusively by people who were, at best, at the fringes of political decision-making. Their arguments and plans held little appeal or relevance for political leaders. However, there did emerge a more wide spread recognition that some forum of economic cooperation might well contain some potential political advantages for states.

Although the actual steps which have been taken to ...

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