The idea of Europe

The idea of a united Europe was not an invention of the post-1945 era. Indeed, most of the great conquerors of Europe's long and bloody history — from the Romans to Charles V and from Napoleon to Hitler — justified their quest in part as a way of bringing stability and order through unity.

The idea of integration based on principles of democratic governance and common markets was new to the post-1945 era. Its impressive appeal was based on a number of factors. The most obvious was that in regard to national security, the West Europeans who championed integration viewed their countries as too weak to stand up against the real or imagined Soviet military threat. At the same time most Western European politicians were not content with a simple abdi­cation of power to American dominance and leadership. The answer therefore was to attempt to create strength through unity, even though this necessarily meant bringing together previously quarrelsome neighbours, such as Germany and France. There was, though, some element of historical continuity in this, for, after all, in previous times Europeans had been more willing to cooperate when they perceived a common external threat. For some parts of Europe, the Soviets were the reincarnation of the Persians, Muslims, Mongols or Turks; they were ‘barbarians' at the gates of Europe.

The modern idea of Europe is not, though, based simply on the need to confront an external enemy or on the profitability of common markets, but also looks to the belief that there is a specific European identity. Since the 1940s, when the Italian historian Federico Chabod wrote the first book on the idea of Europe, the argument that ‘Europeans' share a common set of values that are rooted in ancient Greece and reached their maturity in the Enlightenment has gained wide acceptance. The notion of a common European identity is, however, controversial because many consider Christianity to be the cornerstone of the continent's value system. Increased immigration from non-Christian parts of the world, as well as the debate over the potential accession of Turkey, a Muslim nation, into the EU, has naturally raised fundamental questions about this interpretation. What is clear, however, is that underpinning the experiment that led to the EEC and EU was a fundamental commitment to liberal democracy and the rule of law.