EU's greatest triumph: 50 years of peace
John Bruton, former prime minister of Ireland, has been the European Union ambassador to the United States since November 2004. He spoke last week with reporter David R. Sands at the EU's Washington headquarters about the bloc's past, present and future.
Q. What do you consider the EU's biggest achievement in its first 50 years?
A. It's important to say at the outset that the European Union was conceived as a political project. The founders of the organization attempted to harness closer economic cooperation as a way to reconcile nations that had long been warring with one another. Certainly, other factors contributed to peace and security in Western Europe, including the alliance with the United States, but the EU was always seen as a political force for peace.
I think the biggest recent triumph of the EU has to be the steady process of enlargement. We went from six nations to 10 to 15 to 27 today, and at all stages, this was done with the unanimous support of the existing members. When you consider that each round of expansion means a dilution of power for existing members and a larger sharing of financial resources, that is quite an impressive achievement.
And simply by the fact of its existence, the EU has made historically difficult relationships between neighbors easier to manage -- and not just with France and Germany. My own country, Ireland, has long had an inherently unequal and difficult relationship with Great Britain, but when we both joined the European Union, that all changed. We were equals within the EU, and the British actually found Ireland could be a useful ally in the context of discussions with other EU members. ...
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Q. What do you consider the EU's biggest achievement in its first 50 years?
A. It's important to say at the outset that the European Union was conceived as a political project. The founders of the organization attempted to harness closer economic cooperation as a way to reconcile nations that had long been warring with one another. Certainly, other factors contributed to peace and security in Western Europe, including the alliance with the United States, but the EU was always seen as a political force for peace.
I think the biggest recent triumph of the EU has to be the steady process of enlargement. We went from six nations to 10 to 15 to 27 today, and at all stages, this was done with the unanimous support of the existing members. When you consider that each round of expansion means a dilution of power for existing members and a larger sharing of financial resources, that is quite an impressive achievement.
And simply by the fact of its existence, the EU has made historically difficult relationships between neighbors easier to manage -- and not just with France and Germany. My own country, Ireland, has long had an inherently unequal and difficult relationship with Great Britain, but when we both joined the European Union, that all changed. We were equals within the EU, and the British actually found Ireland could be a useful ally in the context of discussions with other EU members. ...