The European Union at 50
The European Union (EU) has 27 member states with a combined population of over 450 million people. It is the largest economic market in the world and its common currency, the Euro, now rivals the dollar as a reserve currency. Since the signature of its founding documents, the Treaties of Rome, by the six original member states on March 25, 1957, the EU's membership has expanded to include nearly all the countries of Europe, including many former members of the former Soviet bloc.Yet the EU remains a puzzle. Many Europeans credit it, along with NATO, with having saved Europe from major war for over 60 years – the longest continuous period since the fall of the Roman Empire – and with having nurtured unprecedented prosperity. Others see it as an unrepresentative elite's project to undermine the identities of their nation states through insensitive harmonization measures. American views tend to be even more ambivalent. Some pundits highlight the EU's relatively low economic growth and ageing population – or contrast its economic wealth with its lack of credible military clout. Some seem both to want the EU to give itself the capability to help share America's burden and to fear that any moves in that direction could make it a rival.
This is therefore a timely moment to reflect on the EU – to note both its achievements and the many questions that surround its future development. Will the EU become a super-state and mega-power, rivaling the US? Why is there still a line of countries, including Turkey, who want to join the EU? Where is the boundary? How many countries can the EU absorb without incurring institutional paralysis? How can the central institutions of the EU become more answerable to the people without undermining the democratic institutions of the member states? Can the people of the EU maintain their comfortable way of life in the face of growing economic competition from China and India? Can the EU states uphold the values of toleration, freedom and equal rights under the law with increasingly diverse populations and in the face of a continuing global threat from violent extremism?
The Weatherhead Center for International Affairs (WCFIA) Fellows Program and the Center for European Studies (CES) intend to address some of these questions during this symposium. "Europe, America and the World: The European Union at 50" will feature Jonathan Faull, Director General for Justice, Freedom, and Security, European Commission, as he headlines two panels: "The EU - a 21st Century Megapower?" and "The EU - A Crisis of Identity?"
Registration is required for lunch. We hope that you are able to join us for what promises to be an afternoon of lively discussion and debate.
This Symposium is co-sponsored by the Fellows Program of the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs.
Renée Haferkamp, CES Visiting Scholar and organizer of the "Challenges for the Twenty-First Century: European and American Perspectives" series, was an eyewitness to the signing of the Treaty of Rome. Watch the Reuters interview with Ms. Haferkamp
Official EU 50th Anniversary page
The EU at a glance: a comprehensive overview of the EU on the official portal site of the European Union, complete with maps and timelines
Financial Times coverage of the EU at 50
Fit at 50?: The Economist ponders the immediate future of the EU
A Timeline of the EU from the BBC
Other EU events in April at CES
"The Social Construction of Strategy: How European Elites Agreed on a Market, a Currency and a Constitution"Nicolas Jabko, Research Fellow at the Centre d'Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI) of Sciences Po, Paris
4:15PM - 6:00PM
Cabot Room
Playing the Market: A Political Strategy for Uniting Europe, 1985-2005 (Cornell University Press, 2006)
April 18
"Fractured Alliance? The United States, Turkey, and the Future of Transatlantic Relations"Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, Senior Research Scholar, Stanford University Center for International Security and Cooperation Adjunct Senior Fellow for Alliance Relations, Council on Foreign Relations
4:15PM - 6:00PM
Lower Level Conference Room
April 24
"Fortress Europe? The Growing Internal Security Rationale of the European Union and Its Implications for EU Border, Immigration and Asylum Policies"Jörg Monar, Université Robert Schuman de Strasbourg
4:15PM - 6:00PM
Garden Room
April 27
"The State of the European Union and the French Elections"Laurent Cohen-Tanugi, Mergers and Acquisitions, and International Arbitration at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP & Affiliates
2:15PM - 4:00PM
Cabot Room