Introduction
With the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon (ToL) on 1 December 2009, the EU has commenced a new chapter in its existence.
It can be said that under the ToL the EU is more democratic than some of its Member States, provides a very high level of protection of human rights to its citizens, gives its institutions the powers necessary to meet the 21st century challenges speedily and efficiently, dramatically improves the relationship between the Union and its citizens in that it brings the EU closer to ordinary people, and is well equipped to make a real impact on the international scene, i.e. to contribute to peace, security, the sustainable development of the Earth, eradication of poverty and the protection of human rights worldwide.
The 27 States which are Members of the EU share the common values, which are expressly stated in Article 2 TEU, based on democracy, human rights and principles of social justice. However, there is also much diversity between the Member States, the most obvious being cultural and linguistic. This is reflected in the motto of the EU – “unity in diversity”. Indeed, the EU, with its 494 million inhabitants, the world’s third largest population after China and India, has found a way to accommodate diversity and to use it in a constructive way to achieve unity.
The ToL is not the final product of the EU. It is part of an ongoing process which started after WWII. In order to appreciate and understand the complexity of the EU it is necessary to examine its history and origins.
Europe after World War II
Some 50 million people lost their lives during World War II, 60 million people of 55 ethnic groups from 27 countries were displaced, 45 million were left homeless, many millions were wounded and only some 670,000 were liberated from Nazi death camps.1 The psychological devastation of survivors, the physical destruction, the genocide, slave labor, mass killing, mass rape, concentration camps and other horrors perpetrated during World War II exceeded anything ever experienced.
After the war, Europe was in ruins and politically divided. Most Central and Eastern European countries were de facto occupied by the Soviet Union. The rebuilding of Europe not only posed a formidable challenge but was also the catalyst that led to European unity. Many factors have contributed to a new perception of post-war Europe; one was the United States’ vision of the post-war world and of the reconstruction of Europe.
Three factors determined the policy of the United States:
- Politics;
- Economics; and
- Humanitarianism.
As to the political factor, at the Conference at Yalta held in February 1945 Franklin D. Roosevelt, the president of the USA, Winston Churchill, the prime minister of the UK and Joseph Stalin, the first secretary of the Soviet Union, reached an agreement as to the fate of Eastern and Central Europe and Germany. At that time the Soviet Red Army had already conquered, or according to Stalin “liberated” from German occupation, most of the eastern part of Europe. Once the Red Army entered, it stayed. Stalin had no intention whatsoever of giving back one inch of “liberated” territory.
At Yalta Roosevelt and Churchill seemed to accept Soviet domination of the countries under Soviet occupation, although Churchill pressed for free elections and democratic governments, in particular in Poland. This was promised by Stalin. All parties had agreed that the countries of Eastern and Central Europe would be democratic and would be friendly with the Soviet Union.
However, the understanding of democracy was different for the USA and the UK, where it meant liberal democracy involving free elections and a multiparty system, than for the Soviet Union, where it meant “people’s democracy”, that is, power going to puppet governments created by the Soviet Union.
Stalin did not keep the promise to allow free elections in Poland. Between 1945 and 1948 he installed Communist governments in all territories occupied by the Red Army. As a result, nine countries, which before 1939 had been independent, became incorporated into the Soviet Union (for example Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia) or became Soviet satellites. As Winston Churchill said in his speech in Missouri in 1946:
“From Stettin in the Baltic to Trieste in the Adriatic an iron curtain has descended across the continent.”
Indeed, Stalin had cut Eastern and Central European countries off from the rest of the world.The reaction of the “free world” was contained in the Truman doctrine. Truman was vice president in Roosevelt’s government and succeeded to the office of president of the USA upon the death of Roosevelt in 1945.
On 12 March 1947 President Truman announced to the US Congress his approach towards the Soviet Union. He said: “At the present moment in world history nearly every nation must choose between alternative ways of life.
The choice is too often not a free one . . . It must be the policy of the United States to support people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressure.” His statement is known as the Truman Doctrine and considered by many as the beginning of a cold war, which officially ended in December 1989. During that period no direct fighting took place between the USA and the Soviet Union, but they fought indirectly to keep their existing allies, and to acquire new allies worldwide.
Immediately after Truman’s speech, he asked the US Senate for, and obtained, financial aid of US$400 million for Greece and Turkey in order to contain the expansion of communism in both countries. From that time the containment of communism played an important role in helping European reconstruction.
The United States had emerged from World War II richer and more powerful than ever. As a main supplier for the Allied Forces its industry and business boomed. It was the only major belligerent whose own soil, apart from Pearl Harbor, was not a site of conflict. In 1945-1946, the US accounted for half of the gross world products of goods and services, and held two-thirds of the world’s gold.
Therefore, for the Americans it was necessary to find new markets. Only a prosperous Europe could become a major market for American goods; thus American self-interest contributed to European recovery. Lastly, there were also humanitarian considerations, which should not be minimized.
The chaos facing post-war Europe was an obstacle to any significant progress towards political stability and economic prosperity and to the protection of basic rights. From 1945 to 1947 Europe did not make any significant progress in this direction.
