 |
| Photo by Isabel (www.globaltaxjustice.org) |
Smartcitymakassar.com. --Makassar- “Europe will not be made all at
one, or according to a single plan. It
will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto
solidarity” (Robert Schuman).
The nowadays very influential organization in this world, European
Union, originated from vision, desire, strong commitment that are rooted in the
basic rights of human being; to live in peace.
The imagination of Victor Hugo for a peaceful ‘United States of Europe’
shows these values. However, this dream
later shattered by wars and turns the region into ruins.
Some handful of courageous statesmen including Robert Schuman, Konrad
Adenauer, Alcide de Gasperi and Winston Churchill, around 1945 to 1950 desired,
shared their visions, and set up their commitments to bring the ruined region
into new era. Robert Schuman then
proposed an idea that was originally conceived by Jean Monnet, of establishing
a European Coal and Steel Community.
Coal and steel are one of the raw materials of war. Pooling their productions under a common High
Authority is a way to bring Europe into new era. It is a very fundamental and richly way with
deep values and meanings to pool these materials. It changed the function of materials, from
wars into consolidation and peace function.
Six founding countries of Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany,
France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands established that common market in
coal and steel under the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) with Treaty
of Paris in 1951. The ‘six’ then decided
to set up a European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and later a European
Economic Community under Treaties of Rome on 25 March 1957. The European Economic Community is an
extended economic partnership, as a further and more integrated steps, to cover
the whole range of goods and services and made possibility of abolishing
customs barriers between the member countries and to apply a common tariffs to
goods from non-EEC countries. It is a seed of future Europe single market.
The membership of EEC then was extended several times in the following
years. In 1973, Denmark, Ireland and the
United Kingdom became member and following by Greece in 1981, Spain and
Portugal in 1986. In 1995, Austria,
Finland and Sweden joined the European Union.
Later, The
Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland,
Slovenia and Slovakia join the European Union in 2004, continued by Bulgaria
and Romania in 2007, and Croatia in 2013 to complete the 28 members of the
Union.
One decisive step forward comes the Single European Act, signed in
February 1986. The Act covers the
extension powers of EEC in some policy areas, establishment of single market by
the end of 1992, and the voting mechanism in the Council of Ministers for
easier decision-makings about the single market issue.
The history of European Union is step-by-step progresses starting from
aims at achieving the political goals through economic cooperation or
partnership. The developments they
achieve were the bedrocks for further extension to cover barriers they face and
later for enlargement to other sectors such as social, security, environment,
and related ones.
To bring the very diverse Europe into one single Union is about time- or
history-dependent in-depth and comprehensive developments and
achievements. Every step is a
milestone. And these steps, the
milestones, are put into far-sighted orientations. However, to every development that create
each of its milestone, always it contains the original value that successfully
set up their first community, the European Coal and Steel Community
(ECSC). Solidarity is always the main
color of the Community and later the Union.
It is true what Robert Schumann said, “Europe will not be made all at one, or according to a single
plan. It will be built through concrete
achievements which first create a de facto solidarity”.* (Riad Mustafa)
