On March 25^th 2007 Europe celebrates the 50^th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty of Rome. The leaders of the twenty-seven states that make up the European Union will make declarations, open cultural events and have a jolly good time at parties (1). There is the obligatory logo in bright, cheerful colours and translated into the official languages of the Union (2).

In the grand panorama of European history, 50 years is relatively speaking the blink of an eye. That said, the EU has already outlasted three European Empires (3):

• 12 - the number of years the Empire of Alexander the Great lasted - it died in 323BCE with the king on the sweat soaked bed in Babylon.
• 12 - the number of years the Third Reich lasted - it died when the bullet entered Adolf Hitler's brain in 1945.
• 29 - the number of years the Athenian Empire, born of the Delian League in 477BCE, lasted.
• 51 - the number of years the Austro-Hungarian Empire, dissolved at the end of World War I, lasted.
• 466 - the number of years the British Empire, on which the sun proverbially never set, lasted (arguably it has never completely gone away and still endures through its Overseas Territories).
• 1,006 - the number of years the Holy Roman Empire of the Germans, which included Charlemagne and Maximilian among its emperors, lasted.

The grand daddy of Europe's empires dwarfs its successors by a long way. Introducing the Imperium Romanum. While the Roman Empire lasted 986 years in the West until the fall of Rome to the Goths in 476CE, in the East it endured 1,963 years, ending with the fall of Constantinople to the Turks in 1453CE. It was a vast project:

Compare that to the European Union which numbers 27 member states, covers 4,422,773 Km² (1,707,642 sq. mi.) of land surface, with 493 million people and a nominal GDP of €11.5 ($15.0) trillion (5).

Fifty years ago, on 25th March 1957, two treaties were signed in Rome that gave birth to the European Economic Community (EEC) and to the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). The Treaty Establishing the European Community states in its Preamble:

It sets out that "the activities of the Community shall include":

etc through to the letter (u).

In short, the Treaty covers the free movement of people, goods, services and capital. Citizens of the EU can now travel largely unhindered between member states to find education, work or their place in the sun. Regulations ensure that a product that is acceptable for sale, say in Denmark, will be permitted for sale in Spain. Banking and insurance are increasingly available from the same companies operating out of branches be they in Birmingham, Brussels or Bologna. Since January 1, 2002, 13 countries cashiered their currencies in favour of the Euro. If citizens do not find resolution with their own governments, they can go for a final ruling to the European Court, which has several times overruled national governments for breach of EU treaty obligations in favor of its citizens.

Curiously, the mood in Europe is mixed, even pessimistic. According to George Parker of the Financial Times

The author explains,

A widely held fear is that of "homogenisation":

The other oft expressed worry is creeping bureacracy: it is often characterised as overwhelming. The numbers of officials working in Brussels and Strasbourg are numerous, but many of them are engaged in translating for the members of the European Parliament and its national governments so that they may be understood by everyone else. A proposal by Romano Prodi in 2003 that Latin be the standard language of the business of the EU was rejected (8).

The other sacred cow is the "loss of sovereignty". Throughout the 1990s, when I lived in England, MPs, were anxious to retain "Britain's veto" in Europe as a public recognition that Parliament was still in control of the UK's destiny. It continues to be the cornerstone of a few British advocates of independence who expressly want to withdraw from the EU. In truth, Whitehall was already subservient to the rules and regulations of Brussels, Strasbourg and the European Court by virtue of signing to join the EEC in 1973 and later agreeing to the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992 that lead to the creation of the European Union (9).

So is it really that bad? The FT thinks not:

Moreover,

And how does it compare to the EU's ancient antecedent? Living within Rome's permeable frontier, people could move with relative freedom. Roman law was pre-eminent but local customs were respected. Roman citizenship conferred certain privileges, a most notable example of which is Paul of Tarsus who used his status as a citizen to get a hearing before the emperor. Goods travelled around the Empire much like a common market, limited only by the perishability of the merchandise and cost of transportation. For example, we know of ceramics, called Samian Ware, made in southern Gaul being traded and used in Britain, Spain and Germany. Banking was relatively primitive, but the use of a common currency (the aureus, denarius and sestertius in the West and drachma in the East) facilitated trade. The use of Latin as the lingua franca in the West, Greek in the East, enabled peoples of diverse backgrounds to live and work together. The tolerance of the state to accept different religions, provided those of the state were respected through observance of festivals, meant the people of the Roman Empire could find spiritual fulfillment in any number of credos and cults. Curiously, one of the most enduring legacies of Ancient Rome is a religious one - the Catholic Church. Not for nothing is the Pope also referred to as the 'pontiff' - this is a direct reference to the high office of Pontifex Maximus, which can be translated as 'Chief Bridge Builder', but was the highest position in the pagan Roman state religion (10).

Yet the Pax Romana of two millennia ago was bought at a price. Whereas the Treaty of Rome 1957 was entered into by signatories voluntarily, the treaties with Ancient Rome circa 57 CE were usually those of a conqueror and the conquered. Admittedly, there were so-called Client Kingdoms where leaders of pro-Roman tribes or communities approached Rome who were eager to deepen relations with the Mediterranean power (Braund, 1984). Examples include Togibudnus and Prasutagus (father of Boudicca aka Boadicea) in First Century CE Britain. These client kingdoms continued to govern themselves but could call on Rome's military to assist in a crisis. The price of such an arrangement was that on the death of the client king the territory resorted to Rome and it became a directly ruled province of the empire.

Like its ancient forebear, Europe's influence today upon the culture, law, technology, arts, language, religion, government, military and architecture of world civilization is great. It is not just in the realm of material things. As the text finally adopted in the Preamble of the (rejected) EU Constitution reads:

What makes Europeans feel part of the same community is the perception of a common heritage and shared values. It may just be perception. Attitudes and values of the EU population are very diverse, influenced by factors such as class, religion, level of education, and ethnicity and they are not necessarily either European or national in character. From a practical point of view, the interests of member states are primarily economic and political in nature.

It is the constant subject of argument whether or not there is such a thing as a single culture or lifestyle common to the entire EU population. Some are local, some national and some regional. There are aspects of popular culture which can be found all over the EU, but none are limited to the EU and they may be equally influential in other nations of the world.

Yet even allowing for the differences, there is something imperceptibly European, if only because Europeans are not the same as, say Americans (Pells, 1997).

There is a hint that Europe may finally be charting a course that does mark it out as different from other nations or trading blocs in today's world. Most recently the leaders of the EU went back to article (l) of the Treaty, which is to create "a policy in the sphere of the environment". On March 9 this year they agreed "to adopt a binding target on the use of renewable energy, such as wind and solar power" (12). In so doing, Europe established itself as the vanguard of the programme to work on measures to reduce the human element in climate change. The EU is also working on areas such as hunger and poverty, crime and terrorism as a community of 27 nations, not 27 communities working independently.

By virtue of being a citizen of the UK, I am also a citizen of the European Union. My own opinion is that Europe is better for having the European Union than not. I would go further and say not only Europe, but the world is better for having the European Union than not. It is not a perfect union, but it is a noble project and its leaders are gradually getting better at making it more relevant to the lives of its citizens. For that reason, the flag with its circle of twelve golden stars on a blue background flies outside my house today.

Happy 50^th Birthday Europa!

David C. Braund, Rome and the Friendly King, Beckenham, Kent 1984

Richard H. Pells, Not Like Us, Not Like Us: How Europeans Have Loved, Hated, and Transformed American Culture Since World War II, 1997