This is the time when two of the then called Member States of France and Netherlands, for reasons known only to them really, voted against having one European Constitution. It took a lot of patience until the new Constitution was finally ratified, and the real European Union could take shape, and begin to “live”.

Looking back to these last 50 years, it’s hard to think of the Europe we lived in before the European Union dream could really take shape. I’m not talking of the horrors of the 20th Century and before, where our continent spent most of its time getting disintegrated by wars. In all fairness, having not lived such tragedies, I do not pretend to have the right to mention them. However, I have lived my young days in the Cold war era, and subsequently in the early days of the political integration, where the Nation States could never decide on anything, and national interests superseded European interests, at all times and at all costs. It was not warlike tragic, but it was frustrating, and humiliating when compared to what the world leader at the time, the United States, (before it got too greedy and never recovered from the errors of its foreign policy) was able to achieve, with the EU only left with the option of cleaning up its mess.

I’m one of the lucky persons to have survived through the development of the EU into what it is today. I saw my children and their children growing up in an atmosphere of tolerance and multi-ethnicity, and the days of racial and ethnic prejudice are definitely on their way out. I can finally say that I’m seeing a new generation of young Europeans, whose territorial borders are moving farther and farther away from their homes, and who share one vision of working together for the continued success of the European federation and for the final achievement of world peace through the implementation of the European model.

On a lighter note, I read with great amusement the article on today’s e-paper that our London born EU Vice President has finally managed to make a coherent speech in Lithuanian. Well, Your Excellency, my grandchildren and their class mates have been learning four languages since they were in fourth grade. Pardon me for not being too impressed…

Happy Birthday, EU. May you live for at least another hundred!

This article was initially published in the “Flourishing Europe” version of the Daily European. See the entire newspaper in pdf format here.