When Robert Schuman announced plans to create the European Coal and Steel Community in the famous speech made in Strasbourg on 16 May 1949, his description of this new supranational union in Europe may have seemed extremely ambitious to many. He spoke of ‘a great experiment’ – one that had been in the dreams of the peoples of Europe for a thousand years: the creation of an organisation capable of ‘putting an end to war’ and guaranteeing ‘eternal peace’. He spoke of a ‘cultural family’, willing to work side by side ‘in a spirit of total mutuality’.
Are we there yet? No. However, over the last seven decades, a good part of that apparent utopia has actually come to be. Of course, remembering Europe’s past is of crucial importance for our future. We must never forget our mistakes, especially when some sectors are trying to rewrite history. We can – will not – forget the pain caused by conflicts, totalitarian regimes and ideologies, and xenophobic ideas. However, it is also of crucial importance to keep in mind what we have done well: the tremendous efforts made by so many to bring our founding fathers’ dreams closer to reality.