European Union, at 50, Seeks Footing as the World Shifts

European Union, at 50, Seeks Footing as the World Shifts
Axel Schmidt/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
Balloons were released over the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin Sundaycelebrating the 50th anniversary of the European Union’s origins.
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ByMARK LANDLER
Published: March 26, 2007
BERLIN, March 25 — Fifty years after its foundation was set in Rome as a trading bloc for six countries, theEuropean Unionmarked a midlife milestone here on Sunday with all-night parties, alaid-back street festival and a fervent plea for renewal by the Germanchancellor, Angela Merkel.
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Schoolchildren at the gate waited for Germany’s chancellor, AngelaMerkel, who holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.
“Europe is much more thandairy cows and the Chemical Directive,” said Mrs. Merkel, who holds therotating presidency of the European Union and was host to the leadersof the 27 member countries at a gathering that included talks aboutclimate change and the disaster in Darfur.
“Wemust also renew the political shape of Europe in keeping with thetimes,” Mrs. Merkel said, challenging the leaders to put Europe on a“renewed common basis” by 2009 — a reference to its stalledConstitution. “Not to do so,” she warned, “would be an historicfailure.”
While the refurbished monuments of this once sunderedcity served as testimony to Europe’s achievements, the festivities wereshadowed by a sense that the union is stuck in something like a midlifecrisis — unhappy about its divided present, uncertain about what pathto take in the future.
In a city that celebrated the World Cup last summer with joyful abandon, today’s revelry seemed a bit dutiful.
“Wehaven’t heard much about this anniversary,” said Maria Myszka, a24-year-old law student from Poland who was here for a conference andhad stumbled on the street fair at the Brandenburg Gate. “You can’t saythat in Poland; we feel too connected to the E.U.”
The prospectsfor a European Constitution seem murkier than ever — so much so that itis not even mentioned in the Berlin Declaration, a statement signedSunday that marks the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treaty ofRome, which created the former European Economic Community.
Indeed,the declaration’s 13 paragraphs can be read as a sort of Baedeker guideto the issues that divide Europeans these days. The euro got a nod,over the objections of Britain, one of the countries that never adoptedthe currency. Turkey’s entry into Europe, which Mrs. Merkel and otherleaders oppose, did not.
Nor does the declaration mentionEurope’s Christian heritage, which Poland had sought and Franceresisted. That omission drew a rebuke fromPope Benedict XVI, who labeled it an “apostasy.”
Buteven he was less sweeping in his criticism than the Czech president,Vaclav Klaus, who complained in a German radio interview that he hadonly 24 hours to read over the text. “A democratic debate is lacking,”said Mr. Klaus, a skeptic about European integration.
Still, thecavils over wording did not diminish the rich symbolism of a Germanleader like Mrs. Merkel, raised in the Communist east, presiding overthe celebration of a quintessentially Western European institution.
Mrs.Merkel remarked that just west of the German Historical Museum, wherethe declaration was signed, the Berlin Wall once cut off the east fromwest. As a young woman in East Berlin, she said, that “was the pointwhere any walk I took would be at an end.” The fall of the wall, shesaid, brought home to her that “nothing ever has to stay the way it is.”
Mrs.Merkel expressed solidarity with the people of a former Soviet stateand nonmember, Belarus, whom she described as Europeans still enduringoppression.
She also demanded that Sudan comply withUnited Nations resolutions on its treatment of refugees in the Darfur region, or face tougher sanctions — a warning echoed by Prime MinisterTony Blair of Britain.
Findingconsensus on Darfur, however, may be easier than on problems closer tohome. With the Constitution stalled and with Turkey’s application formembership facing rising resistance, the only major issue around whichEuropeans have been able to rally is climate change.
Earlier thismonth, the 27 nations pledged to cut their greenhouse gas emissions byup to 30 percent from 1990 levels by 2020, as well as to generate 20percent of their energy from renewable sources.
“It’s certainlynot enough” as an initiative, “but you’ve got to stick to the areaswhere Europe can act,” said Daniel Gros, director of the Center forEuropean Policy Studies, in Brussels.
On a sun-kissed weekend,Berliners seemed game for a party, whatever the occasion. They strolledpast tents where people served European specialties like crepes,sausages and mugs of Guinness.
On Saturday night, 35 clubs threwopen their doors to bands from around Europe, and museums stayed openuntil 2 a.m. A Greek Byzantine choir sang on the steps of the GreatAltar of Pergamon, depicting Greek gods, kings and warriors, at thePergamon Museum, while a troupe of players performed outside therecently renovated Bode Museum.
“Sure, the E.U. matters,” saidThomas Leicht, a doctor from Munich, as he took in the show. “You cansee the terrible history of Europe in this city. The E.U. is the reasonit will never happen again.”