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It was the moral vision of the dignity of every human person that underlay the European project. This Theos report, however, accurately describes the slow attenuation of this moral vision over the fifty years of the European Union’s existence. As early as the 1950s, the economic and financial aspects – from a common market to a single currency – began to predominate over the political and moral vision of the founders. The institutions became largely impersonal bureaucracies regulating the functioning of the market. Furthermore, the EU has been largely elite-driven and has slowly lost touch with the peoples of Europe. These developments are unfortunate as they obscure the very real achievements of the Union and, not least, the fact that there has been no major war between European states since 1945. The European Union was a key factor in the successful transition to democracy of the former communist states of East and Central Europe. Even peace in the Balkans has been at least partly due to the prospect of EU membership. Finally, there exists today a much greater closeness among European peoples, especially the young, thanks to variouschemes such as the Erasmus student exchange programme and ease of travel across borders.
