Solidarity: For Sale?

The Europeans can be proud as they look back on fi fty years of peaceful integration. Nowadays many people in the world see the European Union as a model of how states and their citizens can work together in peace and in freedom. However, this achievement does not automatically mean that the EU has the ability to deal with the problems of the future in a rapidly changing world. For this reason the European Union needs to keep developing its unity in diversity in a dynamic way, be it with regard to energy issues, the euro, climate change or new types of confl ict. Self-assertion and solidarity are the fundamental concepts which will shape the forthcoming discourse.

However, this achievement does not automatically mean that the EU has the ability to deal with the problems of the future in a rapidly changing world. For this reason the European Union needs to keep developing its unity in diversity in a dynamic way, be it with regard to energy issues, the euro, climate change or new types of confl ict. Self-assertion and solidarity are the fundamental concepts which will shape the forthcoming discourse.