In my St. Patrick's Day posting about what it means to Irish, which I argued that one good way to find out to to dip into our rich literature written in both Irish and English, I placed the issue of Irelend's identity within a European context, the membership of the European Union (or the European Economic Community as it used to known) being one of the most significant issues for Ireland in the past 100 years, other than independence from the British Empire.
Now it seems that this type of thinking is very appropriate as the papers this weekend were full of discussions about the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Treat of Rome that created the original European Economic Community. For example this editorial in the Irish Times (subscription required) ireland.com - The Irish Times - Sat, Mar 24, 2007 - How stands Europe at 50?.
Well, I have always felt the noble ideal of creating a common super-national entity to bring together former enemies (primarily France and Germany), to prevent another world war, was an inspired one. Yes I know that economically the post-war recovery in Europe was helped by American investment as well, and that was welcome as well.
I don't really mind how many Eurosceptics bash the EU, I think that is a noble ideal, and the best experiment in the world today about how 22nd century world government could be organised - a voluntary relinquishing of national sovereignty to a wider entity in the hope creating an environment for peaceful cooperation. All of us who are citizens of the EU should get involved and make it work!
Tweet Posted by mofoghlu at March 25, 2007 6:18 PM | TrackBack