"Determined to establish the foundations of an ever closer union among the European peoples ..." Fifty years ago the preamble to the Treaty of Rome, signed on March 25th, expressed the ambition that has perhaps been lost in European integration's current phase. Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel, who has set her EU presidency the challenge to revive the stalled constitution, warned MEPs on Wednesday: "We have to give a soul to Europe; we have to find Europe's soul. Any failure could be an historic failure." And defining that essence will be key to both that task and to the Berlin declaration on the union's fundamental principles that EU leaders will make in May to celebrate the anniversary.
The National Forum on Europe in Dublin yesterday began its commemoration with a thoughtful address from the Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, who had very pertinent things to say about the importance and difficulty in conveying a sense of ownership of the EU to citizens - a problem both of structures and communication. But he placed himself firmly on the side "of those whose judgment on the European Union is on the whole positive" and sees in the union's ideals a potent force for peace.
He reflected the church's "traditional caution about nationalism and any idea of the nation state", reminding his audience that Catholic social teaching "tends to look rather, on the one hand, at the obligation of the state to foster subsidiarity and respect individual and family rights in a participative society and on the other, to underscore the unity of the human family and international solidarity."
That perspective has informed much of the "soul" of mainstream European integration thinking in the Christian democratic tradition, as have the core values he enunciated in the economic sphere, "models which aim at fostering at the same time economic progress, social equity and integration." They form part of the essence and distinctiveness of the European model, Berlin rather than Boston, which, it is to be hoped, will be reflected in the declaration.
Dr Martin expressed some disappointment at the constitution's failure to give more explicit acknowledgment to the Christian contribution to Europe's history, but welcomed the institutionalised dialogue with churches that is also being initiated in Dublin next month. The churches have important insights to bring to the EU integration process, notwithstanding Ms Patricia McKenna who yesterday insisted they should be silent. A strange attitude to free speech.