Europe: Who and how?

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"Europe: Who and how?

JEFFREY KOPSTEIN

Special to Globe and Mail Update

This month marks the 50th anniversary of the European Union's founding agreement, the Treaty of Rome, but Europeans remain deeply divided about what the union is, who should be let in and what Europe's global role should be. How they resolve these disputes will determine the continent's fate for the next half-century.

It is important to recall that the Treaty of Rome was preceded by an earlier attempt at a coal and steel union, which tells us a great deal about its purpose. After the Second World War, the political leadership of France, Germany, and the other countries of Europe understood that any durable peace required pooling their ability to manufacture the implements of war."