It is in the light of these words that we can especially appreciate the extraordinary achievement of the Treaty of Rome, signed 50 years ago. For that Treaty did no less than “initiate a new order of things” in Europe. It changed – irreversibly – the relations among the nations of this Continent.
When Konstantinos G. Karamanlis was born, 100 years ago, Europe was dominated by nation-state rivalry, mercantilist competition and eventually isolationist protectionism that led to two catastrophic fratricidal wars among the nations of Europe. At that time, it was difficult to envision that, 50 years later.