DANNA E.S.

Peace within the European Union

As far as I know, the European Union, abbreviated to the EU, is an international political and economic organisation of a supranational nature, which includes 27 member states of Europe. The EU was created by the Maastricht Treaty, which entered into force on November 1st, 1993.

One of the most important aspects of the European Union is definitely the peace and security we have had in recent years. Peace is one of the most relevant goals of the EU, because it eliminates conflict, discrimination and brings equality within our society. Sure enough, European citizens coexist peacefully, despite the different aspects of their own culture and traditions, they feel very close and connected to each other now more than ever. Moreover, the EU has also received a Nobel Peace Prize.

Since the creation of the European Union, security and defence concerns have been both of primary importance and highly controversial. Early attempts to set up a defence union were largely unsuccessful. New security threats arising at the end of the Cold War provoked a renewed interest in security and defence-related issues.

Three determinants shape the role and influence of the EU as a global-regional actor in peace and security: Capacity (institutional, material, human and operational, and financial) to undertake missions, Willingness to devote resources to security and defence purposes, mainly driven by member states’ priorities; Acceptance (internal and external) of the EU as a leading actor in peace and security.

On the other side of the coin, the EU has also many negative aspects: for example, members states are asked to carry out inflexible economic policies, but sometimes this falls on the citizens, who pay high taxes. This, however, jeopardizes the peace established in all these years and could lead to instability within society.

I believe the European Union is extremely important for many reasons: first of all it is fundamental in moments of emergency, it guarantees the stability of each country, secondly it allows the citizens to travel between countries easily and also guarantees peace. In my opinion, if we stay united and we help each other, we will be much stronger: this point is of supreme importance because we live in an Era where violence is often used, and an organisation like ours, which fights for peace, is vital for all of us.

To conclude, I would say that we are incredibly lucky to live in the EU, because we are always protected and safe: this is something that unfortunately not everyone has.