What great thinkers can teach us about European roots
- Eloisa Versaci
- 4 days ago
- 6 min read
“The security architecture that we relied on can no longer be taken for granted. The age of spheres of influence and power competition is well and truly back”, these are the words used by Ursula Von der Lyen during her speech at the Royal Danish Military Academy on the 18th of March 2025 to describe the delicate geopolitical situation that Europe has in front. Europeans face increasing defense insecurities as the new Trump administration signals a shift in U.S. NATO commitments, prioritizing domestic interests over transatlantic defense. Moreover, NATO’s reliability is being questioned due to the Trump administration’s more unpredictable positions, particularly regarding the Russia-Ukraine war, where U.S. and European positions have diverged significantly.
Europe now finds itself in a situation where peace can no longer be taken for granted, requiring stronger commitments from individual states to preserve stability. In addressing today’s challenges, it may be valuable to look back at Europe’s foundational values.
This article, taking inspiration from Gaugin’s painting “Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going?”, in which there is a reflection about the cycle of life, explores where Europe comes from, whether it still upholds the values it was built on and if the lessons of its founding fathers remain relevant in shaping its future.
Before addressing the extent to which our founding values have survived is important to look back and try to understand what they are. One of the most important documents from which our research might begin is the Treaty on the European Union, established in 1993 and providing some general provisions defining the Union.
Article 3(5) states that “In its relations with the wider world, the Union shall uphold and promote its values and interests and contribute to the protection of its citizens. It shall contribute to peace, security, the sustainable development of the Earth, solidarity and mutual respect among peoples, free and fair trade, eradication of poverty and the protection of human rights, in particular the rights of the child, as well as to the strict observance and the development of international law, including respect for the principles of the United Nations Charter”.
When going through it, what immediately emerges is a focus on cooperation and peace keeping, which are intrinsically interconnected among each other as there cannot be a genuine commitment to preserve peace within countries if the latter do not pursue such goal working on a common ground. Today these two fundamental goals are mined by a decreasing degree of cooperation among countries. While significant progress has been made in many areas of integration, key sectors remain untouched, as they would require states to cede more national authority in favor of collective EU policies. For many governments, this remains an unappealing prospect, creating obstacles to deeper cooperation in crucial fields such as defense, foreign policy, and economic governance.
This article argues that before promoting policies to address the above discussed issues what European officials and governments needs is a genuine re-consideration of the foundational principles that should guide their work. Namely the principles indicated by our founding fathers, who were inspired by universal values promoting the collective dimension over the individual one and having their roots in the ideas of great thinkers such as Immanuel Kant and Socrates. Two key examples will be examined: the Schuman declaration of 1950 and the content of De Gasperi’s letter from prison in 1927.
A first example of where to look when searching for our roots is Schuman’s declaration of 1950, when, five years after the end of WWII, Robert Schuman, spoke to a society that was still severely damaged by the outcome of the war. He presented the picture of a world that, back then, seemed a utopia, where the economic production of the two historical enemies, France and Germany, were to be united to foster a cooperation that could extend beyond economics. The main goal was to avoid the failure in creating a united Europe, which was the main cause behind the two wars.
Schuman was very well aware that “world peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it[1]”. In other words, he outlined that peace is not a passive state but an active pursuit. Traditional strategies like treaties, military alliances, and deterrence, were no longer sufficient. Competition had to be transformed into cooperation through institutions that would foster unity rather than division. The first institution was the European Community of Coal and Steel, which constituted a first brick to build a stronger and wider community. Still, as Schuman himself claimed, “Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity[2]”. Such solidarity relied on “creative efforts”, meaning that cooperation could not be driven solely by the immediate pursuit of national interests but had to be grounded in a more universal set of principles.
Looking back at Schuman’s declaration, it is clear that his vision was not only pragmatic but also deeply philosophical. His proposal can be seen as a practical application of Immanuel Kant’s ideas in Perpetual Peace, where the philosopher argued that lasting stability among nations could only be achieved through democratic governance, the rule of law, and international cooperation. Kant rejected the belief that war was an unavoidable aspect of human nature and instead envisioned a “league of peace” in which states voluntarily committed to legal and ethical principles. This belief that unity, not division, is the path to peace is the very root of the European project. In searching for our origins, we return to this fundamental idea: that lasting peace is not merely the absence of war, but the result of deliberate, institutionalized cooperation, built step by step, just as Schuman envisioned in 1950.
Another striking evidence of the values that led to the foundation of the European Union can be recognized in Alcide De Gasperi’s letter from prison of 1927. It was written well before the union was created, yet in this letter, what aimed our “founding fathers” to work so much to construct a supranational reality, clearly emerges: a sense of duty that went far beyond their individual sphere.
De Gasperi wrote this letter when he had been imprisoned by Mussolini. He states that when presented with the possibility of amending his own political ideas, for which he had been fighting up until that moment, he could not picture himself doing so. He claimed that even thinking about his children, there could not have been a better lesson to teach them but to stay loyal to his beliefs and to have faith in the law and in history.
De Gasperi’s letter reflects a lesson first taught by Socrates: that justice is not simply a personal duty, but a responsibility toward society as a whole. In Crito, Socrates, condemned to death by the Athenian court, refuses an opportunity to escape, arguing that one must respect the moral order even when the law is unjust. His commitment is not to self-preservation, but to a higher principle: the idea that justice loses its meaning if individuals abandon it for their own benefit. Such ideals are very well recognizable not only in the letter taken into consideration in this specific case but in the entire work of leaders such as De Gasperi, Schuman and many others. These leaders understood, even before any institutional framework was in place, the transformative power of setting aside nationalistic interests in pursuit of a greater good. Their legacy is an unprecedent example of ethical commitment, proving that the European project was not born out of mere political convenience, but out of a profound belief in justice, unity, and a shared future.
In conclusion, looking forward is possible only by going back with a critical and careful, but most of all creative, attitude to truly understand what our union was built on and try to re-asses what we want to go towards and what we are going through in the present. In order to do so the precious lessons taught by our founding fathers and before them by great thinkers are key factors in disentangling the reality we are nowadays presented with. Indeed, in a moment in which Europe is going through a strong fragmentation under several points of view maybe what is needed is not only a another look at the numbers but also a re-flection on our identity to better see who we are, where we come from and where we are going.
[1] Schuman declaration 1950
[2] Ibidem
Sources:
von der Leyen, Ursula. "Speech by President von der Leyen on European Defence at the Royal Danish Military Academy." European Commission Press Corner, March 18, 2025.
Schuman, Robert. The Schuman Declaration. May 9, 1950. French Ministry of Foreign Affairs
De Gasperi, Alcide. “Lettere dalla Prigione”. Roma, 6 agosto 1927
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