Que é a União Europeia?

A União Europeia é uma entidade de direito público que congrega os povos e Estados-Nações do continente europeu que por livre vontade se uniram e com os quais partilha a soberania. A União, em conjunto com os estados-membros, firma a paz e a segurança no seu espaço próprio e visa contribuir para a paz, segurança e born entendimento entre os povos em todo o mundo; é organizada por um Estado democrático e é constituída por uma sociedade assente na dignidade humana e nos direitos conexos do homem e do cidadão.

Como base da União Europeia está, tem de estar, uma certa ideia de Europa e um leque de valores que definem uma civilização. Não se confunda Europa com Cristandade, que a precedeu, porque só quando esta se fracturou e os seus valores fundamentais e os do poder absoluto de origem divina foram batidos em brecha e que aquela pôde lentamente formar-se.

Europa: a única civilização capaz de se pôr em causa a si própria, que substitui a crença e o dogma pela dúvida metódica e pela razão, o súbdito e o senhor pelo cidadão e pelo povo, desenvolve a economia graças à invenção e inovação técnica fundada na ciência, de modo a melhorar a condição quotidiana dos homens, e realiza-se na creação cultural - das artes plásticas à musica, da pintura à literatura, na paisagem e no modo de viver. A Europa é uma civilização do pensar (e nao apenas da informação), em que a persuasão demonstrativa substitui a imposição por quem se apoderou do contrôle institucional ou de outros meios de dominação. Acolhe a pluralidade linguística e a diversidade cultural, que coloca como um dos valores supremos; nela cada qual tem o direito de seguir a religião que entender ou de não aceitar qualquer crença, desde que num ou noutro caso se não violem os princípios fundamentais do Estado e sociedade em que se vive. A União, os Estados, os serviços nacionais ou comunitários, as organizações públicas regem-se pelo princípio da laicidade.

A Europa como projecto / Vitorino Magalhães Godinho. - Lisboa : Edições Colibri, 2007.

Leituras recomendadas

Living together : Combining diversity and freedom in 21st-century Europe : Report of the Group of Eminent Persons of the Council of Europe / Council of Europe. - [S.l.] : Council of Europe, 2011. - 79 p. [Em linha]. Disponível em: https://infoeuropa.eurocid.pt/registo/000046703/documento/0001/

Members of the Group:

• Joschka Fischer (Chair)

Joseph Martin (“Joschka”) Fischer is a German politician, member
of the Alliance “90/the Greens”. He was Foreign Minister and Vice
Chancellor of Germany between 1998 and 2005.

• Emma Bonino

Emma Bonino is Vice-Chair of the Italian Senate. She was formerly
Minister for International Trade and European Affairs. From 1994-
99, she was the European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid,
Fisheries, Consumer Policy, Consumer Health Protection and Food
Safety.

• Timothy Garton Ash

Timothy Garton Ash is Professor of European Studies at the
University of Oxford. He is the author of nine books of “history of
the present”, which have charted the transformation of Europe over
the last 40 years. His weekly column in the Guardian is widely
syndicated across the continent.

• Martin Hirsch

Martin Hirsch was previously the French High Commissioner for
Active Solidarity against Poverty and High Commissioner for Young
People, and is currently the President of the Civic Service Agency.
He is also the former President of Emmaüs France.

• Danuta Hübner

Danuta Hübner is a Polish economist, academic and policy maker.
She was previously the Polish Minister for European Affairs and the
European Commissioner responsible for regional policy. Since 2009,
she has been a Member of the European Parliament.
Ayse Kadıoğlu
Aye Kadıoğlu is Professor of Political Science at Sabancı
University, Istanbul. She spent the 2009-10 academic year as the
Sabancı Fellow at the University of Oxford. She holds a PhD in
Political Science from Boston University (1990) and an MA in
International Relations from the University of Chicago (1984).

• Sonja Licht

Sonja Licht is an internationally renowned sociologist, and human
rights and political activist. She was part of the Yugoslav dissident
movement of the late 1960s, and two decades later founded many
local and international NGOs, including a number of women’s
organisations.

• Vladimir Lukin

Vladimir Lukin has been the Human Rights Commissioner of the
Russian Federation since 2004 and is also the President of the
Russian Paralympics Committee. A history graduate from Moscow
Lenin State Educational Institute, Vladimir Lukin also holds a
degree in sciences and has worked as a researcher for several years.

• Javier Solana

Javier Solana Madariaga is a Spanish physicist and socialist
politician. He has held several cabinet posts (Minister of Culture,
Minister for Education and Science, Minister for Foreign Affairs),
and is the former Secretary General of NATO and of the Council of
the European Union. He was the EU’s first High Representative for
the Common Foreign and Security Policy.

• Edward Mortimer (rapporteur)

Edward Mortimer is an English author and journalist, and is
currently Senior Vice President and Chief Programme Officer of the
Salzburg Global Seminar. From 2001-06, he was Director of
Communications in the Executive Office of the UN Secretary-
General, Kofi Annan.

• Council of Europe staff members who assisted in preparing the report

Directorate General of Democracy and Political Affairs: Piotr Świtalski (Director of
Policy Planning); Mehdi Remili; Rebecca Scaife; Jane Wodey; Demian Podolskyi;
Anna Dolgikh
Directorate of Communication: Daniel Höltgen (Director)