Review article
THE FUNDAMENTAL VALUES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION – FROM UTOPIA TO REALITY
Ivor Altaras Penda
; HR-10000 Zagreb, Mrazovićeva 10, Croatia
Abstract
In defining the main preconditions for successful coexistence in
the emerging and constantly changing supranational European Union,
the common fundamental values shared by the European population
constitute one of the main factors of this integration. The present article strives to assess whether a consensus exists in the European Union with regard to the substance of these values and to examine
whether these values are implemented also in the decisions taken
every day at EU level. The author attempts to determine the causes of the assumed disparity between the political ideals proclaiming the desired social order and the European reality, and to envisage the consequences to which this situation may lead. The suggested conclusion is that the proclaimed fundamental values of the Union (still) do not find expression in the European reality and that they are (as yet) substituted by other, primarily economic, interests.
Keywords
European Union; fudamenal values; EU Constitution; European integration
Hrčak ID:
20957
URI
Publication date:
29.3.2006.
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