In 2007 the European Union (EU) celebrated the 50th anniversary of
the Treaty of Rome establishing the European Economic Community.
Fifty years after the signing ceremony on the 25th March
1957 at the Palazzo dei Conservatori on Capitoline Hill, Rome, it is
rather difficult to say anything new or certain about the contemporary
EU. There are, however, three ‘big pictures’ of the EU which can
just be seen with sufficient critical distance if one takes a step backwards.
These three pictures are only now coming into focus half a
century after the signing of the Treaty of Rome and represent images
of the ‘raison d’être’, ‘hybrid polity’, and ‘normative balance’ of the
EU.