Modern Europe turns 50

last updated 8 January 2015

Berlin

Leaders from all 27 E.U. countries partied in Berlin this week to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome. That agreement—really just a trade pact among France, West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Italy—is regarded as the first incarnation of what is now the European Union. It has grown both wider and deeper since then, said German Chancellor Angela Merkel. “Europe is much more than dairy cows and the Chemical Directive,” she said. “The idea of European union is a question of war and peace.” Still, the celebrations were widely seen as less exuberant than last year’s soccer World Cup festivities, also hosted by Berlin.