YES, WE CARE!

EUROPE: PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND

CULTURAL UNITY

Yes, we care! This project is about the public

institutions and the cultural unity of Europe.

The Roman Empire

The Roman Empire kept Europe united for centuries. It relied over a region that today is occupied by more than twenty countries.

The Roman Empire

People used a single currency and had a common language, Latin; there was a single system of laws, the Roman Law.

The Roman Empire There weren’t any frontiers; men, goods

and money circulated freely along the Roman road network.

The Roman Empire However, historians think that the Roman

Empire can’t be considered the origin of modern Europe, because it included many African and Asian regions.

The word “European” The word “European”

appeared for the first time during the battle of Poitiers, in 732 A.D. . The Arabs were ruling Spain, trying to invade France and threatening Istanbul. Charles Martel led the army that defeated the Arabs and blocked their way to Europe.

The word “European” A reporter of this battle appointed the

word “European” in his description of the final fight: “The Europeans, as they left their tents, saw the Arab camps in front of them.”

The Holy Roman Empire

The first attempt to create an European area was Charlemagne’s Holy Roman Empire (800 A.D.), that extended from Spain to the Rhine and the Black Sea.

The Holy Roman Empire Charlemagne

promoted culture with his “Schola Palatina”, a network of educational institutions. Christianity became very important, and the scribes copied a lot of important texts in the monasteries using a new type of writing, the “Minuscola Carolina”.

The Holy Roman Empire

However, when Charlemagne died (814 A.D.) this unified vision dissolved and the European countries suffered from wars and conquests.

UE (European Union)

UE is a supranational and intergovernmental political subject that includes 27 indipendent and democratic countries.

UE (European Union) The European

institutions are: The European

Parliament The Council of

Ministers The European

Commission The European

Council

UE (European Union)

The Court of Justice The Court of

Accounts The European

Central Bank

“The European Federation is not intended to color in this way or that an existing power. It was the sober proposal to create a democratic European power.”

(Altiero Spinelli)