L’esperienza europea in controluce: riscoprire le ragioni di un inizio

The essay discusses the evolution of the European Union's institutions from their origin. that is from the association of the six founding countries for limited purposes (European Coal and Steel Community, ECSC, 1951) to the European Economic Community (EEC created by the Treaty of Rome in 195ì. In particular, the author questions the reasons that generate one of the most important post-\Xl\'VII institutional innovations on a global scale. and considers the reasons within the perspective of the current EU crisis. The author suggests that there is a need to learn from the social catholic tradition, the history of the Catholic Church, and in particular, Pope Benedict XVI's recent speech enumerating the problems of contemporary Europe as: a problem of confidence/trust; a problem of consensus; and a problem of unawareness of the foundations of institutional and political aggregation. What solutions are available? The author suggests that creativity is the impetus for freedom, since creativity with reasonable hope; in other words: realism must place a problem or conflict at the centre of a debate, and thus transforms the conflict into an opportunity for discussion and collaboration.