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THE EUROPEAN UNION was created by the Treaty of Rome 60 years ago this weekend, but it’s far from the first vision of a united Europe.
Here are some other notable examples from history of when Europeans attempted to unite under one flag, people or nation.
Roman Empire
WHEN: 27 BC to 476, the empire falling to the German Goths
WHERE: Stretched from northern England to North Africa, Europe’s Atlantic coast to the Middle East
WHAT: Visions of a united Europe have often been anchored in the time when toga-wearing emperors spread their influence across territory even greater than today’s EU.
The EU’s founding Treaty of Rome of 1957 was signed in a city that was the seat of European civilisation and centralised power for a half a millenium.
Rome endured longer than any regime since, finally falling to infighting, overreach and barbarian invasions.
Charlemagne
WHEN: 768 to 814
WHERE: Eastern Europe to Western France, most of Italy
WHAT: Rome was at the heart of the European project launched by Charlemagne, king of the Franks.
Mostly based in Aachen, Germany, Charlemagne fought endless wars to unite his vast kingdom under one throne and was crowned emperor of Rome by Pope Leo III (750-816), the first since the fall of the Roman Empire.
A zealous Christian, Charlemagne imposed his faith across Europe’s feudal boundaries, instituting political reforms and an intellectual revival.
The Holy Roman Empire would endure after Charlemagne, but as a loose confederation of German duchies and city-states.
Charles V
WHEN: 1515-1555
WHERE: Spain, Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and South America.
WHAT: The one ruler of the Holy Roman Empire who sought to unite Europe into a seamless whole on scale with today’s European Union was Charles Hapsburg.
Charles V was a French-speaking Belgian with a Spanish mother and a Flemish father who tried to forge a Europe based on staunch Catholicism, common laws and colonialism.
But Europeans proved to be too disparate and unwilling to pay taxes to a Belgium-based autocrat with whom they had little in common.
Charles V stood down as monarch after ruling for 34 years, retiring to a monastery in Spain.
Napoleon Bonaparte
WHEN: 1799-1815
WHERE: Spain to the outskirts of Moscow
WHAT: The French Revolution, rooted in the Enlightenment, changed Europe forever, not least because a Corsican dictator tried to impose its values across much of what is now the EU.
Influenced by ancient Rome, Napoleon transformed the French Revolution into a family-run empire, and embarked on a decade of military battles that ended with his final defeat at Waterloo, now a Brussels suburb.
Napoleon felt deeply for Europe’s Roman past. He gave Paris a Roman-style triumphal arch to celebrate his war dead and created the Legion of Honour, an order of distinction, on the model of the Roman Legio Honoratorum. He also invoked Charlemagne at his imperial coronation in 1804.
Victor Hugo
WHEN: 1840s
WHAT: After the Congress of Vienna, the post-Napoleonic peace deal, Europe became a continent of nation states that worked warily together in a careful balance of power operated by political conservatives.
Against this, intellectuals such as France’s Victor Hugo and Italy’s Giuseppe Mazzini pleaded for a united states of Europe based on peace and a leftist common purpose that would fuel the revolutions of 1848 — and provide the basis for visions of post-World War II Europe.
Adolf Hitler
WHEN: 1938-1945
WHERE: Most of Europe, parts of North Africa and Russia
WHAT: Hitler’s vision of Europe under the Nazi swastika was less a dream than a twisted search for “lebensraum” for a Greater Germany.
Rome again proved an inspiration, in the form of the Nazi eagle and other martial iconography, as well as Hitler’s grand architectural projects.
There were also echoes of Napoleon, particularly in that it was another doomed attempt to conquer Russia that would eventually see the 1,000-year Reich collapse within six years of war that left tens of millions dead.
Boris Johnson, now Britain’s foreign minister, sparked outrage last year when he compared the EU to Napoleon and Hitler.
European Union
WHEN: 1957 – ?
WHERE: Currently 28 nations
WHAT: In 1950, just five years after World War II, French foreign minister Robert Schuman unveiled proposals for an economic union between France and West Germany, drawing on the ideas of economist Jean Monnet that were long seen as a pacifist fantasy.
A year later, six countries — Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and The Netherlands — established the European Coal and Steel Community, from which on March 25, 1957, the Treaty of Rome established the precursor of the EU.
The UK is now set to become the first country to leave, but the EU is a chapter in Europe’s history that remains unfinished.
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Ah yes of course, thats the problem, the location of the courthouse!… If the had more to be afraid of while going to the courthouse there wouldn’t be much brawling.
So has the Journal gotten to the point were we can not identify the ethnic (sic) group involved in this public disorder? I guess turning a blind eye will solve the problem
Well it wasn’t a group of 16 year old water protesters that caused that disgraceful yet too frequent scene. And the itinerant group responsible will not give a hoot. The same happened last weekend at 2am in Galway A&E it never made the news such is the frequency of these animals anti social activities. But let’s do the Irish PC thing and hide from it……
Its me culture Boss!
Love/Hate and the introduction of TVs to their culture could be part of the problem
Or the solution Eco… its time they looked at the light their lifestyle is shone upon.
Are you sure it’s not whisky Eco?
Ha my comment was deleted for saying the majority of travellers don’t contribute to this society and should get long jail stretches for these brawls. The media that fail to highlight these gurriers are travellers are pandering to paved point. Grow a pair.
Did you notice how Pavee Point failed the comment in relation the Fermanagh wedding shooting? Their silence was deafening actually. Can’t stand that hypocrisy, can’t abide that organisation.
Afaik pavee did speak on the last word. Though I’ve not listened as Matt would just give a soft interview anyway.
My issue with them is that they never strongly and forth-rightly criticise those elements in their community. Their responses always seem to be cloaked in ambiguity, with a provision that it’s somehow the fault of the media / settled community / government / funding (change as you wish)
Ahh..good ole pikies having a chat after there daily court appearance…
I live in Portlaoise, why do they want to re-invent the wheel? I have the courthouse very convenient located right at the main street in from of my favourite Pub/Restaurant so I can go have a drink after cashing in after a long day defending “Mr. Allegedly thief” and “Mrs Air Miles Traveller”
Jail the gurriers
Gurriers? Very PC there Journal. Call them what they are. Members of the travelling community and they behave like knackurs.
2nd and 3rd generation s**bags. …
and interbreeding.
Will ya stop, it’s their culture
Wonder if these are the same people who attended a wedding in Fermanagh that ended in a shooting?
Have not heard any comments or calls to move thet church to the out skirts of town.
Nope, I think they were the same crowd that beat each other unconscious with iron bars in mountmellick a while back
Ah sure it’s all a bit of craic
What a load of s**t, most courthouses are in the centre of towns, what next move all pubs and fast food outlets outside our towns in case of any trouble outside these places?
It’s the caliber of ‘clients’ not the location that’s the issue. It’s intimidating passing when the court is on. It’s a small Main Street and when the court is sitting, there is a mix of prison guards, gardai, solicitors and undesirables on the street. I’m not sure changing the location would help much, the issue would simply be moved not dealt with.
The report lacks much of the key detail – why was there a brawl? Who was involved? It’s disappointing that the journal, for whatever reason, has chosen to dodge this aspect, as it still strongly relates to the report even with their chosen angle. The background to the story can be found here: http://leinsterexpress.ie/news/local-news/ugly-row-sparked-in-court-1-6570978
Cliff notes: it was a brawl based on a previous brawl involving travellers (quelle surprise) who decided to literally crack heads with iron bars in the middle of the town.
Just to add; this type of activity, according to pavee point rep on PT last night, is all an invention of the media it would seem. Shocking performance.
Walk past the courthouse when it’s in session is an eye opener , prison vans parked up outside with inmates Locked in them , travellers loitering outside it along with other dirt from the town .. It’s very intimidating .. I feel sorry for anyone who has a business along Main Street , law abiding citizens going about their business shouldn’t have to look at this .
I live in Portlaoise and yes, it’s very scary when there’s a court case on.
I know Portlaoise well and teh courthouse is one of the few nice buildings on that street. So I hope they just move the courts to another venue and use the building foe something else.
Maybe they could have the court sessions out on the bog!
Haha maybe next time!
What is he hoping to achieve by his ludicrous proposal that moving the courthouse will stop brawling outside it, other than getting his name in the papers? Well, folks, we voted not to abolish the Seanad so this is what you get.
But it will keep it off Main Street where people shop , if we build outside the town & keep the fools with their white socks pull over the tracksuit bottom out there
I expect we’ll hear tearful stories over the coming days about gardai calling to the homes of those involved at 7am to question them.
And furious outrage on the Journal at Ireland turning into a police state of fascists.
Arresting protestors =/= arresting courthouse brawlers
Anyone involved, and not dispersing when asked to by Gardai, in an unruly gathering that intimidates another citizen should expect to be questioned about it by gardai.
Being 16 is no excuse whatsoever.
John your an ass hole no doubt!!!!
It’s always the same faces outside it .. The same group of people reoffending .. So much for prison rehabilitation .. When are we going to realise that the Irish prison service is taking the wrong approach on rehabilitation , they are a failing department !!
3 strikes rule is needed.
More prisons with better outcomes are what’s actually needed.
Scarr I work in a prison , I witness first hand what goes on .. Prison governors are too soft , cable TV , 3 meals a day..punishment wings are being done away with so no incentive not to keep outta trouble , all prisoners get full remission even those who don’t participate in education etc, Irish prison service give the public the image this doesn’t happen but it does .
This issue has been ongoing for years and has nothing to do with any one group or any one incident. The anti-social behavior, intimidation, loitering in large groups across the footpaths, hassling passers-by – many of them elderly or women with young children- is a daily occurrence due to the frequency of court sittings (since other smaller courts in the county were closed down over the years).
There is no parking whatsoever for the Garda or prison vehicles and the growing brazenness of the protagonists is really undermining and damaging the local businesses and impeding people from going about their business.
This is unfair and unacceptable.
The courthouse is right beside our shops, cafes, arts centre and now the Council propose to relocate the library to Main Street.
It would be like having a courthouse on Grafton Street and it is damaging the reputation of the town and the ability to attract families to the town centre and revive the Main Street and the heart of the Town.
For people who are never up in court this is shocking and frightening carry-on and no laughing matter or something to sneer about.
Moving the courthouse won’t solve all the problems involved, I agree, but it will solve many of them. Some of the other issues are more deep rooted, complex and harder to resolve.
My view is that the Courthouse should be relocated and co-located on the site of the new Garda station which is also long overdue and this would present a number of benefits and advantages in terms of anti-social behavior, safety of shoppers and security.
I am glad that the Department of Justice and the Courts Services agreed this week that the courthouse is in an unsuitable location and needs to be moved and they are seeking to source a suitable site.
The sooner the better.
I’m sure when the Gardai have finished their dawn arrests and their thorough investigation into the horrific crime of your dear Tanaiste been trapped in her car for two hours while she joked, made phone calls and read a newspaper. The Gardai may spare some of their precious resources and send a car around to have a look.
How does next January suit?
“Some of the other issues are more deep rooted, complex and harder to resolve.” If people with a string of serious convictions were defined as professional criminals and locked up for a few decades it would solve that “complex” problem overnight.
@john whelan .. Fair play for highlighting this .. As usual Brian Stanley goes quiet when it comes to these types of debates . The courthouse should be shut down now & temporary arrangements made to hold it somewhere else . I feel nothing will be done & we will all be having the same debate in 5 years time
Bit rich from a labour supporter when labour have wasted so many resources and done so much damage to credibility of gardai arresting children and opposition politicians!
Travellers, Ireland’s version of black crime.
Gurriers?? eh no…its a bunch of cream crackers who think they can do what they like and pass it of as a cultural thing! Where is the silent majority of these people who c seemingly condemn this behaviour and why are they not doing anything about it. Innocent bystanders are constantly getting caught in the middle of these animals “feuds” and we are told “shur” its their culture and we have to be tolerant!!!!
Yeah we should do what the Nazis did. Idiot
Ahh Mr Godwin, you are never far away and you are very welcome. Your Law continues to prove itself time and time again.
Eeeerh……….would it not be cheaper to move the gurriers?
Of course….just moving the gurriers or policing them properly would not involve developers, consultants, architects etc.
Knackers the Garda don’t want to know. But if your a tax payer look out!!!
I do not believe that anyone who lives in Portlaoise will be sorry to see the Courthouse move to a more suitable location. There is no doubt it has stunted the regeneration of the main street. Also , the Garda station is the old British Baracks and was built in a time in the 1800′s when Portlaoise had barely a few thousand people and plenty of horses and carriages !
The population is closer to 16,000 now and both the Courthouse and the Garda baracks need relocating and upgrading to buildings more suitable to the age we live in .
The population of Portlaoise is now north of 20,000 according to the last census.
Simple, jail them, no parole or remission and have a referendum on the revolving door justice system that seems to be only supported by criminals and smoked salmon socialists on RTE.
Ya better walk while ya still have the legs ta carry ya!
Don’t need court house, just a nice big gas chamber! Our society don’t need pikeys! Will anyone miss them? I think not!!!
So the fact I run a retail store just off the main street in Portlaoise I should move too? I have gardai in store almost every week with shoplifting and they are back the next day.
have your say