The European Dream

:00:00. > :00:14.An Our World special: The European Dream.

:00:15. > :00:20.If the European Union has a birthplace, then it is here. In this

:00:21. > :00:33.little cottage in a woodland west of Paris. The dream was to make peace

:00:34. > :00:41.among European countries. If the EU has a founding father than it is

:00:42. > :00:47.this man, Jean Monet. -- then. In postwar Europe, with a circle of

:00:48. > :00:55.advisers, over coffee and cognac, they'd dream golf a continent

:00:56. > :01:04.prosperous and at peace. -- they dreamed of a. It was a great thing.

:01:05. > :01:10.It was easy to move to the UK. The EU has grown from a community of Six

:01:11. > :01:16.Nations to a union of 28. Morale waiting to join the club. So why do

:01:17. > :01:24.some say the dream has become a nightmare? -- more are. The taxes,

:01:25. > :01:29.all the migrants... They had a vision. In this house, they set the

:01:30. > :01:35.whole European project in motion. But what has become of that original

:01:36. > :01:49.vision? What state of health is the European dream in today? Jean Monet

:01:50. > :01:54.had an idea, to bind the economies of Europe so tightly that war would

:01:55. > :01:57.become impossible. He told his plan to the French Foreign Minister.

:01:58. > :02:14.Together, they formulated this declaration. The Schuman

:02:15. > :02:23.Declaration. Those at early Europe builders began by pooling French and

:02:24. > :02:27.German production of steel. It was the first step towards de facto

:02:28. > :02:34.solidarity and would lead, they hoped, towards a unified Europe.

:02:35. > :02:42.There aren't many of that generation left today. George is the last

:02:43. > :02:49.surviving member of his original cabinet at the European coal and

:02:50. > :02:54.steel community. It was the first institution out of which would grow

:02:55. > :03:00.the European Union. The dream was to make peace among European

:03:01. > :03:09.countries. Stable and credible. Then there was another element. That was

:03:10. > :03:14.prosperity. So, the problem was not only to rebuild Europe, but to

:03:15. > :03:22.modernise Europe. In this respect, we were looking at the exact route

:03:23. > :03:27.of the United States of America. Especially the size of the market.

:03:28. > :03:36.So, this is you? Yes. LAUGHTER. Peace and prosperity. That

:03:37. > :03:50.was the deal. They would soon sign the Treaty of Rome. The ambition was

:03:51. > :03:55.always for a much closer union. The driving powers were France and

:03:56. > :04:07.Germany, which, together, formed the central axis of a future European

:04:08. > :04:16.Union. This is the Rhine in Germany. Across the oriver, France. -- river.

:04:17. > :04:22.These two towns, which saw three wars in World War Two, are now the

:04:23. > :04:27.heartland of the European Union. Two towns on opposite banks of the

:04:28. > :04:32.Rhine. They are living together in peace. Their citizens can travel

:04:33. > :04:37.freely backwards and forwards over this bridge, and whatever side they

:04:38. > :04:43.happen to find themselves on, they can pay in a common currency. In so

:04:44. > :04:47.many ways, this is exactly what the European project has always hoped to

:04:48. > :04:52.achieve. Over the decades, Europe brought with it all sorts of

:04:53. > :04:56.benefits, jobs, common rights and protections for workers, health and

:04:57. > :05:00.safety laws, equal pay, the rental leave, but you don't have to dig

:05:01. > :05:05.very deep here to discover that the river still divides. -- parental

:05:06. > :05:14.leave. On the French side, there were once many factories. This one

:05:15. > :05:16.used to produce pistons for the European car industry, but high

:05:17. > :05:42.labour costs forced it to close. Back across the river, in a German

:05:43. > :05:43.town, they have full employment. This region is one of the richest in

:05:44. > :05:59.the EU. And here, we stumble across what

:06:00. > :06:11.appears to be the most pro-EU place in the union. Welcome to Europe

:06:12. > :06:19.Park. Meet Euro Mouse, the mascot of this Europe microcosm. Nestled among

:06:20. > :06:25.the rollercoasters our many of the member states. Scandinavia,

:06:26. > :06:37.Portugal, Greece, which includes Pegasus, the Sandra post- curse, and

:06:38. > :06:42.the flight of it as is -- Icarus. There is even a produce section.

:06:43. > :06:48.Fast food and Shakespeare. Who knew that the EU could be such family

:06:49. > :06:55.fun. Our favourite part is Scandinavia. The wooden

:06:56. > :07:02.rollercoasters awesome. -- rollercoasters. It reads like a

:07:03. > :07:10.German industrial fairytale. It was founded by stall works of German

:07:11. > :07:15.manufacturing since the late 18th century. -- stalwarts. It opened in

:07:16. > :07:22.1975, inspired by the vision of a united Europe. It was the best way

:07:23. > :07:28.to go. Nobody believed at that time that Europe would be as big as it is

:07:29. > :07:32.today. As much of Europe struggles with an economic crisis, in Germany,

:07:33. > :07:39.the dream of prosperity still burns bright. Today, nearly half the

:07:40. > :07:46.park's workers are from other EU nation. We are growing really fast.

:07:47. > :07:52.We will open a water park soon. We will need 700 more employees. It is

:07:53. > :08:00.difficult. The employment rate is so low in this area. You can't find the

:08:01. > :08:05.workers? Yeah. Despite Europe's economy is growing at different

:08:06. > :08:11.speeds, its nations are, today, united in peace. -- economies. 100

:08:12. > :08:17.years ago, millions of young men lost their lives in these fields.

:08:18. > :08:29.Along the roads that winds through the Europe's heartland, history

:08:30. > :08:34.lurks around every band. -- bend. This is Strasbourg, a city once

:08:35. > :08:41.fought over, now at the heart of the European project. The French home of

:08:42. > :08:46.the European Parliament. Throughout the EU's development, from its

:08:47. > :08:50.beginnings in coal and steel, the direction of travel has been one

:08:51. > :08:58.way, towards ever closer union. Its founders envisaged a United States

:08:59. > :09:03.of Europe. Maybe we were naive, but we thought we were in a position to

:09:04. > :09:08.change European history. Some thought we were stupid but we

:09:09. > :09:18.believed in that. At that time, we had the backing of public opinion on

:09:19. > :09:28.the continent. But this man's dream of a combined Europe is no longer

:09:29. > :09:32.popular, even here in Strasbourg. These young activists are out

:09:33. > :09:43.campaigning. They are the far right Front National. I was born in 1992.

:09:44. > :09:51.It was the year of the Treaty of Maastricht. We did not know this

:09:52. > :10:01.European dream. We only knew unemployment, the taxes, and the

:10:02. > :10:07.disadvantages of the European Union. It has been a fail for us. The Front

:10:08. > :10:13.National is booming. Marine Le Pen could become president of France.

:10:14. > :10:18.She has promised to follow Britain's lead and hold a referendum

:10:19. > :10:23.on EU membership. Julia says she will vote out. Some people worry

:10:24. > :10:29.that a party like yours is leading Europe act towards nationalism and

:10:30. > :10:38.back towards the place it was in the 1930s. -- back. You are right. The

:10:39. > :10:44.European Union is doing that, by creating unemployment and violence

:10:45. > :10:49.and in security. Apart from a few roadsigns, there is nothing to tell

:10:50. > :10:54.you that I have walked across an international frontier. And not just

:10:55. > :11:00.any old frontier. It is not so long ago that this was the Iron Curtain,

:11:01. > :11:05.stretching all the way from the Baltic to the Mediterranean, a line

:11:06. > :11:13.of barbed wire dividing Europe into binary opposites. All of that

:11:14. > :11:17.changed in 1989. MUSIC PLAYS. The fall of the Berlin Wall led to the

:11:18. > :11:25.biggest expansion of the European project since its inception. It

:11:26. > :11:34.brought common is nations to the European Union. -- communist. This

:11:35. > :11:40.is hungry's third largest city on the border with Serbia. Since

:11:41. > :11:44.joining in 2004, they have benefited from billions of euros of EU

:11:45. > :11:50.investment. But for the citizens of the former eastern bloc, perhaps the

:11:51. > :11:55.most cherished European principle is that of freedom of movement, the

:11:56. > :11:59.ability to travel, to live, to work, anywhere in the EU. It is a great

:12:00. > :12:04.thing for me because I am free to move. It was easy to move to the UK

:12:05. > :12:13.when I went there as a medical professional. It was free to move,

:12:14. > :12:18.free to cross the border is. A nurse in a care home in Szeged earns one

:12:19. > :12:26.sixth of what they could earn in the UK. Institutions like Britain's

:12:27. > :12:29.public health service, the NHS. Freedom of movement between the

:12:30. > :12:35.nations of the EU may be causing concern elsewhere, but not here. But

:12:36. > :12:41.the opening up of borders inside the union has highlighted deep sense of

:12:42. > :12:47.unease, one that was thrown into the sharp relief last summer. The

:12:48. > :12:51.migrant crisis. Europe's inability to forge a common response boiled

:12:52. > :12:56.over at the train station in the Hungarian capital, or depressed,

:12:57. > :13:00.after Germany unilaterally declared itself open for refugees. And so

:13:01. > :13:06.began the mass movement of people across and unwilling and disunited

:13:07. > :13:07.EU. Hungary was the first to close its borders. Others have followed

:13:08. > :13:35.suit. The Hungarian Prime Minister has

:13:36. > :13:41.taken these ideas from the fringes into the political mainstream. He

:13:42. > :13:45.has called his brand of politics you liberal democracy. For him and his

:13:46. > :13:50.supporters, the biggest threat to their European identity is the

:13:51. > :14:15.European Union itself. -- illiberal democracy.

:14:16. > :14:22.There is a growing dissident movement in European politics, one

:14:23. > :14:26.which reject ever closer union in favour of a strong nation state. On

:14:27. > :14:32.border control, on foreign policy, on the euro, Europe does not speak

:14:33. > :14:38.with one voice. The fall of the Berlin Wall once looked like the

:14:39. > :14:44.triumph of liberalism in the drive towards ever closer union. But that

:14:45. > :14:48.momentum has stalled, and so, more than a quarter of a century after

:14:49. > :14:53.they tore down the Iron Curtain, they are putting fences back up

:14:54. > :15:04.again. This is perhaps the biggest crisis of unity the EU has ever

:15:05. > :15:09.faced. It was here in the provincial Dutch town of Maastricht that the EU

:15:10. > :15:17.as we know it today was really created. It was here that the

:15:18. > :15:24.signing of the Maastricht Treaty that the European can community

:15:25. > :15:31.became a union. -- European Community. We go in search of the

:15:32. > :15:36.document, which is housed in a sort of modern castle, apparently

:15:37. > :15:43.surrounded by a moat. Eric Lemon is the curator, the man who guards the

:15:44. > :15:48.treaty. This is it. This is it. It is a copy, it is not the original

:15:49. > :15:53.treaty. We persuade them to open up the Cabinet. So we can leave through

:15:54. > :16:02.the treaty for ourselves. How significant is this document? This

:16:03. > :16:05.treaty? Yes. Very significant. The European Union is founded in this

:16:06. > :16:11.treaty, and of course, because of the common European currency which

:16:12. > :16:17.was also established, the Maastricht Treaty. Then came the crisis in the

:16:18. > :16:23.eurozone, and that posed a fundamental question. Can democratic

:16:24. > :16:28.sovereignty survived monetary union? Nowhere has that question being as

:16:29. > :16:36.stark as it has in the country where democracy was born, in Greece. The

:16:37. > :16:45.rise of the bread queue is a sign that things have gone very wrong

:16:46. > :16:49.indeed. This town is north of Atherton 's, nearly half of its

:16:50. > :16:53.residents are unemployed. When Greece could no longer pay its

:16:54. > :16:58.debts, it was bailed out by the EU in return for a strict regime of

:16:59. > :17:03.austerity. This austerity, these measures, they are so cruel.

:17:04. > :17:12.Especially for young, for the young generation. So difficult to keep

:17:13. > :17:16.up. That's what I think. The Greeks are in a bind. Last year they voted

:17:17. > :17:25.overwhelmingly against posterity. What did they get? Posterity anyway.

:17:26. > :17:35.Why are? Because many fear that life outside the euro would be even

:17:36. > :17:42.worse. Despite posterity, most want to remain in the single currency.

:17:43. > :17:45.And so Greece's left-wing government, elected on an

:17:46. > :17:49.anti-austerity programme, made a choice to implement policies it

:17:50. > :17:56.didn't agree with in order to remain part of the club. From the very

:17:57. > :18:00.beginning, there were questions. Can you have monetary union without

:18:01. > :18:04.having political union as well? Can you have a single currency and lots

:18:05. > :18:10.of different economic policies? What Greece shows us is that you can't.

:18:11. > :18:15.From the beginning, the founders of the European Union realised that

:18:16. > :18:25.prosperity is the key. The key to avoiding future conflicts and

:18:26. > :18:30.repairing a continent racked by war. In German, they have a single word

:18:31. > :18:42.that describes their country's post-war resurrection. Come to the

:18:43. > :18:51.Porsche factory in Stuttgart and see it for yourself. The crisis in the

:18:52. > :18:55.eurozone, in Greece and elsewhere, has kept the euro week. And that is

:18:56. > :19:02.good for Germany's export driven economy. But the workers at Porsche

:19:03. > :19:08.factory know that German success also depends on the survival of the

:19:09. > :19:11.union. Wider Germany they allowed Greece? Not because they are such

:19:12. > :19:15.good persons or something but because all of us are connected

:19:16. > :19:25.somehow to each other, and if one goes broke than the whole system is

:19:26. > :19:28.collapsing. Here is a confident country, and one which mostly

:19:29. > :19:30.believes in the European project. They are frustrated with those who

:19:31. > :20:02.just don't seem to get it. This is the Heute Show, and this is

:20:03. > :20:07.its presenter, Bolivar. Much of its humour seems to revolve around

:20:08. > :20:10.sausage, but he uses wurst to represent Germany's unease with its

:20:11. > :20:16.role as leader during the economic and migrant crisis. The thing is, in

:20:17. > :20:22.Germany there is an expression, and again there is the wurst, we were

:20:23. > :20:27.mingling along and seeing what happens, muddling through. Can we

:20:28. > :20:32.continue like that? Can we continue to sausage our way through Europe? I

:20:33. > :20:38.invented a whole is new expression! And do you think it will work? Well,

:20:39. > :20:41.it worked for the last five or six years. I'm not so sure is really the

:20:42. > :20:45.master plan for the next years, but of one thing you can be sure. There

:20:46. > :20:51.will never be a German government which will say OK, now in we will

:20:52. > :20:54.really take the lead, if you lead the way in the rest follows that

:20:55. > :20:58.doesn't work they hate you for the rest of your life. Even we want to

:20:59. > :21:04.be loved, you know? That's the sad truth. Even the Germans want to be

:21:05. > :21:11.loved. It has been more than 65 years since Europe set out on a

:21:12. > :21:15.journey that has led to today's complex union of 28 member states.

:21:16. > :21:17.But from the very beginning the founding fathers identified one

:21:18. > :21:24.country as the key to the European project. We wanted to give Germany a

:21:25. > :21:32.path to recovering their sovereignty. With us, not against

:21:33. > :21:39.us. Making sure that the German recovery will not come a threat. And

:21:40. > :21:44.this is what happened. It just happens that the most powerful

:21:45. > :21:50.country in Europe believes in Europe, the European dream. And so

:21:51. > :21:56.we are back where we were at the beginning of this programme, in a

:21:57. > :22:01.German town overlooking the Rhine into France. Whatever you think

:22:02. > :22:05.about the post-war European project, its greatest achievement

:22:06. > :22:08.surely as this, that it does now seem inconceivable for any member of

:22:09. > :22:15.the union to take up arms against another. If the European dream is

:22:16. > :22:19.piece than the EU has succeeded. Europe's heartland and its newer

:22:20. > :22:23.members are today undoubtedly more prosperous as well than they were in

:22:24. > :22:31.the aftermath of the 20th-century wars that spurred Europe greater

:22:32. > :22:36.integration. But as the union struggles to find common responses

:22:37. > :22:40.to the crises of the 21st century, the question is how much further

:22:41. > :22:42.sure that integration go? That is the issue that now divides this

:22:43. > :22:44.continent.