I found a gift in the mail: the 2010 edition of Europe and you: A snapshot of EU achievements, courtesy of the European Union publications office.

Sixty years ago, Europeans –millions of Europeans– were hungry and cold. Europe was beset by the challenges of economic reconstruction and the threats of the cold war. The smartest heads and steadiest hands concurred: the situation was bleak, war was likely (if it hadn’t already begun, in a subterranean way), and future prospects were dim. Grandiosity or triumphalism were absent from public discourse.

The European Union has achieved more than its founders would have dared imagine. The point today seems obvious, but it’s not: customs duties and other barriers have been removed within the EU, and imports face common treatment regardless of point of entry. Economic activities can be organized on a grand scale, and market behavior is policed to curtail collusion or abuse. Many of the EU’s 500 million inhabitants can cross national borders without showing any document, much less having to seek a visa. The Euro figures among the world’s leaing currencies.

Surprisingly, none of this is mentioned by so much as a single word in Europe and you. This “snapshot of EU achievements” instead teeters between grandiosity and lack of self-confidence:

  • Is the EU really fighting dementia, or hunger in the world’s poorest countries? Of course not. Scientists and relief organizations do that work. The EU may fund their efforts, but writing a check is not the same as doing the work, especially when the check-writer is a custodian of public funds.
  • Has the EU contributed to lower mobile phone rates, or to better terms for credit card holders? Arguably so, through legislative action and effective economic policing. But do these accomplishments deserve a place among the top ten EU accomplishments? They’re several orders of magnitude smaller than what the EU actually has done but does not discuss.