Poljuljana uvjerenja
Global recession and inflated energy prices - Europe’s post-war boom comes to an abrupt end in the 1970s. New social movements challenge the political order.
Amid the economic and social turmoil, the European Community continued to build up the common market. Greece, Portugal and Spain became New Member states – all of which had shaken off the shackles of dictatorship.
Riven by structural problems, communist countries entered a period of decline, and in 1989, the bicentenary of the French revolution, these regimes are brought crashing down through mostly peaceful revolutions.
The ending of the Cold War offered the chance for Europe to gradually come together in closer co-operation. Former communist countries started the process of joining the European Union, doubling the number of its member states. Nations agreed to abandon more and more of their powers in order to achieve supranational efficiency.
Although the financial and Euro crisis of 2008 has shown the European Union how closely bound together it is, these problems also highlight shortcomings. They are tests of European solidarity.
