Сжать текст до 5-7 предложений не потеряв основную мысль Today twenty-eight countries belong to the European Union. More than 507
million Europeans have the right to live in, work in or travel to other EU
countries. Millions of people enjoy friendly contact with their neighbours
across borders. Governments across Europe pass the same laws about
employment, food, transport, health and the environment. The EU is also the
largest free market in the world. A typical European supermarket is full of
fresh fruit, vegetables, cheese and meat that come from all over Europe.
Twelve countries even use the same currency, the euro. In fact, the European
Union has a very big influence over our lives, but most of us don’t even

notice it. But if we look at Europe just three generations ago, we start to 942-Fu
understand that the story of the EU is even more surprising. In 1945, Europe

had just experienced the most terrible war in history. Many historians believe

that at least forty million people were killed, although such numbers are very

hard to calculate. At the end of the war millions were homeless and much of
Europe was in ruins. In fact, famine was a bigger problem in 1947 than it was
during the war years. Worst of all, many countries still didn’t trust each other.

It is perhaps a surprise to lear that the first politician to suggest “a United
Europe’ after the war was Winston Churchill, the British Prime Minister

during the war years.

In September 1946, during a meeting in Swiertand, he said that Europeans
should come together to create a “United States of Europe’. However, most
people, especially in Britain, thought that Churchill’s ideas were shocking or
even absurd. Eight months later a huge conference was organised in the
Netherlands. Eight hundred important European academics and politicians

were invited. Pethaps the most powerful speech was made by Salvador de
Madariaga, a Spanish politician and writer:

This Europe must be born, And she will,
when Spaniards say ‘our Chartres’,
Englishmen say “our Cracow’, Italians ‘our
Copenhagen’ and Germans “our Bruges’
Then Europe will live.
But when de Madariaga spoke these words in 1947, it was already too late.
Despite the fine words and emotional speeches, the Netherlands conference

couldn’t save Europe - it was already divided in two, But the idea of “a,
United Europe’ didn’t die completely. A French politician, Robert Schuman,
believed that the only way that France and Germany could become good
neighbours again was by cooperating economically. In 1951 six countries
agreed to regulate trade, prices and production of coal and steel. The
experiment was a success, and in 1957 the six countries signed the Treaty of
Rome and created the European Economic Community (in 1993, the EEC
changed its name to the European Union). Nine more countries joined the
organisation between 1973 and 1992 and another ten countries became
‘members in 2004, followed by two more in 2007 and one more in 2013
Perhaps de Madariaga’s dream will come true one day afterall