ARTICLES

Organizational Dynamics, 2005, Vol 34, No 3, pp. 218-230

The founding fathers of the European Union, Robert Schuman and Jean Monnet, dreamed of creating a community of nations that would become more directionally convergent as the years went by. The result of their vision is the EU, the most far-reaching plan for economic integration ever to be attempted among a group of sovereign countries. Its founding covenant, the Treaty of Rome (1957), aimed at the establishment of a common market, progressively bringing the economic policies of its members into alignment as it wished to promote the harmonious growth of economic activity in the Community as a whole, regular and balanced expansion, augmented stability, a more rapidly rising standard of living, and closer relations between the participating states.Today, with a combined GDP the same size as that of the United States, and a population 1.5 times larger, the sense of community and relative simplicity of management the EU originally had has been lost. Its growth has brought baffling complex ty. There are more candidates for membership waiting in the wings, several post-Communist nations and Turkey, a culturally, historically, and religiously very different country. The manageability and viability of the European Union is an issue debated by many political analysts. Navigating through this complex network of relationships requires extremely talented leadership.