Download The Roman Empire

EUROPE:
PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS AND CULTURAL UNITY
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This project is about the public institutions and the cultural unity of
Europe.
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The Roman Empire kept
Europe united for centuries. It
relied over a region that today
is occupied by more than
twenty countries.
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People used a single currency
and had a common language,
Latin; there was a single
system of laws, the Roman
Law.
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There weren’t any frontiers; men, goods and money circulated freely
along the Roman road network.
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However, historians think that the Roman Empire can’t be
considered the origin of modern Europe, because it included many
African and Asian regions.
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The word “European”
appeared for the first time
during the battle of Poitiers, in
732 A.D. . The Arabs were
ruling Spain, trying to invade
France and threatening
Istanbul. Charles Martel led
the army that defeated the
Arabs and blocked their way
to Europe.
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A reporter of this battle appointed the word “European” in his
description of the final fight: “The Europeans, as they left their tents,
saw the Arab camps in front of them.”
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The first attempt to create an
European area was
Charlemagne’s Holy Roman
Empire (800 A.D.), that
extended from Spain to the
Rhine and the Black Sea.

Charlemagne promoted
culture with his “Schola
Palatina”, a network of
educational institutions.
Christianity became very
important, and the scribes
copied a lot of important
texts in the monasteries
using a new type of writing,
the “Minuscola Carolina”.
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However, when Charlemagne
died (814 A.D.) this unified
vision dissolved and the
European countries suffered
from wars and conquests.
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UE is a supranational and
intergovernmental
political subject that
includes 27 indipendent
and democratic countries.
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The European institutions
are:
The European Parliament
The Council of Ministers
The European
Commission
The European Council
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The Court of Justice
The Court of Accounts
The European Central Bank
“The European Federation is not intended to color in this way or
that an existing power. It was the sober proposal to create
a democratic European power.”
(Altiero Spinelli)