THE FUNDAMENTAL VALUES OF THE EUROPEAN UNION - FROM UTOPIA TO REALITY

In defining the main preconditions for successful coexistence in the emerging and constantly changing supranational European Union, the common fundamental values shared by the European population constitute one of the main factors of this integration. The present article strives to assess whether a consensus exists in the European Union with regard to the substance of these values and to examine whether these values are implemented also in the decisions taken every day at EU level. The author attempts to determine the causes of the assumed disparity between the political ideals proclaiming the desired social order and the European reality, and to envisage the consequences to which this situation may lead. The suggested conclusion is that the proclaimed fundamental values of the Union (still) do not find expression in the European reality and that they are (as yet) substituted by other, primarily economic, interests.