To politicians such as Winston Churchill, Konrad Adenauer, and Robert Schuman, it was self-evident that the people of Europe had to unite. More than half a century later, despite the fine words used in the EU treaties, the general perception is that, in practice, the EU is no more than a society of interest groups, led by ‘technocrats and bureaucrats’ in Brussels. The questions at the core of this debate were: Do we pay enough heed to the foundations of European civilisation, on which we have built our society since World War II? What possibilities and responsibilities does European politics have concerning European culture and its values? What is the importance of shared values in a united Europe, and what will be the consequences if we do not maintain those shared values?