Let us not forget that the European Community started as a

José Manuel Barroso, who once guided the European Union through turbulent waters, spoke with the wisdom of remembrance when he declared: “Let us not forget that the European Community started as a project for peace after the terrible Second World War. And today people take for granted the freedom to travel, to study, to work abroad. And the citizens of one country have almost exactly the same rights as another country.” In these words, he calls us not to complacency, but to gratitude; not to forgetfulness, but to vigilance. For what is easily taken for granted today was bought with blood and vision yesterday.

When Barroso reminds us of the Second World War, he evokes an age of fire and ruin. Europe was a shattered land: cities bombed to rubble, millions dead, families broken, nations poisoned by hatred. Out of that abyss, men and women dared to dream of a different future—a union where coal and steel, once weapons of destruction, would become bonds of cooperation. Thus was born the European Community, not as a project of mere economics, but as a covenant for peace, so that never again would neighbor turn against neighbor in slaughter.

His words shine a light on what has been achieved. Today, citizens of Europe enjoy freedom to travel, to study, to work abroad—privileges so ordinary to the young that their ancestors’ sacrifices seem like distant myth. A student from Lisbon may study in Paris; a worker from Warsaw may find opportunity in Berlin; a family from Athens may move freely to Dublin. These are not small conveniences, but the fruits of a long struggle to turn swords into ploughshares, suspicion into trust, and walls into bridges.

History offers testimony to the power of such unity. After the fall of Napoleon, the Congress of Vienna sought to build peace through balance, yet its fragile arrangements crumbled into new wars. After the First World War, the League of Nations sought harmony, but without true solidarity, it failed. Only after the Second World War, when visionaries bound their economies and peoples together, did the dream of lasting peace gain real foundation. The European project is the first in centuries to prevent great wars on a continent long drenched in blood.

Yet Barroso warns of a danger: that people take for granted what has been so dearly won. Freedom, once assumed as permanent, can be eroded by carelessness, nationalism, or indifference. Rights, once secured, can vanish if not guarded. He reminds us that unity is not inevitable, but a fragile gift, one that must be renewed by memory and by choice. Forgetting the origin of the European Community as a peace project is to risk repeating the tragedies that birthed it.

The deeper meaning here is that peace is never merely the absence of war—it is the patient building of trust, rights, and shared destiny. The citizens of one country having almost the same rights as another is not only law, but symbol: it means the borders that once divided into enemies now join into fellowship. It is the quiet triumph of the human spirit over its old demons of division.

The lesson for us is profound: never take lightly the privileges of freedom and unity. Cherish the ability to move across lands without fear, to learn from neighbors, to work and live among those once considered strangers. But also, remember that such gifts rest upon memory, sacrifice, and responsibility. To preserve them, we must not sink into indifference, but stand vigilantly for cooperation, justice, and solidarity.

So, O listener, heed Barroso’s words: do not forget the origin of this peace, and do not take its fruits for granted. Teach the young that their freedom was forged from suffering, and that their unity is a shield against the darkness of old wars. Let them travel not only with passports but with gratitude; let them study not only for themselves but for the future of their continent; let them work not only for wages but for fellowship. For only thus will Europe remain not a battlefield of nations, but a community of peace.