What Is The Berlin Declaration?

The Berlin Declaration was issued on 25 March 2007, by the EU's 27 member states to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the European Union. Most EU politicians consider the 1957 Treaty of Rome as the beginning of the EU.

The meeting of EU leaders was held in Berlin, because Germany currently holds the EU's rotating presidency.  At the centre of the Berlin Declaration is an attempt to revive the EU constitution, which has been dead in the water since French and Dutch voters rejected the proposal in referendums held in 2005. In the Berlin Declaration, the EU's leaders confirmed their desire to renew the constitutional process, or something similar to it, without explicitly using the 'c' word, before the 2009 EU parliamentary elections. The declaration also affirmed the EU's commitment to preserve the national, linguistic and cultural diversity of its 27 member states. In some ways, this point can be seen as an attempt to appease all those who feel that the EU is already too centralised and that member states are losing their independence and national character. Interestingly, the Berlin Declaration does not touch on the issue of further enlargement.