Europe celebrates 50 successful years but the EU must continue its work

10.09.56am BST (GMT +0100) Mon 26th Mar 2007

To mark the fiftieth anniversary of the Rome Treaty in 1957, Bill Newton Dunn (Liberal Democrat MEP for East Midlands) commented that:

"Our continent has come a very long way indeed since the end of the Second World War in 1945. After centuries of mutual violence, we have abolished war between the peoples of Western Europe. Agreements like the Rome Treaty have cemented peaceful relations between us all. Africans and Arabs now ask us how they can do the same.

"We Europeans now have different challenges to face together - climate change, fundamentalist Islam which does not believe in human rights and democracy, the economic challenges to our jobs from China and India, international organised crime, and more.

"Having learned to work together, we Europeans must stay together and fight for our values throughout the world."