E.U. Is Turning 60 and Searching for Something to Celebrate

Sixty years after the treaty that led to its founding, the European Union is under fundamental stress — divided and divergent, anxious that it no longer represents the future but the past, and that it may be incapable of handling the serious challenges of this already-turbulent century.

As European leaders gather in Rome on Saturday to celebrate the anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain will be missing since her country has voted to leave — the most concrete evidence that the European Union is no longer the obvious answer to the Continent’s many challenges.

Born 60 years ago in optimism that cooperation in trade would benefit all, the principle binding a union that has expanded from six nations to 28 has been solidarity — that difficulties would be faced together, that cooperation would bring the convergence of politics and economics and “an ever closer union.”