When Jean Monnet, one of the architects of the Unified Europe Project, maintained that “Europe will be forged in crises, and will be the sum of the solutions adopted for those crises.”, he probably did not give much credit for populism and nationalism to rise once again from their ashes. 

As the Unified Europe of the 1950s became an economic giant against the background of common ideas and values, the present economic bottleneck crippling Europe leads to a questioning of these ideas and values. Low growth and employment rates, large public debts, crisis of the Single Market, ambiguity surrounding the Euro and socio-economic tribulations associated with the refugee crisis, proceed simultaneously. 
Addressing to European leaders on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, Pope Francis underscored the need for approaching the refugee issue not exclusively in the context of economy and security, but as an exercise for remembering the past and fundamental values while shaping the future. Often quoting from the founding fathers of the Unified Europe Project, Pope argued that mass migrations in the 20th century’s world wars were an integral part of the formation of the Union.