14. what are the main values of EU?

According to the president of the European Commission, the European Union's core values are:
- Solidarity [redistributes and takes away from the rich],
- Sustainability [the more regulations the better],
- Accountability [stop capitalism],
- Security [Big brother is watching you],
- Promoting Europes values in the world [yes, the world is waiting for this to come].
Unsurprisingly, individual liberty is not part of the program.

And yet, if especially European history during the 20th century teaches one thing, then it is the lesson that the worst
things only happen when individual freedom gets threatened by bureaucrats. Individual freedom is the central value,
which must remain a barrier to governmental action. For it is governments, who have always been the worst enemies of
mankind, not nature, poverty or bad luck. Real liberty is therefore always freedom from the government. The European
Union being some sort of statist utopia, individual liberty would seemingly only be a bothering obstacle to its collectivist
goals.

The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, liberty, democracy, equality, the rule of law and
respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. These values are common to the
Member States. Moreover, the societies of the Member States are characterized by pluralism, non-discrimination,
tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men. These values play an important role, especially in
two specific cases. Firstly, under the procedure for accession set out in Article I-58, any European State wishing to
become a member of the Union must respect these values in order to be considered eligible for admission. Secondly,
failure by a Member State to respect these values may lead to the suspension of that Member State's rights deriving
from membership of the Union (Article I-59).

The European Union (EU) is a significant player on the world stage. It is seen as having a history and example from which
others could learn from. It consists of 27 countries living out their own understanding of democracy. Yet it does not
always have a coherent voice.
The EU is one of the largest economic and political groupings in the world. It is the biggest provider of international
development assistance. It has lively discussions about democracy and human rights. Its handling of internal affairs,
foreign and security policy, international development, trade, agriculture and migration is watched by governments
everywhere. For good or bad, whether intentionally or not, the EU affects the way democracies develop all over the
world.