While European civil law has evolved considerably and greatly facilitates the task of judges and legal practitioners, many very real difficulties remain for European citizens, particularly in terms of family life, the transfer of assets, support for vulnerable adults and the circulation of public documents.
Democratising the experience of living in a country other than one's own is one of the promises of the European project. But there is still plenty of room for progress and many areas for practical and administrative improvement.
Europe has changed, Jean-Dominique Giuliani emphasises in the introduction to the "Schuman Report on Europe, the State of the Union 2023", to be published by Marie B. In under five years the European Union has acquired most of the tools it needed to develop an industrial policy, to organise solidarity in times of hardship and a strategy of autonomy in economic and health matters.
There was an incident between the Greek Prime Minister and the Turkish President at the European Political Community summit on 6 October in Prague. On the ground, tensions remain high and Athens is calling for European solidarity and strengthening its military forces.
Although Ariane 5 has just successfully completed its final launch, Europe's space industry appears to be lagging behind. It needs to build a new industrial strategy and reform the sector's institutions to meet the challenges posed by the Americans and the Chinese.