Fifty-four years after the announcement of the Schuman Plan that began to knit together the economies of France and Germany, the EU now has 25 countries and a population larger than that of the United States. Eight of the new members are former Communist countries that were locked behind the Iron Curtain for nearly half a century.
联结法德两国经济的舒曼计划颁布54年后的今天，欧盟已有25个成员国，人口数甚至超过了美国。其中8个新成员为前共产党国家，近半个世纪来他们被铁幕重重封锁。它们加入欧盟表明了欧洲统一理念"软性力量"所具有的强大生命力。