The European Union is celebrating its 50th anniversary this week and the squabbling over the signature Berlin Declaration, a birthday card to itself, seemed to vindicate critics who described the EU in midlife crisis.

But in assessing where the EU is today, it's important to note its one, great overarching achievement. In the 50 years preceding the origins of the EU, Europe had fought two catastrophic wars. Moreover, at the formation of this new and strange entity Europe seemed on the verge of another conflict at the hands of an expansionist Soviet Union.

The EU began life as the six-nation European Coal and Steel Community with the simple goal of easing tariff barriers. But one of its founders, the visionary Jean Monnet, foresaw "a European federation for preserving peace on the continent." In fits and starts, guided by an at-times maddening bureaucracy, the EU expanded its membership and its mission and today has 27 nations, dedicated to the free movement of people and capital, democracy, the rule of law and open markets.

It hasn't been smooth. But beside the shambles and misery of postwar Europe, today's issues pale as any kind of grave problem. The EU would be advised, however, to improve its military capability in tandem with NATO. The Europeans place much stock in their "soft power," their economic and diplomatic influence. Soft power without real power is just soft.