European Union

The Post-War Foundations

When the Second World War ended, Europe's leaders faced a genuine fork in the road — the 'Question of Europe', as it came to be called: revert to the old pattern of rival nation-states, or build something new around shared institutions and a more cooperative vision of international relations? The war had already blown apart many of the assumptions and structures that had once held European relations together, and by 1945 the continent's states were confronting economies in ruins and a foundation that no longer existed.

Ironically, the Cold War itself helped push European countries toward each other. Washington poured large-scale financial assistance into reviving Western Europe's economies through the Marshall Plan, and separately built a new collective-security architecture around NATO. To manage and channel the Marshall Plan funds, the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) was set up in 1948, giving Western European states their first real venue for coordinating on trade and economic questions. The Council of Europe followed in 1949, taking political cooperation a step further.

From there, economic integration advanced in stages, eventually producing the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1957. A political layer was added not long after with the founding of the European Parliament.

The Birth of the European Union

When the Soviet bloc fell apart in the early 1990s, European integration accelerated sharply. The European Union itself came into being in 1992 through the Maastricht Treaty, laying groundwork in three new directions at once:

• A shared foreign and security policy
• Cooperation on justice and home affairs
• A common currency, the euro

What began as essentially an economic arrangement has since taken on an increasingly political character, with the EU behaving in some respects like a state in its own right. A formal EU Constitution never got off the ground, but the Union nonetheless picked up several trappings normally associated with statehood — its own flag, anthem, founding date, and currency.

Expansion and Challenges

The EU has pushed to widen both what it does and who belongs to it, particularly by drawing in countries that once sat inside the Soviet bloc — but this hasn't been a straightforward process. Two recurring tensions stand in the way:

• Reluctance to cede power: national governments are often reluctant to hand over powers to Brussels that they've traditionally held themselves.
• Disagreement over new members: member states don't always agree on which candidate countries should be let in.

A persistent strain of 'Euroskepticism' runs through parts of the continent, aimed at the EU's push toward ever-closer integration. Margaret Thatcher, for instance, kept Britain out of the European Market during her time as prime minister; Denmark and Sweden have both pushed back against the Maastricht Treaty and against adopting the euro. The upshot is an EU that struggles to speak with one voice on foreign policy and defence.

Sources of EU Influence

The EU's weight in world affairs rests on three pillars: economic, political-diplomatic, and military.

Economic Influence …