Following the end of World War II, peace was on the mind of many of the world’s citizens. It was clear that stubborn positions of nationalism had not only feed the beast that was Nazis Germany, but had also prevented capable, neighboring powers in Europe from coming together quickly enough to halt the blitz early on. European economies, militaries, and citizens were left horribly ravished, displaced and war-torn. Only an astonishing 20 years had passed between the end of the First World War and the start of the second; without doubt drastic changes would need to take place in order for devastation of this nature to never happen again. In 1946 British Prime Minister Winston Churchill sensibly stated the inevitable need for a “United States of
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The Council of Europe was therefore created in 1949 to establish, according to their first article, “…a greater unity between its members for the purpose of safeguarding and realizing the ideals and principles which are their common heritage and facilitating their economic and social progress" (website, europe.eu). The Council basically set the foundation for a later European Parliament that would exemplify and facilitate political cooperation between the separate nation-states that comprised its makeup. There would also need to be mutual control of resources in Europe, especially coal and steel in Western Germany, to provide reassurance against the rebuilding of armies with too much weapon power. The European Coal and Steel Community Agreement was signed in 1951. The next defining step was taken by 5 members of the OEEC (and France) to become the European Economic Community (EEC), or Common Market, wherein most barriers to trade would be eliminated and a mutual trade policy enforced. As a result, commerce exploded. To help combat unfair currency exchange rates between countries the European Monetary System was established in 1979, which eventually led to the unifying adoption of the euro as the national currency in many European countries in 2002. The next several decades of reform and revision, and renaming, resulted in what is today’s 28-member European Union (EU), a supranational organization created to further the economic, political, and social integration of all the European countries involved (Text, pp.
The Council of Europe was therefore created in 1949 to establish, according to their first article, “…a greater unity between its members for the purpose of safeguarding and realizing the ideals and principles which are their common heritage and facilitating their economic and social progress" (website, europe.eu). The Council basically set the foundation for a later European Parliament that would exemplify and facilitate political cooperation between the separate nation-states that comprised its makeup. There would also need to be mutual control of resources in Europe, especially coal and steel in Western Germany, to provide reassurance against the rebuilding of armies with too much weapon power. The European Coal and Steel Community Agreement was signed in 1951. The next defining step was taken by 5 members of the OEEC (and France) to become the European Economic Community (EEC), or Common Market, wherein most barriers to trade would be eliminated and a mutual trade policy enforced. As a result, commerce exploded. To help combat unfair currency exchange rates between countries the European Monetary System was established in 1979, which eventually led to the unifying adoption of the euro as the national currency in many European countries in 2002. The next several decades of reform and revision, and renaming, resulted in what is today’s 28-member European Union (EU), a supranational organization created to further the economic, political, and social integration of all the European countries involved (Text, pp.