European Integration

Up into the twentieth century, Europe barely played a role for most people. And even at the beginning of the postwar period, there were a number of institutions competing with each other. It was by no means a given that the EC, predecessor to the EU, would come out on top. Kirian Klaus Patel outlines how this came to be, demonstrating that European integration has always operated in crisis mode. Periods of great crisis have invariably been periods of great progress. And nothing has changed, even if the EU freedom project is increasingly turning into a security project.