European Union

Evolution of the European Union

The EU is the most recent stage of the post-World War II European integration process, which was launched in the early 1950s. Over time, European integration has been legitimated by various dominating discourses. Throughout the process, it has been commonly argued that European integration is aimed at maintaining peace in Europe. From the 1950s up to the 1970s, integration was designed not only to restrain the spread of Soviet communism into Western Europe but also to hinder the rise of fascism.

The institutional dimension of this process has developed step by step during the past decades. The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), founded in 1951, first governed the coal and steel industries of the six founder states. In the 1960s, the customs union, a common agricultural policy, and the first seeds of the common market were established for the Community, which now included the ECSC, the European Economic Community, and Euratom. In the 1970s, the political institutions of the Community became stronger; since 1979, the members of the European Parliament have been directly elected every 5 yrs. (years). The late 1980s were a formative time for the development of the European single market, which finally took effect in 1992. After the end of the Cold War, European integration has been increasingly legitimized by the argument that without the EU, the member states would be too small to come to terms with the heightening international economic competition. The establishment of the EU gave more power to the Union, leading, for instance, to the subsequent monetary union based on a common currency (the euro), and a common foreign and security policy. The common currency became reality in 2002 with the adoption of the euro.

In 2008 and 2009, the latest institutional reform, the Lisbon Treaty (also known as the Reform Treaty), was subject to ratification in the member states. This treaty is to a significant degree based on the so-called Draft of the European Constitution, which was signed in 2004 by all the member states but was ultimately rejected 1 yr. later in referenda held in France and the Netherlands. The Lisbon Treaty aims to replace the existing body of treaties of the EU, but it faced problems as the Irish people rejected the treaty in a referendum in June 2008. This type of crisis often brings to the surface the idea that the EU should be based on flexible integration so that the states that are willing to increase the level of integration are not held back by the “reluctant” members.

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