Why was the european union formed?

Question

What is the main reason behind the formation of the European Union? In other word, why was the European Union formed?

Answer 1

Why was The European Union formed? To cut it short, economic reasons formed the backbone for the creation of the European Union. All member nations obey a set of rules to unite the market. It does not go ahead to make Europe and its people united with easily accessible borders and free movement of both people and goods. Let’s have a look of the development of ECSC, the precursor of EU, and we will have a clearer picture of the reason.

ECSC-European Coal and Steel Community laid the foundation that helped develop the European Union as we have it today. Formed in 1951 during the Cold War with six nations, with the aim of unifying the whole of Western Europe, the mean goal of it was to form a unified market system all over Europe as a means of providing stability to the markets and preventing division amongst unified colonies. The European Union mostly followed the same path. The main reason for establishment of the EU was to form a unified European market for the facilitation of trade and synergistically grow the economy. This has led to the formation of the European bank and the Euro. The Euro is created to be a rival currency to the dollar.

The European Union remains a super national arrangement. Each of the countries retains its sovereignty so there is no basis for comparison between the EU and the United States in any way. Nevertheless, it attempts to unite each country's advantages to having a single super economy. It has also grown into several other transnational matters, like the military, environment, agriculture, and many more. Nevertheless, each individual state holds majority of the power.

To know more about the history of EU, please check The History of European Union.

Or to know more about EU, please visit Official Website of the EU.

Answer 2

Taking a look at the first European Union member states following the end of WWII: The European Steel and Coal Community, will give us a general picture of the reason behind the formation of the European Union. Two major factors contributed to the formation of the ECSC:

 

1. Political threat and pressure:

The threat of the Soviet to Europe, the issue of the place of Germany in Europe, as well as the Cold War resulted to the impulse to work together and form alliances. Additional external pressure was mounted by the US who favored the Franco-German settlement.

2. The arrangement of politicians and elites:

The other very important factor were the individuals who were quite aware of the fact that both cooperation and integration were all important for the maintenance of peace in Europe. These persons include Robert Schuman (French Prime Minister), Jean Monnet (Economist and Diplomat), and Konrad Adenauer (German Chancellor).

While France took care of keeping Germany under check, occupied Germany needed to get over the shame of losing the war and regain more sovereignty. Jean Monnet came into the picture here: Monnet suggested that France and Germany should cooperate to form a joint leadership over their steel and coal resources. Due to this, neither Germany nor France will feel insecure because every resource located on the Franco-German boundary were under the management of the high authority. This treaty will return some sovereignty back to Germany to make it more relevant in Europe and at the same time help French industries. This was one very smart politically calculated move.

Comments

Good explanation in another angle. I do believe we should consider ‘why was the European Union formed’, this question in various angles.