● Why the European Union appeared?

After the second world war, European

integration and internationalism were seen as antidotes to the extreme nationalism
that led to the world wars and devastated many parts of the continent. People
realized that communication and diplomacy were the only ways such disasters can
be avoided.
● During the interwar period, the lesser-known Paneuropean Union was founded with
the purpose of achieving the unity of all European nations in a strong Europe, but it
was prohibited by Nazi Germany in 1933.
● The first steps towards the actual European Union were made in 1946, at a Zurich
conference, when Winston Churchill, former British Prime Minister, talked about the
horrors of the war and his wish for european union.
● "Yet it is from Europe that has sprung that series of frightful nationalistic quarrels,
originated by the Teutonic nations in their rise to power, which we have seen in this
20th century and in our own lifetime wreck the peace and mar the prospects of all
mankind.
● "We must build a kind of United States of Europe." - Winston Churchill
● "Much work has been done upon this task by the exertions of the Pan-European
Union."
● After his speech at Zurich, followed a series of treaties that eventually led to the
forming of the European Union.