... wish for integration. After the second world war there was a new feeling of urgency to integrate the states of Western Europe for both economic and political reasons. Europe was economically drained by the war and still feared possible aggression from the USSR and was very wary of Germany and a possible military resurgence in future years. In addition to this, some western European states were also politically unstable due to internal divisions caused by the settling of old scores between those who had collaborated with the Nazi occupiers and those who had not. Also there was a move to the left in politics across Western Europe, possibly due to an antifascist feeling which after the war was understandable. For these reasons it was felt by many European states and the United States of America that European integration was the way forward as the European states could work together to revive ...

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