After World War II, the European "core countries" very quickly occupied themselves with the project of European unification, driven by the ambition to promote reconciliation through integration and cooperation. Phases of expansion and deepening followed the foundation of the European Union at various intervals.
Considering that European integration is quite a difficult process on the whole and that individual Member States' conceptions of the future of the Union diverge, the tenacious progress of this integration process is indeed extraordinary. Austria entered the European integration process at a relatively late stage.