However, allow me to share with you a few observations about the method and manner in which European integration has moved forward and, in this way, joined together European states and their economies. It is by discerning past trends and developments that we can shed light on the prospects for Europe in the coming years.
The Treaty establishing the European Community stipulates an “ever closer union of the peoples of Europe” as one of its principal objectives. In doing so, the founding fathers of the Community formulated a dynamic, comprehensive, and purposely equivocal “vision of Europe” as the centrepiece of the integration project. In pursuing this objective, Europe has often followed a process of incremental steps.