Europe’s western and eastern fringes obsess about dates that recall their struggles with the core: 1914, 1815, 1709, 1707, 1704, and 1612, among others. By contrast, the European core is obsessed with transcending history, with working out institutional mechanisms for overcoming the conflicts that scarred Europe in the first half of the twentieth century.
欧洲的西线和东线无不存在各种纪念它们与欧洲核心战斗的日子：1914、1815、1709、1707、1704、1612，如此等等。相反，欧洲核心则热衷于超越历史，致力于建立制度性机制克服在20世纪上半叶摧残欧洲的冲突。欧洲一体化工程便是从过去的压力和束缚中寻求解放的一种尝试。