Description European Integration emerged as a response to the
horrors of World War II. Drawing the lesson from centuries of
divisions, tensions, conflicts and war, European leaders
initiated what can now be re¬garded as the most successful
experiment of regional integration in the world. With today 25
member states, the common Euro¬pean market, and the Euro the EU
is the world’s biggest trading bloc and one of the two largest
markets in the world. And, what is more: it is one of the most
stable democratic re¬gions in the world. There had not been any
war or open conflict between participants in the process of
European integration. Still, the EU is often considered an
economic giant but a political dwarf. European reac¬tions to the
war on Iraq made clear that Europe is far from speaking with one
voice. To its citizens, the European Union with its complex
institutional structure and its economic bias often appears
confusing, opaque and a little dull. Among political leaders as
well as among citizens there is no