Post-WWII European Cooperation: From the Marshall Plan to the European Union

Western Europe's path to integration unfolded through successive initiatives:

1. Marshall Plan (1948–1951): U.S.-funded $13B aid to 16 nations rebuilt infrastructure, revived industry, stabilized economies, and countered communism.
2. European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC, 1951): Treaty of Paris pooled French and German coal/steel — first supranational body; prevented war by tying key war industries together.
3. European Economic Community (EEC, 1957): Treaty of Rome created a customs union, common agricultural policy, and free movement of goods, services, capital, labor.
4. European Free Trade Association (EFTA, 1960): Alternative free-trade bloc for non-EEC states (UK, Scandinavia, etc.); later most joined EU.
5. European Union (EU, 1993): Maastricht Treaty established political/economic union with single market, euro (1999), common foreign policy, and expanded competencies. Now 27 members.

Each step deepened economic interdependence and political trust, transforming a war-torn continent into a zone of peace and shared prosperity.