Even the birth of the EU was tainted: After the end of the Second World War, it was the United States that laid the foundation for an anticommunist Western Europe that was supposed to impede prosperity against the temptations of socialism. Reconciliation and international understanding were supported by the Americans, but above all as a prerequisite for a common West European policy which would put a stop to Soviet communism.
The economic crisis and the rise of neoliberalism in the 1980s made it increasingly difficult to fulfill Europe’s promise of prosperity. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the EU slipped into a crisis of identity. National egoisms boiled up, an ideal breeding ground for populists of all camps, which began to create an increasingly fierce front against EU common policy.
