Editing European Union (section)

===Background: World Wars and aftermath===
{{further|Ideas of European unity before 1948}}
[[Internationalism (politics)|Internationalism]] and [[Ideas of European unity before 1948|visions of European unity had existed]] since well before the 19th century, but gained particularly as a reaction to [[World War I]] and its aftermath. In this light the first advances for the idea of [[European integration]] were made. In 1920 [[John Maynard Keynes]] proposed a [[European customs union]] for the struggling post-war European economies,<ref name="Taussig Keynes 1920 p. 381">{{Cite journal |last1=Taussig |first1=F.W. |last2=Keynes |first2=John Maynard |title=Keynes, The Economic Consequences of the Peace |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1882372 |journal=The Quarterly Journal of Economics |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume=34 |issue=2 |page=381 |year=1920 |issn=0033-5533 |jstor=1882372 |doi=10.2307/1882372}}</ref> and in 1923 the oldest organisation for European integration, the [[Paneuropean Union]] was founded, led by [[Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi]], who later would found in June 1947 the [[European Parliamentary Union]] (EPU). [[Aristide Briand]]{{Emdash}}who was [[Prime Minister of France]], a follower of the Paneuropean Union, and [[List of Nobel Peace Prize laureates|Nobel Peace Prize laureate]] for the [[Locarno Treaties]]{{Emdash}}delivered a widely recognized speech at the [[League of Nations]] in [[Geneva]] on 5 September 1929 for a [[federal Europe]] to secure Europe and settle the historic [[Franco-German enmity]].<ref name="Schulz 2010 g046">{{Cite web |last=Schulz |first=Matthias |date=3 December 2010 |title=Der Briand-Plan und der Völkerbund als Verhandlungsarena für die europäische Einigung zwischen den Kriegen |url=http://ieg-ego.eu/de/threads/europaeische-netzwerke/politische-netzwerke/europa-netzwerke-der-zwischenkriegszeit/matthias-schulz-briand-plan-und-voelkerbund-in-der-zwischenkriegszeit |access-date=16 November 2023 |publisher=IEG(http://www.ieg-mainz.de) |language=de}}</ref><ref name="Nelsson 2019 n549">{{Cite web |last=Nelsson |first=Richard |date=5 September 2019 |title=Aristide Briand's plan for a United States of Europe |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/from-the-archive-blog/2019/sep/05/aristide-briands-plan-for-united-states-of-europe-september-9 |access-date=16 November 2023 |website=the Guardian}}</ref>

With large-scale war being waged in Europe once again in the 1930s and becoming [[World War II]], the question of what to fight against and what for, had to be agreed on. A first agreement was the [[Declaration of St James's Palace]] of 1941, when [[World War II resistance|Europe's resistance]] gathered in London. This was expanded on by the 1941 [[Atlantic Charter]], establishing the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]] and their common goals, inciting a new wave of global international institutions like the [[United Nations]] ([[United Nations Conference on International Organization|founded 1945]]) or the [[Bretton Woods System]] (1944).<ref name="Office of the Historian 1946 r351">{{Cite web |title=Milestones: 1937–1945 |url=https://history.state.gov/milestones/1937-1945/bretton-woods |website=Office of the Historian |date=8 March 1946 |access-date=16 November 2023}}</ref>

In 1943 at the [[Moscow Conference (1943)|Moscow Conference]] and [[Tehran Conference]], plans to establish joint institutions for a post-war world and Europe increasingly became a part of the agenda. This led to a decision at the [[Yalta Conference]] in 1944 to form a [[European Advisory Commission]], later replaced by the [[Council of Foreign Ministers]] and the [[Allied Control Council]], following the German surrender and the [[Potsdam Agreement]] in 1945.

By the end of the war, European integration became seen as an antidote to the [[extreme nationalism]] that had caused the war.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The political consequences |url=http://www.cvce.eu/obj/die_politischen_folgen-de-bafcfa2d-7738-48f6-9b41-3201090b67bb.html |access-date=28 April 2013 |publisher=CVCE}}</ref> On 19 September 1946, in a much recognized speech, [[Winston Churchill]], speaking at the [[University of Zürich]], reiterated his calls since 1930 for a "European Union" and "Council of Europe", coincidentally<ref name="Union of European Federalists (UEF)">{{Cite web |title=Union of European Federalists (UEF): Churchill and Hertenstein |url=https://www.federalists.eu/uef/our-achievements/churchill-and-hertenstein |access-date=17 May 2022 |website=Union of European Federalists (UEF) |archive-date=5 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605224333/https://www.federalists.eu/uef/our-achievements/churchill-and-hertenstein |url-status=dead}}</ref> parallel{{Clarify|reason=This whole clause is difficult to understand, primarily because "parallel" is especially unclear here|date=June 2024}} to the [[Hertensteiner Cross|Hertenstein Congress]] of the [[Union of European Federalists]],<ref>{{Cite news |title=Ein britischer Patriot für Europa: Winston Churchills Europa-Rede, Universität Zürich, 19. September 1946 |trans-title=A British Patriot for Europe: Winston Churchill's Speech on Europe University of Zurich, 19 September 1946 |work=Zeit Online |url=http://www.zeit.de/reden/die_historische_rede/200115_hr_churchill1_englisch |access-date=13 January 2010}}</ref> one of the then founded and later constituent members of the [[European Movement International|European Movement]]. One month later, the [[French Union]] was installed by the new [[Fourth French Republic]] to direct the [[decolonization]] of [[French colonies|its colonies]] so that they would become parts of a European community.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Hansen |first1=Peo |last2=Jonsson |first2=Stefan |title=Bringing Africa as a 'Dowry to Europe' |url=http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:liu:diva-59237 |journal=Interventions |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=443–463 (459) |date=2011 |s2cid=142558321 |doi=10.1080/1369801X.2011.597600}}</ref>

By 1947 a growing rift between the western Allied Powers and the [[Soviet Union]] became evident as a result of the rigged [[1947 Polish legislative election]], which constituted an open breach of the [[Yalta Agreement]]. March of that year saw two important developments. First was the signing of the [[Treaty of Dunkirk]] between [[France]] and the [[United Kingdom]]. The treaty assured mutual assistance in the event of future military aggression against either nation. Though it officially named Germany as a threat, in reality the actual concern was for the Soviet Union. A few days later came the announcement of the [[Truman Doctrine]] which pledged American support for democracies to counter the Soviets.