Read the summary and the most important questions on Institutions of the EU notes

• 1 Introduction and origin of the EU

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• What did people believe about the European integration?

  That is would prevent the extreme forms of nationalism. Since it was nationalism that created world war 2 in the first place. After world war 2 there was a desire to find a new way, not just for peace and security but a new way to build good economies in the future.

• What happened at the Potsdam Conference of 1945?

  The first steps of European Integration. Participants decided that Germany and its capital should be divided into 4 zones, they were controlled by Britain, France, USA and the Soviet Union.

• What was the reason behind splitting Germany into 4?

  So that Germany would not have the power or the strength to be able to start yet another war.

• What was the Bretton Woods System in 1944?

  The Bretton Woods system of monetary management established the rules of commercial and financial relations among the US, Canada, Western Europe, Australia and Japan. Agreement intended to govern monetary relations among independent states.

• What was the Marshall Plan of 1948?

  It set out to remove European trade barriers, modernize its industry and make Europe prosperous again. The Marshall plan was basically buying the loyalty of western Europe by giving them these huge aid packages with the proviso that they all started cooperating with one another. 
  

  • plan created markets to trade with in terms of expanding economic opportunities (for US)
  • also had a psychological value: it reassured economically nervous western Europe.  

• In 1948, the countries participating in the Marshall Plan officially came together to form a cooperation. What was this cooperation and what did it do?

  They came together to form the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC). This was an international body that was set up to coordinate and manage Marshall aid, which some see as the first significant step in the process of post-war European integration.

• When was the North Atlantic treaty Organization (NATO) formed and what did it stand for?

  It was formed in 1949, the US formally aligned itself with Canada and its Western European allies to form NATO. Its member states agreed to a policy of mutual defense in response to any attack by an external party.

• In 1950 Robert Schumann presented a proposal for the creation of an organized Europe. It became known as the Schumann declaration. What did this initiative led to in 1951?

  The founding of the European Coal and Steel community, also known as the treaty of Paris. It had 6 member states: the original Benelux, France, Italy, and western Germany. It was revolutionary because: 
  

  •  it would mean the elimination of the age-old opposition of France and Germany 
  • it meant to give away sovereignty to a supranational authority to help build a new European Space
  • Only 6 countries agreed. 
    

• What does a common market for coal and steel production mean and why?

  • Eliminating import and export duties
    
  • Subsidies and state assistance

  
  Why? 
  

  • to avoid another war in Europe
  • to promote cooperation 
  • to promote interdependence 

• What was the Warsaw Pact in 1955?

  The Soviet Union did not intend to be outdone by the west so they formed a military alliance with their Eastern bloc neighbors.