History of European Construction: Between Crises and Revivals (from origins to the present)

(3 Credit Hours) · Undergraduate

On May 7, 2017, the French rejected the Europhobic option proposed to them by Marine Le Pen and elected an openly europhile president. Yet, despite the defeat of the far right in the Netherlands in March, the fear of an anti-European contagion was strong. After the Brexit voted by the British on 23 June 2016 and with the presence of nationalist governments in Poland and Hungary, Europe feared a new victory for the Union's opponents. This has not been the case, but we should not rejoice too soon. The EU is in the midst of a multi-faceted crisis: the Greek crisis, with its unrelenting twists and turns, a refugee crisis that challenges solidarity in the EU and leads to the re-establishment of border controls, the rise of nationalism and Europhobic movements in all a social crisis in which the disenfranchised of globalization are becoming impoverished. In this context, pessimistic analyzes are multiplying and the fear of a deconstruction of Europe is increasingly strong. The French election is likely to reassure the supporters of the EU but it should not prevent them from reflecting on the causes of the increasing distrust of the citizens vis-a-vis an institution seen as distant from their concerns. However, the history of the European construction has been marked by successive crises which Europe has always left for the moment. Is this crisis a simple step in the process of unifying the European continent? Or is it the ultimate crisis that will mark the end of this unprecedented political adventure? To try to answer this question, it is interesting to delve into this history, from the origins of European thought to the present day, in order to allow students to better understand the current situation in the European Union, its contradictions but also its successes in the light of the decades since the Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950. We will therefore discuss the different stages of European construction, showing that they operate in cycles, alternating periods of progress with phases of doubt and stagnation. We should also emphasize that, despite its shortcomings, European integration has contributed to a profound change in the destiny of the European continent.