Remember when there was no EU? Remember nation states of Europe that were more dynamic,independent,culturally distinct and economically viable? It is ironic that the Cold War ended and the Communism blanket was taken off and Western Europe decided to replace the Soviet Union with a Fascist version of themselves while Eastern Europe has had a total renaissance.
Technically, the EU has been around for 77 years, having started as the European Coal and Steel Community; the Germany-Italy axis was re-forged with that treaty while adding the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. The plan was always to vacuum up the culturally distinct nation states into their identityless empire.