Thinking about Europe as a Community

Jean Monnet is supposed to have said that if he were to start again, he would begin with culture. We know that he never did say that because he—the inspiration behind European integration—knew very well that in that case he would have failed. Others say that this process should have begun with politics; but there too, failure would have been inevitable. European integration had to begin with the economy, but its future now depends on the European Union making a success of its efforts to lend ..