2 - Peace and Security

Summary

The EU often claims to play a central role for peace in Europe. To date astonishingly little research has systematically addressed this issue; the dominant narrative is essentially that cast by the protagonists of the integration process themselves. This chapter argues that the European integration process was initially much more a beneficiary of the European peace settlement, than shaping it in any significant sense. At the same time it is important to distinguish between three concepts of peace: reconciliation between the member states and especially between the ‘arch-enemies’ France and Germany; the EC’s contribution to peace in a world largely defined by the Cold War; and finally social peace within the member states. The chapter examines these three dimensions and argues that the EC was particularly important with regard to the third of these categories. Later and in different forms than we normally assume – this is how the EU really contributed to peace over the past decades.