European integration: a critical approach
European Union; European integration; economic blocks; European debt crisis; Brexit
In the face of frequent and devastating wars between countries on the European continent, which had caused death and destruction on an unimaginable scale, some of their leaders conceived that economic cooperation between them could prevent new war conflicts. Based on the efforts of these leaders and the support of the United States, through the Marshall Plan, the process of integration of Western Europe developed, which resulted in the European Union - the largest economic and political bloc in the world, consisting of 27 member states. independent members. This work will aim to describe the European integration process from the post-war period and, at the end, critically understand whether the European bloc's performance has remained faithful to the basic ideals of solidarity and cooperation when it was conceived. For that, the phenomenological research method will be used. As for the purposes, it will be a descriptive-explanatory research, carried out through bibliographic and ex-post facto research. The data collection procedure will consist of a bibliographic survey and available statistical data, mainly from IBRD, IMF and Eurostat platforms