European Integration and Ireland’s Place in an Evolving European Union

The European Union emerged from some of the darkest moments in history, conceived as a deliberate, structured effort to foster peace, stability, and prosperity. By pooling sovereignty, building shared institutions, and developing a common legal framework, European integration charted a course beyond the helplessness of hegemony and the irresponsibility of isolationism to achieve a permanent, peaceable cooperation between the free peoples of our continent.