I see the EU as an half assed attempt to create the United States of Europe in the post world war two period
Unfortunately the world War II generation are dying off and most of them are gone and the boomer generation most of them will be dead over the next 20 years
Nations are losing the generational memory of the second world War and the first world War which helped to spark the idea and the dream
Of the United States of Europe with those memories disappearing nationalism is starting to rise again
I do wonder if it wasn't far the USA, nuclear weapons and obviously the ugliness of Nazi Germany
Would Europe be united like China after the war in States and sprint and autumn period into an United States
From the 16th century onwards Europe was heading towards eventually one state being the hegemon of Europe