Europe needs a new generation of statesmen

British, French, and German leaders and bureaucrats realised after World War II that only an economically stable ‘United States’ of Europe would guarantee peace, says Kyran Fitzgerald.

It is worth looking at some of the key figures who began grouping European countries after World War 2, resulting in the formation of the European Economic Community, in 1957, a long period of prosperity, and the construction of today’s European Union.

In 1945, the continent was being divided, as the Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin, and his military and secret police, tightened their grip on Eastern Europe. By 1948, the takeover would be complete.