Idealism and Reality in the European Integration Process

For the author the image of the European integration process as a continuous positive interaction between the two visions of idealism and reality in the European building represents a very interesting way of describing a process that, although not fully completed, has last for 50 years and concerns today something like 500 hundred million of people living in 27 countries. The history of this extraordinary experience has produced many examples and many areas where evidence on the different visions followed to reach the European integration can be found. In the paper the author focus the attention on three events that represent a good explanation of the fighting interaction between idealism and reality. The first event is more politically focused and is linked to the initial phase of the European building; the second event, more economically focused, appears in the late '60s and is linked to the early attempt to build an economic and monetary union in Europe; the third one, whose nature is more focused on institutional matters, is linked to the proposal expressed in the middle of the '80s by the European Parliament for a new Treaty project and for the institution of a political union in Europe.