ABSTRACT

The first significant move came in 1949 with the founding of the Council of Europe, which was a pan-European body set up to protect democratic principles and sponsor the integration of legal norms. The European Convention on Human Rights established the European Court of Human Rights to hear individual complaints about violations of the convention. The creation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951 represented the first milestone. In the early- to mid-1950s, with its empire and associated trade links still largely intact, Britain had been distinctly lukewarm about European integration. The end of the Cold War opened up new possibilities for both the widening and deepening of European integration. Nationalism and anti-Europeanism were on the rise throughout the European Union. The 'European experiment' rested, after all, on the need to overcome the trauma created by two disastrous wars and the threat posed by the Soviet Union.