The EU was created to ensure peace within Europe. The economic aspects are secondary and merely enable that to happen by binding the economies together, so that

The EU was created to ensure peace within Europe. The economic aspects are secondary and merely enable that to happen by binding the economies together, so that you cannot start a war or leave the EU without significant harm to your own economy. There is a European Defense Agency and there are EU battlegroups that sort of form a standing EU army. The EU definitely is a military union and there are quite a few people pushing for even more cooperation on that front. EDIT: For those people down voting I would suggest reading the preamble of the Paris treaty[1], which essentially started the EU. It's not exactly subtle or ambiguous about the goal. [1]: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:11951K:EN:PDF http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:...