Because one thing the EU established and maintained is the principle that countries should compete for resources and economic position in the market place and n

Because one thing the EU established and maintained is the principle that countries should compete for resources and economic position in the market place and not the battlefield. It's the one constant about the EU from 1957 to today. There are indeed other visions of the EU that might also have worked, and we might need to switch to one of them in the future. But they would still have that one central element.