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1. Introduction
Normally, it is said that the process of European integration that gives rise to the European Union starts after the World War II, although we can find precedents to this process much earlier, because it is clear that the idea of Europe is not typical of the 20th century2 . Thus, the regional organizations for European cooperation in the post-war hardship situation after the World War II were the immediate precedent to the process of European integration that began in the 1950s3. In this initial period, it is necessary to highlight several factors that influenced the process. Firstly, the effects of the World War II: the huge death toll; the moral trauma in the face of the flagrant violations of fundamental rights and freedoms; the territorial modifications that took place under the principle of return to the frontiers of 1937 with the resulting population displacements; the need to restructure political systems in many countries; the catalyzing of decolonization processes which are violent in many cases4 ; the serious financial effects like the increase of the public debt, the rise of inflation, depletion of gold reserves, scarcity of essential raw materials, lack of means of payment for imports, destruction of infrastructure and urban property, the low levels of production and export; and the bipolarization of the world due to the tension produced between the Western bloc and the Eastern one5.