After an introduction on the European institutions, the course retraces the milestones of the European integration process, starting with the Schuman Declaration in 1950 and the birth of the European Communities (Rome Treaties of 1957); the subsequent treaties; the first direct election of the European Parliament (1979); the transformation into the European Union (1992); the birth of the single currency; the Lisbon Treaty of 2007; the protagonists in the history of the EEC and the EU; the role of the EU in the political and economic development of the European continent; the development of the Union's institutions; the originality of the European Union in the panorama of contemporary institutions.

Mark Gilbert, European Integration: A Political History, Rowman & Littlefield; 2° edition, 2020