Beginnings of European integration The formation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1952 was driven by a combination of political, economic, and military motives. One of the primary goals was to extricate West Germany from its post-war turmoil in order to prevent a recurrence of the retaliation witnessed after the Treaty of Versailles. This marks a new era of European integration, one which brings together equal sovereign states for the first time.
