The European Union was forged in peace rather than conflict. It began in an unlikely way: In 1951, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed the Treaty of Paris, integrating their coal and steel industries. The idea was that this would be a first step towards a “United States of Europe,” which would avoid future conflicts by combining the interests of France and Germany. The group expanded in 1957, becoming the European Economic Community, but further integration had to wait until the end of the Cold War. In 1992, with the signing of the Maastricht Treaty, the European Union came into existence. The EU officially adopted the euro in 1995 and discontinued most single-nation currencies in 2002. There are currently 27 member states in the EU, including several that were part of the Eastern Bloc.