More than six decades ago, the European Movement's founder Jean Monnet shared his vision for the region's nascent union, prescribing money as a means to heal the wounds left by two world wars.
"The fusion" of Europe's economic ties, he said, would compel its nations "to fuse their sovereignty" as well "into that of a single European state."
To the Frenchman, a federal Europe was the natural progression of the bloc's newfound stability.