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The nature of the European Communities/European Union has been extensively analyzed in mainstream studies of International Relations, but has not aroused comparable interest among Marxist theorists. Study of the historical course of the European Communities/European Union must focus on the elements that contributed to shaping it from its foundation to the present day, including its acquisition of an upgraded role in the international division of labor, with all the problems of competitiveness that it was called upon to face from a certain time onwards. The EU was established as part of an endeavor to counter Soviet influence in Western Europe, and its subsequent course bore the strategic imprint of the most powerful monopolized sectors of the European economy, whose priority was the opening of markets. The rise of neoliberalism and changes in the international balance of forces intensified the capitalist drive to increase profitability through the policies elaborated by European institutions, while at the level of member states Germany emerged as the strongest country in the European Union.
