The European Union was brought into existence by what Karl Popper called “piecemeal social engineering”. A group of far-sighted statesmen, inspired by the vision of a United States of Europe, recognised the ideal could be approached only gradually, by setting limited objectives, mobilising the political will needed to achieve them and concluding treaties that required states to surrender only as much sovereignty as they could bear politically. That is how the postwar Coal and Steel Community was transformed into the EU – one step at a time, understanding that each step was incomplete and would require further steps in due course.
欧盟(EU)乃是卡尔•波普尔(Karl Popper)称之为“零打碎敲的社会工程”的产物。一批高瞻远瞩的政治家，心怀建立一个欧洲合众国的憧憬，同时认识到，这一理想只能通过渐进的方式实现，为此要设定有限的目标，调动实现这些目标所需的政治意愿，并达成协议，各国只需让出在政治上承受范围之内的部分主权。二战后成立的欧洲煤钢共同体(Coal and Steel Community)正是这样一步步转变为欧盟的——政治家们明白，每一步都是不完善的，需要适时采取进一步措施。