1.4.3 Summary

• The process toward European unification was initiated by top political elites in France, Italy, Germany and the Benelux countries after the Second World War.

• New collective actors are progressively being engaged in European affairs, among them the Labour movement, regional movements and new social movements such as the environmentalism of groups like Greenpeace and Friends of the Earth.

• European elites, although engaged in a convergence process, are still reproduced in ways specific to each nation state.