No expert on contemporary European affairs can evade the question of whether he or she is ‘for’ or ‘against’ the European Union. Yet, if this work has a political purpose, it is to convince its reader that we as citizens share responsibility with national and European politicians for the unique creature the EU has become. Today, probably more so than twenty years ago, Europeans are rethinking and remaking integration, well aware that in one form or another the EU is here to stay. So, this is an ‘unfinished’ history – the EU is by nature a work-in-progress and we are nowhere near fully understanding its nature.

The present book was initially written for university courses for historians, political and social scientists, and students in cognate disciplines. It avoids jargon unknown to a well-informed newspaper reader and tells its ‘unfinished’ story in fewer than 150 pages. All of its contributors lecture on European integration at universities in the Netherlands. The first edition (2013) sought to satisfy the particular demands of two distinct disciplinary worlds: history and political science. Typically, political science textbooks on the EU are precise and systematic in explaining the institutional architecture and theories of integration, but their attention to its history prior to 1979, or even prior to Maastricht, is almost always inadequate. Conversely, even newer historical textbooks often end their narrative with Maastricht and Amsterdam, focussing on leaders and summits to the detriment of institutions and procedures. Our Dutch colleagues have not only encouraged us to take up the gauntlet here, but have also commented on draft chapters and offered answers to intricate EU questions. Meanwhile, five cohorts of students in Amsterdam and Nijmegen, born between the Treaties of Maastricht and Amsterdam, have studied the European Union using this textbook; they in turn gave us plenty of feedback, which has helped us to further improve this edition. We are grateful to Kiran Patel, Ann-Christina Knudsen, Jan-Henrik Meyer and other colleagues at home and abroad, who encouraged us to have this textbook published in English and German for the international reader.

The original edition of this text ended with Croatia's accession to the EU in July 2013.