219 © The Author(s) 2020 A. Bakardjieva Engelbrekt et al. (eds.), The European Union and the Return of the Nation State, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-35005-5_9 CHAPTER 9 Europeanisation and the Longevity of the Nation-State: Survival by Transformation? Malin Stegmann McCallion INTRODUCTION The integration process of the European Union (EU) began in 1952 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris, which set up the European Coal and Steel Community, and the Rome Treaty setting up the European Economic Community in 1957. These treaties laid the foundations for economic and political collaboration between six European states under the guidance of common supranational institutions. Up until and including the 2010s this collaboration has expanded to include 28 member states and covers a diverse range of policy areas, although it seems very likely that the UK will leave during the second half of 2019, reducing the number of member states to 27. During this time period, the pendulum has swung several times, from emphasising the EU’s intergovernmental features to the other M. Stegmann McCallion (*) Department of Political, Historical, Religious and Cultural Studies, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden e-mail: malin.stegmann-mccallion@kau.se