An integrating Europe has been instrumental in dampening the prospects for conflict over the post WWII period between old adversaries, (most notably but not just France and Germany.) NATO has also been a catalyst for European unification even as some in old Europe (western Europe) had hesitated to incorporate states such as Poland, Lithuania, and Croatia into the relative economic prosperity and political stability of the European Union.
Muhamed Sacirbey: Ukraine’s fight is Europe’s battle
A new Berlin Wall through Kiev? "Sphere of Influence" and the Soviet Union by another name -- is that the objective of Vladimir Putin in reestablishing Russia's dominance over Ukraine but also several other former communist states two+ decades after the collapse of the Iron Curtain?