Economic cooperation

At the end of World War II, a series of initiatives were launched in an attempt to rebuild the economies of Europe, left devastated by five years of deadly conflict. The emergency aid schemes that were set up aimed to meet the pressing need for food supplies among the local population and also to deliver vital products such as coal and steel for heavy industry. With the financial, material and military support of the United States, the purpose of the cooperation that was pursued after the war was primarily to revive economic activity on the European continent, to rebuild and modernise production facilities and to stimulate a resumption of trade.