Really? I suspect we're currently in the longest period in our entire history where there hasn't been an armed conflict with another European nation. I wouldn't say that the EU is solely responsible for that, but you must surely accept that so many conflicts are based on over-simplified generalisations about huge groups of people. Those generalisations tend to melt away when you work and live alongside people as you get to understand them more. That's a truly beautiful thing, and the free movement of goods and people is how the world should be.
I see many of those friendly relationships breaking down without an institution forcing us to play nicely as there is an awful lot of populism throughout the continent right now whereby an external entity is blamed for the woes of the locals. That isn't promoting cooperation at all, and quite the opposite, and I do genuinely fear a return to the times when Europe was a continent full of largely homogeneous factions all squabbling and fighting.
Regarding your subsequent point, it seems that in our globalised world that many of our challenges required a united front. Climate change for instance only really works if all nations in the world agree on how it could be tackled. Driverless technology will need a common approach to legislation for it to function properly. The Internet has worked because it's had just that and we haven't had different countries having different Internets.
Anyway, I'm going to have to go and complain about the lack of gulas on the menu
