Following the second world war, western europeans created a series of international economic organizations to facilitate greater economic cooperation. the first of these, the –, was crucial in forging cooperation between france and west germany, the latter of whom had abundant mines upon which the former’s mills were dependent. this was followed six years later by the – that transformed six of the major western european nations into the –; its main purpose was to –. among all the great western european powers, however, – stayed out of this organization, choosing to focus on its empire instead.