>>521008636 (OP)
According to the minutes of Bilderberg meeting #2 on Wikileaks, which reference the decisions taken in the very first Bilderberg meeting, the idea was and I quote as near as damnit as I can remember
"To form a United States of Europe which will be the second pillar of a TransAtlantic alliance to oppose the Soviet Union"
In addition to this stated goal (which technically became void once the Soviet Union disintegrated) there was a second treaty which was signed which was about nuclear cooperation because (and I try to quote as well as I remember again) "no single country in Europe has the scientific pool to create nuclear power alone, unlike the USA"
So when we Brexited, you will note we not only withdrew from the EU, we withdrew from this atomic pact at the same time, two letters were submitted confirming this to the EU.
During those early discussions, time and again one UK delegate would say "the British people will not sign up to anything that smacks of federalism" and hence the initial agreement was the Council of Four Plus One - France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands being the four to unite, with the UK as an external advisor. This quickly became the Council of Five Plus One, when Italy joined. And then after that other countries applied to join *what they believed was an economic free trade zone ONLY*. The minutes say that free trade was to be the "cookie" to entice nations in, after which the institutions of a federal state would be built by stealth in treaties that required no national votes (because they knew they'd be rejected)
Which has been seen to be the case in France, Ireland, Netherlands and UK where various things about the EU have been put to referendum, the populace says "fuck no". So they then schedule another vote or do the same thing via a back door.