the eu a 'german ploy' this might be worth mentioning in this article many people in eastern europe and elsewhere i e france russia those europeans countries that refuse to join many others believe that the european union is nothing more than a 'german ploy' to 'control' europe both politically and economically given that germany is the most economically powerful and populous member of the eu they say that the success of the eu obliquely fulfills the third reich's burning desire for germany to become the undisputed masters of europe should this hypothesis be included in the article or simply written off as a deluded conspiracy theory