following on the Marshall Plan laun

following on the Marshall Plan launched thirty uninterrupted years of economic
growth in Western Europe. Second, the new West Germany, initially
mistrusted because it was the successor (with East Germany) to the Third
Reich, became firmly anchored in democratic Western Europe, and its own
new democratic system was guaranteed against extremist forces. Third, the
integration of Western Europe and American military protection deterred
the Soviet Union from expansion. Fourth, development of the EU’s internal
economic market in the 1990s increased Europe’s economic and financial
competitiveness in the age of globalization.