Does the European Union consist of a new world power with imperial ambitions? That is what is asked before the decade of crises 2008-2018, but also later on. Was it and is it still an empire at all? This will be analyzed and discussed starting with "Real History" (Coming into Existence, structure, expansion, perceptions and reactions, decline and disintegration) accompanied by "Reception History" (successes and failures, imagined receptions, references, forerunners and historical consciousness, the Holy Roman Empire as predecessor?, historiographies, the Roman Empire, state of the art and historical comparisions) and followed by "First Assessments and possibles Developments" (Lisbon Strategy and Lisbon Treaty, the open question of the finalite politique, nation-states acting as EU-members in a globalized context, the NATO-, EU-Eastern enlargement and the relationship to Russia) and the question of what holds EU-Europe together (the inevitable categoric integration imperative Germany, German-French partnership as precondition, the integrated legal community, the Single Market, the Euro as anchor, the majority of Community institutions, non-contractual regulations, external crises as stimulators, the "migration crisis" as a forced solution and the social dimension). Urgent future tasks and the preconditions for the continued functioning of the EU are also analysed (credibility through compliance with the Treaty and strengthening of legitimacy, self-responsibility and solidarity as well as the overriding challenge of China).