On every continent, educational systems are considered the exclusive responsibility of individual states. Particularly in Europe, developing educational systems was viewed as an important part of nation building until World War II. After the war, however, there was a concerted effort to harmonize educational policies to protect the continent from nationalist excesses that had originally led to war. The purpose of this article is to trace the evolution of national systems and modes of intervention by supernational and international organizations in order understand the institutional convergence across Europe of different policy frameworks for education. The primary argument is that as different states consent to European-level educational frameworks--a phenomenon referred to as "relinquishment"--their actions will be interpreted as the expression of their acceptance of the de facto integration of differing national educational policies. The "European area" of education and life-long learning established by the Bologna and Copenhagen processes has important implications for policy making for the countries of the European Union [EU]. On the one hand, it marks a vital step toward the realization of integration of education in Europe. Getting to this step has necessitated numerous interventions within individual national educational systems. It could not have been achieved without the vision of the architects who planned the reconstruction and integration of Europe. On the other hand, the harmonization of education policy denies the sovereignty of governments in domains that remain formally within their competence. This article examines the various developments and concessions that European countries have made in the pursuit of integration, with consideration of aspects of national control and sovereignty relinquished in this process. (Contains 4 notes.)