Part 2: Time of the European Communities (1950-1969)
Why the European construction was more economical than political ?
1. Difficult start
- The ECSC. Robert Schuman, French Foreign Minister, wantde to promote reconstruction and the Franco-German reconciliation. Assisted by Jean Monnet, they offered, 9 May 1950 a European industrial merger. The treaty, signed by six countries in 1951, established the ECSC, the first European community organization.
- A political and military Europe. Faced with the worsening of the Cold War, the United States wanted to rearm West Germany. But France wanted to avoid the reconstitution of an independent German army. It offered the EDC, that is to say, an European army or the German soldiers would be integrated into a larger whole.
- The failure of the EDC. Ratified by the other states, the EDC Treaty was rejected by France. On 30 August 1954, the Communist deputies and the Gaullists pushed their defense of French sovereignty and refuse German rearmament.
2. The revival of the European economy
- Treaties of Rome. Desiring to revive European construction, the six ECSC countries signed the Treaties of Rome on 25 March 1957. The first treaty established the EEC. It should result in 12 years in a common market and common policies and legislation. The second organizing cooperation in the field of nuclear energy.
- A compromise on the institutions. The ECSC institutions served as a model for the EEC. Political ower is shared between the Commission and the Council of Ministers. This unanimity important decisions and other qualified majority.
3. The French blockade.
- The European Gaullist conception. In 1958, de Gaulle returned to power. He accepted the EEC only if it provided a tool of French power. He committed to the independence of France and hoped that Europe was not “submitted” to United States. He opposed and in 1963 and 1967, to the entrance of the UK, considered too close to Washington. He defended a Europe of States and offered its European partners intergovernmental cooperation in diplomacy and defense. The project, not enough federal and hostile to the United States, was rejected by the other states.
Vocabulary:
- ECSC: European Coal and Steel Community. It created a common market in coal and steel between France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.
- EEC: European Economic Community, which set up a common market and common policies to reconcile the Member States.
- EDC : European Defense Community was established in 1952 but failed.
- Unanimity: voting procedure based on the agreement of all members. The principle of state sovereignty is respected, the risk of blocking the operations of institutions and prevent the implementation of common policies.
- Qualified majority: voting procedure where each state has a number of votes in proportion to its population. To be adopted, a decision must reach a certain number of votes (in 1958, 12 votes out of 17).