Who are "les Anglo-Saxons"?

Sutton Hoo helmet

> Click HERE to read an article from AEON!
> Click HERE for the translation!

Brexit... Will the UK choose "the open sea"?

Article from theguardian: click HERE!
What would happen if UK left the EU?
Do we need a new vision of Europe?

Also from theguardian:

If a referendum were held on the UK’s membership of the EU with the options being to remain a member or withdraw, how do you think you would vote?

Would definitely vote to leave the EU = 28%

Would probably vote to leave the EU = 18%

Would probably vote to remain in the EU = 20%

Would definitely vote to remain in the EU = 18%

Don’t know = 17%

To what extent do you consider yourself to be European?

It is a large part of who I am = 13%

It is a small part of who I am = 26%

It doesn’t really describe who I am = 27%

It does not describe who I am at all = 34%

Do you speak any European languages fluently (other than the one/s you class as your mother-tongue)?

Yes 19%

No 81%

76% of Britons believe there should be a referendum on whether the UK remains a member of the EU (47% “definitely”, 29% “probably”). There are predictable splits along party lines; 84% of Ukip supporters say there should “definitely” be a referendum while 11% believe there should “probably” be one. The motivations of the remaining 5% are unclear. Age also has an influence on outlook; only 11% of 18-24s believe there should “definitely” be a referendum, compared with 55% of those aged 55+.

As things stand, Britain would vote to leave the EU if a referendum were held; 46% would either “definitely” (28%) or “probably” (18%) vote to leave, while 38% would “definitely” (20%) or “probably” (18%) vote to remain. Again, there is a clear division on the basis of age; 68% of 18-24s would vote to stay in the EU, while only 9% would vote to leave. Among those aged 55+ the pattern is reversed and 57% would vote to leave while 35% would vote to stay. Londoners are the least likely to vote to leave the EU (36%), while those in the north-east would be the most likely to vote to leave (60%).

Given this hostility to the EU, it is unsurprising that only a minority of Britons think of themselves as European; 13% say it is “a large part of who I am”, while a further 26% say it is “a small part of who I am”. The term “European” is not important to the self-identity of 61% of Britons.

The lack of association with all things European is reflected by the large proportion of Britons (81%) who do not speak another European language fluently. The 19% who do speak another European language are significantly more likely than the average to say that being European is a “large part” of their identity (39% versus 13%) and much more likely to vote to remain part of the EU in any future referendum (49% versus 38%).

What role did Winston Churchill play in European post-war integration?

Document 1: 1948 cartoon by Illingworth

Document 2: extracts from the speech Churchill gave in Zurich on the 19^th September 1946

“If Europe were once united in the sharing of its common inheritance, there would be no limit to the happiness, to the prosperity and glory which its three or four hundred million people would enjoy. Yet it is from Europe that have sprung that series of frightful nationalistic quarrels, originated by the Teutonic nations, which we have seen even in this twentieth century and in our own lifetime, wreck the peace and mar the prospects of all mankind.[…]

There is a remedy which, if it were generally and spontaneously adopted, would as if by a miracle transform the whole scene [...] It is to re-create the European Family, or as much of it as we can, and provide it with a structure under which it can dwell in peace, in safety and in freedom.[…]

We must re-create the European family in a regional structure called, it may be, the United States of Europe. […]

The salvation of the common people of every race and of every land from war or servitude must be established on solid foundations and must be guarded by the readiness of all men and women to die rather than submit to tyranny.

In all this urgent work, France and Germany must take the lead together.

Great Britain, the British Commonwealth of Nations, mighty America, and I trust Soviet Russia - for then indeed all would be well - must be the friends and sponsors of the new Europe and must champion its right to live and shine."

A European army?

Click HERE to read the article from theguardian!

1951: an army for six countries?

News video (January 2014) on the Common Defence Policy

Tony Blair and Europe

Tony Blair, British Labour Prime Minister from 1997 to 2007

Click HERE to read Blair's June 2005 speech

As British Prime Minister (1997-2007) Tony Blair was a Europhile. He felt his mission was to reinforce EU institutions and decisions. The UK took part actively in the work of the Commission and in Brussels debates and votes during his time. He saw the EU as a means of promoting British interests too.

"I believe in Europe as a political project. I believe in Europe with a strong and caring social dimension. I would never accept a Europe that was simply an economic market." (2005)

Blair was a firm believer in the free market (though leader of the Labour Party). He wanted to promote the single market, and a more flexible labor market. The gas and electricity industries as well as the financial markets needed to be liberalized.

During the 1998 UK Presidency of the EU, Blair said that he wanted Britain to join the eurozone.

Tony Blair wanted reform of the CAP, which he considered too expensive; the EU should instead invest more in dynamic and innovative sectors of the economy. British contributions to the EU Development Budget for new member countries increased (and effectively reduced the UK rebate by 20% to the satisfaction of European partners). For him, accepting former Eastern Bloc countries as members was a good thing. He considered that the EU should invest in job creation, especially in the knowledge-based economy.

His vision of Europe was one which promoted solidarity among nations in order to preserve peace, prosperity and democracy. No individual country, he thought, however powerful, can alone defend democratic values. Tony Blair wanted to promote a strong Europe. He signed the Amsterdam Treaty which reinforced the Common Foreign and Security Policy. He saw the UK’s close relations with the USA as a plus for Britain’s European partners.

He also wanted the EU to fight organized crime and illegal immigration. 

Tony Blair did not approve of Margaret Thatcher’s attitude to Europe nor of the fact that John Major had obtained concessions for the UK in the Maastricht Treaty (on issues such as the single currency, employment, and defence). He signed the Social Chapter of the Maastricht Treaty (which included the minimum wage and the 48-hour working week). He also signed the European Convention on Human Rights (allowing citizens to defend their rights at the European Court of Human Rights).

During the 2005 UK Presidency of the EU, he put the accent on "modernizing" the EU: "It is a time to recognise that only by change will Europe recover its strength, its relevance, its idealism and therefore its support amongst the people." (23 January 2005).

The European Constitution, which included the proposal for a full-time president of the European Council and a common defence policy, was rejected in referendums in France and in the Netherlands in Spring 2005... In June of the same year, in an address to the Members of the European Parliament, Tony Blair said: "This is a union of values, of solidarity between nations and people, of not just a common market in which we trade but a common political space in which we live as citizens."

For him, the EU had to reform so as to deal with globalization: "We should be leading the way in Europe, shaping the direction of Europe, participating in debates and working in partnership with the others for a more prosperous economy for our people." Modernizing the EU was necessary in order for European voters to believe in it once more.

Blair today remains active in European affairs and is a probable candidate for the position of President of the European Council.

John Major and Europe

Sir John Major, British Conservative Prime Minister

from 1990 to 1997

In a speech he gave a few months before the Maastricht summit, John Major said: "It is because we care for lasting principles that I want to place Britain at the heart of Europe". He thought the UK could "inspire and shape" the European project…

Though Major secured a number of opt-outs from the Maastricht Treaty regarding social policy and membership of the single currency, the Conservative Party's internal arguments over the ratification of Maastricht (and over Europe generally) undermined Major's premiership.

On 16 September 1992 (“Black Wednesday”), the UK was forced to abandon membership of the Exchange Rate Mechanism (intended to keep inflation low by linking exchange rates to the Deutschmark); it was one of the lowest points in Britain's relationship with Europe.

Thatcher and Europe

1988 cartoon by Cummings

Margaret Thatcher (1925-2013) was the Conservative British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990. She saw “Brussels” as having excessive power…

In 1980, she called for the UK's contributions to the EEC to be adjusted: "I want my money back!" she exclaimed. She did get a rebate, but relations with European partners became strained after that.

Mrs Thatcher, having signed the 1986 Single European Act, commented: "Advantages will indeed flow from that achievement well into the future."

1988 cartoon by Cummings

In her controversial 1988 "Bruges speech", Mrs Thatcher declared: "We have not successfully rolled back the frontiers of the state in Britain, only to see them re-imposed at a European level, with a European super-state exercising a new dominance from Brussels".

In October 1990, Mrs Thatcher agreed to join the ERM. That same year, Jacques Delors, the president of the European Commission, had proposed a reform of EU institutions. Thatcher, fearing more interference by Brussels, responded at the end of October by saying to the House of Commons: "No. No. No." Within a few weeks, her anti-EU views led her party to force her to resign.

In 2002, Thatcher wrote: "Most of the problems the world has faced have come from mainland Europe, and the solutions from outside it."

The European project in the years 2000

May 1, 2004 cartoon by Chapatte celebrating European enlargement

In 2001, the Treaty of Nice was signed. It was intended to improve the Maastricht Treaty and bring greater democracy to the European institutions in anticipation of further enlargement: one Commissioner from each member state; the weighting of votes in the Council (i.e. the bigger the country in terms of population, the more votes it has at the European Council).

The Euro became the new currency for eurozone countries in 2002.

During 2003, the member states did not act in a concerted manner regarding the Iraq War, showing up the lack of influence of the EU in international relations (basically, each country continued to act on its own).

2008 cartoon by KS

In 2005, the project for a Constitution, elaborated by a team headed by Valérie Giscard d’Estaing, was rejected by the French and Dutch in referendums, putting a brake on political integration. However, enlargement went ahead in the same year: ten east-European countries from the former Soviet bloc joined the EU. This added 75 million new citizens. Their integration was not easy as their standard of living was very low, though some countries, such as Poland, have made spectacular progress. In 2007, Romania and Bulgaria also joined.

The Great Recession which started in 2008 undermined the efficacy of the Euro.

The 2009 Lisbon Treaty was intended to modernize EU institutions to better cope with enlargement. 

The British continued to want a market-oriented EU, whereas the French and Germans a more powerful, federal, Europe.

The European project in the 1990s

In Maastricht, on 7 February 1992, the Foreign and Finance Ministers of the 12 Member States of the European Communities signed the Treaty on European Union.

Helmut Kohl, the German Chancellor, said in 1992: “The European Union Treaty... within a few years will lead to the creation of what the founding fathers of modern Europe dreamed of after the war: the United States of Europe.” 

The Treaty of Rome was amended again, this time by the 7 February 1992 Maastricht Treaty (which came into force in November 1993). The agenda set out under the Single European Act in 1986 took a significant step forward by ostensibly creating a “European Political Union” (EPU).

The Maastricht Treaty created:

• a new organizational structure based on three 'pillars': (1) economic relations, essentially controlled by the Commission and which incorporated the three Communities, (2) foreign affairs and (3) home affairs controlled by the European Council;
• the European Union (EU);
• Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), which lead to the Euro (2002), reinforcing the economic responsibilities of the European Community;
• an expanded European Council giving national governments more say.

Cartoon by Steve Bell

The Treaty is seen as a central moment of European integration. However, it met strong opposition from eurosceptics; the Danes only ratified it after a second referendum, and John Major’s Government only narrowly won the vote on the treaty in the British House of Commons. Douglas Hurd, the British Foreign Secretary from 1989 to 1995 summed up British recalcitrance: “Those in favor of the creation of a European state want to see all European co-operation channeled through the institutions established by the Treaty of Rome. We do not accept that model.”

The Treaty resulted in the widening of EU responsibilities (to include a Common Foreign and Security Policy, home affairs, and the environment) and the deepening of integration. This meant using supranational structures in some areas while using intergovernmental ones in others. The process of closer integration through Monetary Union made it vital to have closer political co-operation.

The deepening measures of the Treaty pushed forward a federalist model of European integration, based on the supranational institutions. Jacques Delors, the EU Commission President, said in 1993: “We're not just here to make a single market, but a political union.” However, the British Government succeeded in including the principle of subsidiarity in the Treaty (the idea that the EU should act only when member states cannot act), which helped counter-balance federalist tendencies. Even Delors recognized that the European Union was in fact more a "federation of Nation States".

In the 1990s, Europe underwent important changes following the end of the Cold War. German reunification in 1990 meant that Germany was to become more powerful; Helmut Kohl and François Mitterrand ensured the continuing constructive French-German relationship. The war in ex-Yougoslavia from 1991 to 1999 showed that, despite its CFSP, the creation of Eurocorps in 1992 and Eurofor in 1995, the EU was incapable of coordinating its efforts to deal with a major conflict even within the continent without help from NATO or the USA...

Signatories of the Amsterdam Treaty, 2 October 1997

The 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam was the third major amendment to the 1957 Treaty of Rome. It changed the operation of the Council of the European Union, absorbed the Schengen Convention and increased the role of the EU in home affairs, pushing forward the model of a supranational European Union at the expense of intergovernmental co-operation.

The Treaty of Amsterdam:

• gave the framework for the future accession of ten East European member states;
• incorporated the Schengen Convention into EU law;
• expanded the role of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) by creating a High Representative for EU foreign affairs;
• extended the powers of Europol, the European police agency;
• increased the number of decisions covered by Qualified Majority Voting (QMV), including on some foreign policy issues;
• gave the Commission a say over the majority of Justice and Home Affairs;
• created the idea of enhanced co-operation to allow some members to co-operate without unanimous agreement;
• it recognized the idea of constructive abstention (a member state could opt out of security or foreign affairs without preventing other countries from going ahead), which effectively created a two-speed Europe.

The European project in the 1980s

The Le Monde cartoon above is by Plantu. It comments the outcome of the Fontainebleau European Council (June 1984). Thatcher is happy with the rebate she obtained on the UK’s contribution to the European Communities budget, and Mitterrand, who lead the Council, proudly holds up the first European passport. Plantu mocks everyone here: Thatcher for her self-satisfaction and the others for their "togetherness". Margaret Thatcher had said: "We are not asking the Community or anyone else for money, we are simply asking to have our own money back". The UK (which was not as wealthy at the time as it is today) was going to become the biggest net contributor to the EU budget (it gave twice as much to Europe as it received back, mainly because it did not benefit from agricultural subsidies as much as the others). Thatcher's stance (symbolized in the Plantu cartoon by her standing apart) was seen as being typical of her anti-federalist attitude.

In 1981, Greece joined the European Communities. In 1986, Spain and Portugal joined too. These three countries were poor and joining the Common Market was a means of development for them; it meant also that there were henceforth disparities of wealth and standards of living between the member states.

In June 1985, the Schengen Agreement abolishing border controls was signed (it came into force in 1995, and the 1997 Amsterdam Treaty incorporated it into European Union law). In the Schengen Area, there is free movement of people. The outside borders of the area have been reinforced.

Jacques Delors

The Single European Act (SEA), signed in 1986, amended the 1957 Treaty of Rome with the aim of:

• achieving at last a full single market, concerning both the private and public sectors, by deregulation, i.e. overcoming barriers, namely: physical (border controls), technical (rules and regulations) and fiscal (different tax rates);
• strengthening democracy by giving greater legislative powers to the European Parliament;
• making it easier for laws to be passed by the Council of Ministers by increasing the number of areas covered by Qualified Majority Voting (QMV);
• expanding the role of the Commission;
• laying the basis for a common European Foreign, Justice and Home Affairs policies.

The SEA’s push for a more open market pleased Margaret Thatcher, who declared: “The Community is now launching itself on a course for the 1990s, a course which must make it possible for Europe to compete on equal terms with the United States and Japan... What we need are strengths which we can only find together. We must be stronger in new technologies. We must have the full benefit of a single large market.”

The SEA increased co-operation between member states on more areas of policy, i.e. it deepened integration, which was necessary in order to cope with new members. The ambition was summed up by Helmut Kohl, the German Chancellor, in 1989: “We want a European Union, we want the United States of Europe.”

The SEA also made it easier to pass EU legislation by loosening the voting rules in the Council of Ministers and emphasized the role of the European Parliament. Jacques Delors, the European Commission President from 1985-1995, said: “In ten years, 80% of the laws on the economy and social policy will be passed at a European not the national level...”

Mitterrand and Kohl at Douaumont

The European project 1973 to 1979

French poster for the 1979 elections to the European Parliament

In 1973, the same year the UK, Ireland and Denmark joined the Common Market, the first petrol crisis started, multiplying the cost of petrol by four. This made the process of European integration difficult as nations struggled to cope with economic havoc and unemployment.

Enlargement meant that relations between countries of the Common Market needed deepening (i.e. an ever closer union). Hence the setting up in 1974 of the European Council which brought together the Heads of State or of Government several times a year to determine policy (it was not, initially, any more efficient than the Council of Ministers which was handicapped by the rule of unanimous voting on "important issues").

Simone Veil, first president of the elected European Parliament from 1979 to 1982

In 1979, elections by direct universal suffrage gave the European Parliament more credibility but it continued to have little more than a consultative role. Subsequent European Parliament elections have suffered from increasing abstention rates, despite the increasing powers of the institution, due to citizens' indifference, incomprehension, or even hostility; Euroscepticism was already on the rise...

Also in 1979, the EMS (European Monetary System) was created to improve cooperation regarding financial matters.

Why was the United Kingdom not a member of the European Communities until 1973?

The EEC created a system of agricultural subsidies called the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). In the 1962 cartoon above, Harold Macmillan looks through the window of the "Restaurant de l'Europe" at the six happy EEC member state leaders being fed thanks to the CAP. British leaders at the time probably felt that the UK was missing out economically because the UK had not joined the European Communities (ECSC, EEC and Euratom) when they were first set up…

Up to the early 1960s, the political, commercial and cultural links to the colonies and former colonies of the UK were still strong; the British government felt that joining the Communities was not indispensable.

Also, European political union - the long-term aim of the Communities - meant surrendering part of the sovereignty of the UK to supranational European institutions; the British government and people were very unwilling to do so (this is still the case today...).

Also, the British government was keen to join a free trade area (i.e. with no internal customs rights), but it wanted national governments to be able to impose their own tariffs with regard to countries outside the Communities (in other words it did not want to join a customs union).

The British government and several other European countries set up a free trade area called the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) as an alternative to the EEC. This was less successful than the common market, and so, in 1961, the Conservative Prime Minister Harold Macmillan asked to join the EEC.

Macmillan stressed the "economic" aspect of the EEC, reassuring Members of the British Parliament that the Treaty of Rome "does not deal with defence (or) foreign policy". He pointed out the "remarkable economic progress" of the EEC member countries. He argued that UK membership would not weaken its relationship with Commonwealth countries, but would be "complementary" to it. He said: "I believe that our right place is in the vanguard of the movement towards the greater unity of the free world, and that we can lead better from within (the EEC) than outside."

In 1963, Charles De Gaulle vetoed British accession to the EEC because he was suspicious of Britain’s Atlanticism (he wanted Europe to become a third superpower, not to be dependent on the USA).

In 1967, when, this time, the Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson requested to join the EEC, de Gaulle once more refused UK application (cf. de Gaulle's May 1967 press conference at 69:57), for the same reason as in 1963, adding that he considered the UK not ready either economically or even "culturally" to join...

Only after de Gaulle resigned in 1969, did negotiations for British accession to the EEC start, with the support of the new French President Georges Pompidou.

Edward Heath signs the Common Market Accession, Brussels 1 January 1973

Overcoming significant opposition from part of the British public, the Conservative Prime Minister Edward Heath signed the accession to the EEC in January 1973. Denmark and Ireland also joined and the Europe of the Nine was created.

Edward Heath said the Treaty of Accession in Brussels marked "an end and a beginning" for the UK: an end to the UK’s (economic) isolation from the Continent, and the beginning of EEC membership, which would need "clear thinking and a strong effort of the imagination" by the British. He defended the UK’s strong "national identity" but valued the "common European heritage". He wanted the UK to take a leading role in the EEC and thus "contribute to the universal nature of Europe's responsibilities", namely improving relations with countries dominated by the Soviet Union. Heath hoped for further enlargement, but was worried whether the institutions of the EEC would be able to meet the needs of an enlarged community.

1969-1973: renewed hope for European integration and enlargement

Georges Pompidou and Willy Brandt

Georges Pompidou was elected President of the French Republic in June 1969 (Charles de Gaulle had resigned in April 1969). He was elected on a pro-European manifesto and, unlike his predecessor, was not opposed to enlargement of the EEC (he was not against the UK’s Atlanticism). He was not, however, particularly keen on supranationalism.

Willy Brandt, the new Chancellor, was a federalist, and wanted to cooperate closely with Germany’s European partners, particularly France.

The Hague Summit

At The Hague Summit of 1-2 December 1969, the Heads of State or Government of The Six discussed “completion” (resolving the problems of the common agricultural policy), “deepening” (political, economic and monetary cooperation) and “enlargement” (to new members). The Summit gave renewed hope of real European integration after the difficult de Gaulle years.

Paris European Summit

At the Paris European Summit of 19-21 October 1972, the leaders of The Six plus those of the three candidate countries discussed numerous policy issues. Economic and monetary union, and the setting up of a European Union before the end of the decade, were also envisaged. The Paris Summit gave formal reality to the Community’s first enlargement and set the agenda for the nine members. Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined the common market in January 1973.

In October 1973, the oil crisis started; it was the start of an economic downturn that undermined European integration until the mid-1980s.

1958-1969: De Gaulle slows down European integration...

Extract of the televised press conference given by de Gaulle on 5 September 1960 (starting at 42 minutes and 9 seconds):

« ... Or quelles sont les réalités de l'Europe ? Quels sont les piliers sur lesquels on peut la bâtir ? En vérité, ce sont les Etats. Des Etats qui sont, certes, très différents les uns des autres, qui ont, chacun, son âme à lui, son histoire à lui, sa langue à lui, ses malheurs, ses gloires et ses ambitions à lui. Mais des Etats qui sont les seules entités qui aient le droit d'ordonner et le pouvoir d'être obéis.

... il est vrai qu'on a pu instituer certains organismes plus ou moins extra ou supra nationaux. Ces organismes ont leur valeur technique. Mais ils n'ont pas, ils ne peuvent pas avoir d'autorité, et par conséquent, d'efficacité politique.

... Assurer la coopération régulière des Etats de l'Europe occidentale, c'est ce que la France considère comme étant souhaitable, comme étant possible et comme étant pratique dans le domaine politique, dans le domaine économique, dans le domaine culturel et dans celui de la défense. Cela comporte quoi ? Cela comporte un concert organisé, régulier des gouvernements responsables. Et puis alors, le travail, l'organisme spécialisé dans chacun des domaines communs est subordonné au gouvernement. Cela comporte la délibération périodique d'une assemblée qui soit formée par les délégués des parlements nationaux.

... Alors, cette coopération organisée entre eux, voilà ce que la France propose. Bien sûr, si l'on entre dans cette voie, et l'on peut espérer que l'on va y rentrer, les liens se multiplieront, et les habitudes se prendront. Et alors, le temps faisant son œuvre, peu à peu, il est possible que l'on en vienne à des pas plus avancés vers l'unité européenne. »

Comments:

According to the above quotes from de Gaulle’s press conference, the General considered that:

• only the state has any legitimacy;
• supranational institutions are useful but cannot have any real power;
• cooperation between the states of Europe was necessary regarding political, economic, military and cultural matters, and that there should be regular meetings between representatives of governments;
• step by step, greater unity would be achieved.

The EEC, set up two years previously, is alluded to (“certains organismes plus ou moins extra ou supra nationaux”) but not in positive terms. De Gaulle envisaged Europe as a confederation, in which power lies with the states and not with supranational institutions. He thought cooperation between independent states was necessary and he recognized the economic advantages brought by the common market, but he did he did not want France to lose its autonomy - sovereignty - to a supranational European institution.

De Gaulle had been, in the early 1950s, an outspoken opponent of the European Defence Community as a means of defending Western Europe against possible attack from the Soviet Union. He rejected it because he saw it as part of what he called the American "protectorate" (the Marshall Plan plus NATO) and because of the fact that the EDC project entailed the "fusion" of European countries (including Germany). The Rome Treaties (March 1957) were hurriedly signed before General de Gaulle came to power again (in May 1958, a period marked by crisis in France because of the war of independence in Algeria). 

Charles de Gaulle was elected President of the French Republic and took office in January 1959. He did not, in the context of the Cold War, want France to be dependent on the USA. France got the nuclear bomb in 1960, and left NATO in 1966. He thought cooperation between European countries could make the continent stronger and better able to face the USSR without the help of the USA.

The June 1962 cartoon above by the German Fritz Behrendt mocks the oversized ego of General de Gaulle, who says: “I am Europe!” Many leaders in Europe also thought that de Gaulle was overbearing in wanting to impose his vision of things. He wanted an intergovernmental structure to run Europe whereas the five other countries of the EEC did not. He came up in 1961 with the Fouchet Plan to counter what he saw as the increasing supranational power of the Communities (ECSC, EEC, Euratom) and to give France more power in negotiations (namely on agricultural issues). The other EEC countries rejected both the first (1961) and second (1962) drafts of the Fouchet Plan, because the common market was a success and because they did not want de Gaulle to dominate the EEC.

The "empty chair" crisis in 1965-66 was due to the fact that de Gaulle was unhappy with the proposal for the financing of the common agricultural policy (CAP), with budgetary powers being given to the European Parliament, with the greater role being given to the Commission, and with majority voting in the Council of Ministers. On 1 July 1965, the French Government announced France’s intention not to take its seat in the Council of Ministers. The crisis only ended when, on 30 January 1966, the Luxembourg Compromise was signed; it stipulates that a unanimous vote  should be reached when the "very important interests" of one or more partners are at stake.

De Gaulle and Adenauer in 1962

De Gaulle worked hard for closer ties between France and Germany. This is because Germany was becoming a powerful industrial nation, so it was in France's economic interest to get on well with its neighbour. Also, de Gaulle could be seen in a positive light both in France and in German since the Germans wanted to be better accepted by other nations and the French were pleased that there was reconciliation. Following de Gaulle's state visit to Germany, and Adenauer's to France, the Elysée Treaty of friendship between France and Germany was signed on the 22 January 1962. It marked reconciliation between the two countries and aimed at increased cooperation on matters of international relations, defence and education. The success of the Treaty (it still applies today) shows that the Franco-German relationship is the hub of European construction.

De Gaulle rejected the UK's application to join the EEC in both 1963 and 1967 because he thought the British were not economically or even culturally ready to do so. He considered the UK to be too dependent militarily on the USA.

25 March 1957: Treaties of Rome

Signature of the Treaties of Rome

Preamble to the Treaty Establishing the European Economic Community which was signed in Rome on 25 March 1957:

“His Majesty The King of the Belgians, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, the President of the French Republic, the President of the Italian Republic, Her Royal Highness The Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Her Majesty The Queen of the Netherlands,

Determined to lay the foundations of an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe,

Resolved to ensure the economic and social progress of their countries by common action to eliminate the barriers which divide Europe,

Affirming as the essential objective of their efforts the constant improvement of the living and working conditions of their peoples,

Recognising that the removal of existing obstacles calls for concerted action in order to guarantee steady expansion, balanced trade and fair competition,

Anxious to strengthen the unity of their economies and to ensure their harmonious development by reducing the differences existing between the various regions and the backwardness of the less favoured regions,

Desiring to contribute, by means of a common commercial policy, to the progressive abolition of restrictions on international trade,

Intending to confirm the solidarity which binds Europe and the overseas countries and desiring to ensure the development of their prosperity, in accordance with the principles of the Charter of the United Nations,

Resolved by thus pooling their resources to preserve and strengthen peace and liberty, and calling upon the other peoples of Europe who share their ideal to join in their efforts,

Have decided to create a European Economic Community…"

"EUROPE UNITED FOR PROGRESS AND FOR PEACE"

1957 Italian poster celebrating the Treaties of Rome

Comments:

The purpose of the 1951 ECSC Treaty was to create interdependence in coal and steel so that one country could not rearm without the others knowing about it. The ECSC did manage to create a degree of trust between the member countries, though not enough to make the EDC and EPC plans succeed. The 1955 Messina Conference nonetheless concluded that “…the time has come to make a fresh advance towards the building of Europe”. The creation of a common market and the integration of the nuclear energy industry were proposed; it was considered that there would be less resistance from member countries to cooperating on economic matters (rather than on military or political matters). The ultimate aim of European integration remained prosperity, peace and common security; it was to be achieved, at least initially, through a pragmatic approach: stimulating trade between European countries.

The immediate purpose of a common market was to transform the conditions of trade and manufacture of the member states, for them to have a common trading policy. Commercial exchange between them would be tariff-free (i.e. there would be a customs union) in order to keep costs down. Combining resources would stimulate growth, increase the standard of living, and make Europe better able to compete with the United States.

Britain did not support the idea of joining a common market, seeing it, in the words of Herbert Morrison as: “…the end of Britain as an independent European state (…) the end of a thousand years of history!”

As a result of the Messina Conference, France, West Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Italy signed the Treaties of Rome on March 25th 1957. These treaties set up the European Economic Community (EEC) to create a common market, and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) to develop peaceful applications of atomic energy.

The Rome Treaties came into force on January 1st 1958. Increased economic cooperation between The Six, pushing European integration further, was widely approved at the time, including by workers’ unions.

The purpose of the Rome Treaties is summarized in the preamble (cf. above document): ever closer union; economic and social progress; elimination of trade barriers; improving living and working conditions; steady economic expansion, balanced trade and fair competition; unity of economies; reducing the economic differences between regions; a common commercial policy to fight restrictions on international trade; solidarity between Europe and overseas countries; pooling resources to preserve and strengthen peace and liberty. Other European countries were free to apply to join the EEC. The EEC was not just about having a single market with free movement of goods, services, capital and people; it was about improving the lives of all citizens...

The way that the EEC was to be run however did not give that much power to its supranational institutions since the decision-making authority was basically the Council of Ministers; in other words, the EEC was essentially run by an inter-governmental organization and not a supranational structure. From a federalist point of view, the EEC was not a total success, but nonetheless a positive step towards unification and the construction of a political Europe. The common market did manage to stimulate economic growth; even the UK wanted to become part of the EEC, applying for membership in 1962…

The EEC Treaty established a Council of Ministers (decision-making role), a Commission (executive role), a Parliamentary Assembly (advisory role), an Economic and Social Committee (advisory role), and a Court of Justice. With the Merger Treaty of 1967, the Council and the Commission become institutions shared by the three Communities (ECSC, EEC and Euratom) and there was a common budget.

In 1993, when the European Union (EU) was created, the EEC was renamed the European Community (EC). The Lisbon Treaty of 2009 got rid of the EC and the Treaty of Rome was renamed the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

An EEC/EU treaty is a binding agreement between member countries, approved voluntarily and democratically. It sets out objectives, rules for institutions, how decisions are made and the relationship between the supranational authority and its member countries. Treaties are amended and new treaties are signed to make the institutions more efficient and transparent, to introduce new areas of cooperation (such as the single currency), or to prepare for new member countries. Under the treaties, institutions can adopt legislation, which the member countries then implement.

27 May 1952: a Treaty for a European Defence Community was signed...

The drawing above, dated October 1950, by the Dutch cartoonist Opland, comments ironically on the Pleven plan for a European army. The title is: "THE ATLANTIC ARMY", and the comment below is: "The best horse in the stable" (the one being ridden by the "European Minister for Defence").

The USA, in its efforts to contain communism, wanted Germany to rearm and join NATO. This idea was rejected by European countries. Jean Monnet suggested the setting up of a European Defence Community (EDC): a pan-European army to include West Germany, France, Italy, and the Benelux countries under the command of NATO. The plan for the EDC was announced by the French premier René Pleven in October 1950 and a treaty signed on 27 May 1952.

However, the EDC plan was never implemented because the French National Assembly rejected it. Charles de Gaulle was against it too because he felt that rearming Germany was dangerous, that France would lose sovereignty over its defence and be subject to greater US domination. The French Communist party, which at the time was a major political force, rejected it too, ostensibly because it would give Germany the opportunity to once again pose a military threat, but especially because a strong European army would have contributed to lessening the influence of the Soviet Union in Europe (the Communist party in France was pro-Soviet).

There was also a plan in 1952 to set up a federalist European Political Community (because it became clear the Council of Europe was to have no real power...). It was to manage the EDC and the ECSC, but it was dropped when it became clear the EDC was not feasible.

Messina Conference 1955

The foreign ministers of the six member states of the ECSC held a Conference in Messina (Sicily) in June 1955. Because both the EDC and the European Political Community plans had failed, ideas were discussed to relaunch European integration, among which: a common market, customs union, and integration of the atomic energy sector… This lead to the signing of the Treaties of Rome in 1957 setting up the European Economic Community and Euratom.