1 Steps and Missteps in European Integration

Home , Davignon report, Fouchet Plan, Luxembourg compromise, Spaak report

1 Steps and missteps in European integration

18 April 1951: Paris Treaty establishes European Coal and Steel Commu- nity, eﬀective for 50 years from 25 July 1952 (France, West Germany, Italy, Benelux) Postwar Europe: what to do about a German army? The idea of deindustrializing Germany and turning it into a pastoral nation never made much sense. Many of the traditional agricultural areas of Germany disappeared behind the Iron Curtain. The Korean War meant (a) the United States needed European, including German, industry to provide war materiel. (b) a European military contribution (in the event, NATO) was needed to provide a balance to Soviet military forces, given the much of the U.S. military was tied up on the Korean peninsula. But it was politically unacceptable to simply allow Germany to rearm (and there was much resistance within Germany to the prospect of rearmament). Thus a backdrop to European developments in the 1950s was the working out of arrangements to manage German rearmament in a way that assuaged the concerns of Germany’s European partners. October 1950: French Premier René Pleven proposed the establishment of a European Defense Community (EDC). ThePlevenPlanproposedthatGermantroopswouldserveunderthe authority of a European Defense Minister, who in turn would be responsible to the ECSC Assembly. The Pleven Plan was the origin of the European Defense Community treaty,signed7May1952inParis. The EDC Treaty diﬀered in detail from the Pleven Plan. Instead of a European Defense Minister, the EDC Treaty called for a Council of Defense Ministers, an anticipation of the EU Council of Ministers. In terms of political infrastructure, the EDC Treaty would have established an ad hoc Assembly, to be followed by a democratically-elected permanent assembly. 10 September 1952 (four months after signing of the EDC Treaty): the Luxembourg Resolution of the foreign ministers of the ECSC member states

1 calls on the ad hoc Assembly to develop plans for the permanent assembly provided for in the EDC Treaty. 10 March, 1953: ECSC Assembly adopts a draft European Political Treaty. It provided for Council of Ministers (as with the ECSC and later the EC) Executive Council (as the ECSC High Authority and the European Com- mission) Parliament: – Senate – appointed by national parliaments – People’s Chamber – directly elected (thiswastheoriginalformatoftheU.S.Congress; popular election of the U.S. Senate dates from 1914 and the 17th amendment to the U.S. constitution). Social-Economic Council: an advisory body representing consumer and producer organizations Court Eight years after the end of World War II, the stage was set for full-ﬂedged European political integration. We now know that such political integration has yet to take place, 60 yearsaftertheendofWorldWarII. Germany ratiﬁed the EDC Treaty 9 days after it was adopted. France: (a) a change in government (there were 26 governments during the twelve years of the Fourth Republic). (b) some opposition to German rearmament on any terms. (c) some belief that political integration should come before military integration. (d) some belief that political integration should include more than the ECSC member states. EDC Treaty rejected by the French Assembly on August 30, 1954. This killed the European Political Community as well.

2 Backtothedrawingboard

Direct pursuit of political integration infeasible, return to the strategy of economic integration as a means of laying the groundwork for political integration.

2 1-3 June 1955 Messina conference of foreign ministers; Messina resolution establishes Intergovernmental Committee under direction of Paul-Henri Spaak to prepare framework for broader economic integration. April 1956: Spaak Report, basis for the Treaties of Rome March 25, 1957: Treaties of Rome signed, with effect from January 1, 1958, establishing – European Economic Community –Euratom December 21, 1958: Charles de Gaulle as the first President of France’s Fifth Republic French participation was in doubt. The idea of Euratom appealed to the French since it held out the prospect of European high-technology competition with the United States. In the event, Euratom did not live up to this promise, but its presence in the package persuaded France to adopt the whole package. Article 1: Establishes the EEC. Article 2: “establishing a common market and progressively approximat- ing the economic policies of Member States” Article 8: The common market to be established during a transitional period of 12 years, divided into three subperiods of four years each. Article 3: (a)—(c): abolish barriers to trade in goods, services, labor with the Com- munity, establish common tariff with outside countries. (d) & (e): establish common agriculture & transport (f) “the institution of a system ensuring that competition in the common market is not distorted;” (i) “the creation of a European Social Fund in order to improve employment opportunities for workers” (j) “establishment of a European Investment Bank to facilitate the economic expansion of the Community” Article 4; (institutions): Assembly [Parliament], Council, Commission, Court of Justice Article 13: Customs duties on imports . . . between Member States shall be progressively abolished . . . during the transitional period. Article 14(6): at least a 25 per cent reduction by the end of the first four-year stage, at least 50 per cent by the end of the second four-year stage, complete abolition after 12 years (which would have been 1970). Article 33: A similar timetable for elimination of quotas.

3 Article 40: Member States shall develop the common agricultural policy by degrees during the transitional period and shall bring it into force by the end of that period at the latest. Article 75: [To establish a common transport policy] the Council shall, acting unanimously until the end of the second stage and by a qualified majority thereafter, lay down, on a proposal from the Commission and after consulting the Economic and Social Committee and the Assembly: (a) common rules applicable to international transport to or from the territory of a Member State or passing across the territory of one or more Member States; Note that qualified majority voting is to come into effectattheendofthe second four-year stage, thus on January 1, 1966. Articles 85, 86, 92, now renumbered as Article 81: competition policy toward cooperative or joint action by firms Article 82: competition policy to conduct of dominant firms Article 87: control of state aid to business Article 119: [Social policy] Each Member State shall during the first stage ensure and subsequently maintain the application of the principle that men and women should receive equal pay for equal work. This Article was a partial response to the French desire to equalize “social charges,” meaning wages, a concern that persists to the present day with respect to the new Eastern European member states. Eventually the French came to accept the view that (Stirk, 1996, p. 144, quoting French Foreign Minister Pineau) “[the] equalization of living stan- dards and condition of work will be assured in time by the operation of the common market itself. . . ” Article125(1)[ThepurposesoftheEuropeanSocialFundinclude] (a) ensuring productive re-employment of workers by means of [vocational training and resettlement allowances]; Article 13): The task of the European Investment Bank shall be to con- tribute, by having recourse to the capital market and utilising its own resources, to the balanced and steady development of the common market in theinterestoftheCommunity.ForthispurposetheBankshall...grantloans and give guarantees which facilitate the financing of the following projects in all sectors of the economy: (a) projects for developing less developed regions; (b) projects for modernising or converting undertakings or for developing fresh activities called for by the progressive establishment of the common

4 market. . . (c) projects of common interest to several Member States. . . Article 200: budget provisions Original financing shares of the EC 6: Belgium 7.9 Germany 28.0 France 28.0 Italy 28.0 Luxembourg 0.2 Netherlands 7.9 Annual budget to be proposed by the Commission and approved by the Council. Article 201: the EEC may at some point have its own resources, as from the common tariff. The Commission will make proposals to this effect to the Council, which will consult with the Assembly [Parliament] and then take a decision. Stirk and Weigall (1999, p. 155):

Intheevent,progresstowardsacustomsunionwasfasterthan had been planned in the EEC Treaty. The first step was taken on 1 January 1959, when tariffs between member states were cut by 10 per cent. . . . The Commission . . . then proposed the accel- eration of further tariff cuts, which on 12 May 1960 the Council of Ministers agreed. By 1 July 1962 customs duties among the Six had been reduced by half and the third and final stage of the establishment of free trade within the customs union was concluded in 1968, a year and a half before schedule.

de Gaulle’s vision of the EEC was contained in the Fouchet Plan of No- vember 1961: it (Stirk and Weigall, 1999, p. 157)

envisaged that major political decisions on foreign and defence policymatters...weretobetakenunanimouslybytheheads of government at state summit meetings. . . . There would be a separate European Political Commission comprising oﬃcials of the foreign ministries of the Six, who would reside in Paris and coordinate agendas for meetings of foreign ministers and of the heads of state.

5 For de Gaulle, the EEC was to be a Europe of the Member States (Willis, 1968, p. 322)

In [de Gaulle’s] view, the task of the Community executives was to prepare studies, and that of the Parliament to hold debates. But ﬁnal policy was to be made by the representatives of the national states in the Council of Ministers.

The other Member States sidetracked the Fouchet Plan. The conflict between de Gaulle’s vision of a Europe of the Member States and the integrationist strategy of pursuing political integration by progressively more profound economic integration came to a head with (a) the Treaty-specified date of 1 January 1966 for the Council of Ministers to shift from a unanimity rule to a qualified majority rule and (b) the Commission’s March 1965 proposals, under the leadership of its first President, Walter Hallstein, that the Commission, subject to the over- sight of the European Parliament, would collect tariffsonagriculturalim- ports, and eventually industrial imports as well, and use them to finance agricultural subsidies. All of this –qualified majority voting – the Community’s own resources – Common Agricultural Policy were provided for in the Treaty of Rome. But the Commission’s proposals would have turned the Commission and the European Parliament into the nucleus of a genuine supranational government. July 1965: all French officials of importance withdrew from EC activity, beginning the “empty chair” crisis. December, 1965: de Gaulle was reelected President 28 January 1966: the Luxembourg Compromise: despite Treaty provisions, unanimous approval would be required for decisions that, in the view of a Member State, affected its vital interests. France returned to the table. 1 July 1967: Treaty of Brussels takes effect; EEC, Euratom, ECSC merge. Walter Hallstein resigns as President of the Commission. April 1969: de Gaulle resigns as President of France.

6 December 1969: Hague Summit lays foundation for EC expansion and deeper integration. December 1969: Hague Summit lays foundation for EC expansion and deeper integration.

Werner Report: laid the basis for monetary union • Davignon Report: framework for European Political Cooperation, reg- • ular meetings of the foreign ministers of the member states

Commission’s own budget resources, on a smaller scale than had been • sought in 1965.

prepared the way for the admission of new members, leading to the • accession of Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom on January 1, 1973.

February 1986: Single European Act with eﬀect from July 1987: 282 new pieces of legislation, proposed by the Commission, accepted by the Council, applied by Member States.

remove all remain physical, ﬁscal, technical barriers to trade in goods, • persons, services, capital

EC given responsibility for environmental, R&D, regional policy • Court of First Instance established to ease workload of European Court • of Justice

regularized European Council (meetings of heads of state and govern- • ment)

expanded powers of Council of Ministers, European Parliament • established a goal of foreign policy coordination (European Political • Cooperation)

introduced the goal of promoting cohesion – reducing gap in develop- • ment levels across Member States – basis for EU regional policy

7 December 1990: intergovernmental conference on political union, developed Maastricht Treaty (Treaty on European Union): 7 February 1992, with effect 2 November 1993. Hiccup along the way: initial rejection by Danish voters. Several opt-outs negotiated (single currency, common defense, EU citizenship, cooperation on justice & home affairs), subsequent Danish ratification. Maastricht Treaty (Treaty on European Union):

ﬁrst pillar: EU citizenship, Economic and Monetary Union; European • Central Bank; Cohesion Fund & promotion of convergence; expanded power for European Parliament, EU responsibility for consumer pro- tection, public health, transportation, education, social policy (with an opt-out for the UK)

second pillar: Common Foreign and Security Policy (successor of Eu- • ropean Political Cooperation)

third pillar: Police and Judicial Cooperation: European Police Oﬃce • (Europol)

2 October 1997: Treaty of Amsterdam signed, with eﬀect (upon rati- ﬁcation) end of May, 1999.

commitment to freedom, security and justice • reaﬃrm Maastricht Treaty • provision for Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) to complete institu- • tional reform before further expansion.