Young & Kent: International Relations since 1945

European Integration, 1945-2002

The European Experience

• A divided continent: – Languages and nationalities – Great Power rivalries – Economic competition • Old ideal of unity: Christendom • Common culture/historical experience • Twentieth Century: – Loss of world position: end of Empire – Between superpowers in Cold War

Proposals for Unity, 1929-45

• Inter-war schemes: – Franco-German steel cartel – Briand Plan, 1929: control rising German power in European context • Impact of World War II – Nazi ‘new order’ – Resistance movements: hopes of unity – Franco-British union proposal, 1940 – Failure of nation-state?

Impact of the Cold War, 1945-49

• 1945-47: ‘Big Three’ co-operation – Benelux customs union 1946 – Churchill’s Zurich speech • 1947-9: US-Soviet division – Marshall Plan, 1947: US backs integration – Economics: Organisation of European Economic Co-operation (OEEC), 1948 – Military: Brussels Pact, North Atlantic Treaty – Political: Council of Europe, 1949 – Intergovernmental not supranational co-operation

The Schuman Plan, May 1950

• Factors at work: idealism or national interest?

– Control German power: Ruhr valley – Preserve French economic recovery – Yet offer West Germany equality – Role of Monnet, Schuman, Adenauer – US support, British doubts • European Coal-Steel Community 1952 – Supranational ‘High Authority’ under Jean Monnet – France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland, Luxembourg (‘the Six’)

The EDC, 1950-54

• The Pleven Plan, October 1950 – US pressure for German rearmament after Korean War starts – Based on Schuman Plan: control German power in supranational body • European Defence Community, 1952 – Does not offer Germany proper equality – French fear loss of national army – Collapses 1954 in French parliament

The Treaties of Rome, March 1957

• Messina Conference June 1955 – Revive integration after EDC – ECSC ministers agree to study further economic integration • Spaak (Brussels) Committee – Two alternatives: ‘sectoral’ co-operation (like coal steel); or full customs union • Two Treaties – European Economic Community (EEC) – European Atomic Energy Agency (Euratom)

British Policy, 1945-61

• 1950-57: British absent from Schuman Plan and Treaties of Rome • Failure of vision?

– Favour intergovernmental co-operation – Ambitions of great power/world role – Separate from continent/wartime experience • Or national interest?

– Part in Marshall Plan and Brussels Pact – UK is global trading power – Lacks French obsession with German threat

The EEC, 1957-84: signs of success

– Internal free trade achieved by the Six – Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and Common Fisheries Policy – 1973 ‘Northern enlargement’ to Britain, Ireland and Denmark; Greece joins 1979 – 1979 direct elections to European Parliament – 1979 ‘Exchange Rate Mechanism’ (ERM) creates greater currency stability

EEC, 1957-84: hopes unfulfilled

• 1960s: the Gaullist challenge – De Gaulle opposes majority voting: empty chair crisis (1965-6) and Luxembourg compromise – Vetoes enlargement in 1963 and 1967 • 1970s: ‘stagflation’ – Monetary instability prevents Economic and Monetary Union (planned in 1970 Werner Report) – ‘Northern enlargement’ fails to bring full European Union (planned in 1972 Paris Summit) • 1979-84: Economic depression – British Budgetary Dispute

The Mid-80s European Revival

• Factors in favour of growth, 1985 – World emerging from depression – Monetary stability: strong Deutschmark – EEC expanding: Spain and Portugal 1986 – Mitterrand’s socialist policies seen to have failed in France by 1983 – Chancellor Kohl’s European commitment – British Budgetary Question resolved

The European Advance, 1984-92

• 1985 Single European Act – Expanded Qualified Majority Voting – ‘Single market’ in 1992 • Jacques Delors, Commission President – Delors Plan on Monetary Union – Social Charter • 1991 Maastricht Treaty – Single currency by 1999 – ‘European Union’ created – Common Foreign and Security Policy ‘pillar’ – Justice and Home Affairs ‘pillar’

Uncertain Decade 1992-2002

• Post-Maastricht problems – Initial defeat for Maastricht in Denmark – Virtual collapse of ERM, 1992-3 – UK/Denmark opt-out of monetary union – 1997 Amsterdam Treaty modest in aims • Continued advance – November 1993: ‘European Union’ – 1995 enlargement: Austria, Sweden, Finland – 1998 talks on ‘eastern enlargement’ – 1999/2002 single currency achieved