History and Theory of European Integration

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History and Theory of European Integration

• Marina V. Larionova

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Lecture 3

• The Decade of De Gaulle (1958-1969)
• British applications and rejections
• Veto of the UK accession
• Fouchet plan for a political community
• Elysee Treaty
• Merger Treaty
• De Gaulles resignation
• The Limits of Spill Over method

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Readings for the lecture

• Dinan Desmond (1999) Ever Closer Union. An
  Introduction to European Integration. Second
  edition. The European Union Series. Palgrave.
  Chapter 2 and Chapter 12
• Monnet J. A Ferment of Change. (1962). The
  European Union. Readings on the Theory and
  Practice of European Integration, Nelsen B.F. and
  Alexander C G. Stubb (eds.), Palgrave, 1998
• Monnet J. Europe Needs Britain (1961). The
  Pro-European Reader. Leonard D. and Leonard
  M.(eds.), Palgrave, 2002
• Gaulle Charle de. A Concert of European States
  (1965). The European Union. Readings on the
  Theory and Practice of European Integration,
  Nelsen B.F. and Alexander C G. Stubb (eds.),
  Palgrave, 1998

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De Gaulles contentions contribution to the
European integration

• Foundations of the Common Agricultural Policy
• Implementation of the EEC Treaty provisions for
  Common Agricultural Policy as a condition for
  the customs union and common external tariff
  enforcement
• Keeping the UK out of the EEC
• The triumph of intergovernmental method in EEC
  construction

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Jean Monnets method for introducing change in
Europe Inherent features

• 1. The profound change is being made possible
  essentially by the new method of common action
  which is the core of the European community. This
  method has become a permanent dialogue between a
  single European body, responsible for expressing
  the view of the general interest of the
  Community, and the national governments,
  expressing the national views.
•  2. To agree on the objectives and to negotiate
  afterwards. An overall settlement is unlikely to
  be reached by haggling over the details. Details
  fall into place and specific problems are more
  easily solved when they are looked at in the
  framework of a general agreement.
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Jean Monnets method for introducing change in
Europe Inherent features

• 3. The system is not federal, because there is no
  central government the nations take their
  decisions together in the Council of Ministers.
  On the other hand, the independent European body
  proposes policies, and the common element is
  further underlined by the European Parliament
  and the European Court of Justice.
• 4. Trust in the wisdom and strength of the
  existing institutions is needed to discuss the
  problems as common problems, using the machinery
  of the community, which has been devised for that
  specific purpose.
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Jean Monnets method for introducing change in
Europe inherent features

• 5.  Common rules applied by joint institutions
  give each a responsibility for effective working
  of the Community as a whole.
•  6. European unity is not a blueprint, it is not
  a theory, it is a process of bringing people and
  nations together to find a way out of conflicts,
  to adapt themselves jointly to changing
  circumstances.
•  7.  The new institutional method is permanently
  modifying relations between nations and men.
  Human nature does not change, but when nations
  and men accept the same rules and the same
  institutions to make sure that they are applied,
  their behavior towards each other changes. This
  is the process of civilization itself.

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The EC four years of harmony between the
governments of the member states and the EC
institutions

• Commission portfolios external relations,
  economic and financial affairs, the internal
  market, competition, social affairs, agriculture,
  transport, overseas territories
• Progress in elimination tariff barriers, success
  of commercial and external relations policy
• Economic growth in Western Europe / increased
  trade activity
• EC emerging international identity / GATT and
  Yaounde Convention
• Competition, social affairs, transport,
  agriculture policies impasse

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Treaty establishing the European Economic
Community

• Article 6
• The Common market shall be progressively
  established during a transitional period of
  twelve years.
• This transitional period shall be divided into
  three stages of four years each the length of
  each stage may be altered in accordance with the
  provisions set out below.

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The key general findings of the analysis (1958)

• The initiation of the integration process does
  not require absolute majority support, nor need
  it rest on identical aims on the part of the key
  participants.
• Acceptance of a federal scheme is facilitated if
  the participating state units are already
  fragmented ideologically and socially.
• Acceptance of the integration scheme is
  facilitated if the participating groups,
  political, industrial, labor, have a tradition of
  consultations and shared values.
• Integration process is facilitated by existence
  of an external threat, real or imagined.

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The key general findings of the analysis (1958)

• The central institution once established will
  affect political integration process if it
  acquires the capacity to raise positive
  expectations.
• Group pressure will spill over into the federal
  sphere and add to the integrative impulse.
• National governments may attempt to sidestep, or
  sabotage the decisions of the federal authority,
  however, in the long run they tend to defer to
  federal decisions.

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The key general findings of the analysis (1958)

• The major interest groups determine their support
  or opposition to the central institutions
  policies on the basis of a calculated advantage.
• The process of community formation will succeed
  if the crucial expectations, ideologies and
  behavior patterns of the key interest groups can
  be refocused on a new set of central symbols and
  institutions.
• The spill over is not automatic and requires a
  measure of political activism.

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De Gaulles Aims

• Recovery of France, both economic and spiritual
• Reestablishment of the country as a great power
  invested with world responsibility for political
  stability and social order
• Regaining the countrys independence
• Reclaiming France leading international role
• Rejuvenation of industry and agricultural sector

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Challenges Internal pressures

• Colonial wars (Algerian crisis)
• Collapse of the Fourth republic
• 1958 De Gaulle negotiates a new constitutional
  regime
• 1958 September referendum endorsing
  Presidential republic
• Fifth republic strong Presidency / exclusive
  responsibility for foreign and defense policy /
  greater legitimacy of the executive power
• 1958 December De Gaulle elected President of
  France

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Challenges Internal pressures

• The need for financial and monetary reform
• 1958 - Devaluation of the frank / cutting on the
  government expenditure / tax increase
• The need to stimulate the business sector facing
  fierce international competition
• The imperative of industrial competitiveness
• The priority of agricultural modernization

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EEC instrumental to

• Modernization of the agricultural sector
• Industrial modernization
• Enhancing Europe competitiveness
• Franco-German reconciliation
• De Gaulle-Adenauer accord

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EC Common Agricultural Policy (Stresa conference,
July 1958)

• Guarantee of high agricultural prices based on
  financial solidarity of the member states
  exercised through the price support and
  intervention mechanism
• Provision of a European Community wide Market for
  agricultural goods based on the community
  preferences and the free movement of goods
  principles
• Subsidization of surplus produce export outside
  the EC through export refunds
• Protection of internal agricultural market
  through a system of import levies based on the
  community preference principle

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De Gaulles Quid pro Quo

• Industrial policy on tariffs and quotas versus
• Agricultural policy on tariffs and quotas
• Stage 1. May 1960 January 1962
• Lowering internal customs barriers
• Establishing external tariffs
• Timetable for decisions to be taken on
  agricultural policy
• Financial levy liability on imports of foodstuff
  from the third countries

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1962 January 13 14 Council Resolution

• France and common sense prevailed
• Agriculture admitted into the Common Market
• Aim 50 reduction in customs duties for
  agricultural goods by the end of the second stage

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External pressures

• Europe desolated and divided by the Iron Curtain
• Cold War tearing apart both European continent
  and the World
• International Institutions polarized by two
  opposing camps
• Germany - divided, but reindustrialized and
  rearmed, hence EC perceived as an institutional
  framework embedding Franco-German reconciliation

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External pressures

• European free trade area perceived as Britains
  efforts to undermine European integration eroding
  the common external tariff
• Free trade area (European Free Trade Association)
  versus Common market (European Economic
  Community)
• The UK special position - application to join
  provided that their special relationship with
  the Commonwealth and their associates in the free
  trade area, as well as their special interests in
  agriculture are respected

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De Gaulles Principles for the Concert of
European States

• Independence of the nation
• Reclaiming what was due to the country
• Preserving the national identity
• Shaking off the Atlantic supremacy over the Old
  World
• Rejecting the doctrine of supranationalism
• Intergovernmental cooperation on political and
  security affairs
• Germany - the heart of the problem and the
  keystone of the European edifice
• Germany - an integral part of the organized
  system of cooperation for the whole continent
• Systemic rapprochement, not a fusion of peoples
• Setting up of a concert of European states which
  in developing all sorts of ties between them
  would increase their interdependence and
  solidarity
• Emergence of a strong, politically and military
  independent Europe

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De Gaulles European Security Community
initiativeSeptember 1960 Fouchet Committee

• Logic - Intergovernmental
• Approach - a Confederation of member states
• Aims - Common foreign and defense policy,
  cooperation on cultural, educational and research
  issues
• Institutional framework heads of states or
  ministerial council, political commission based
  in Paris and an assembly of national
  parliamentary representatives
• Results collapse of the Fouchet plan in April
  1962
• Reciprocity of Adenauer - De Gaulle support
  policies (CAP/ESC)
• Achievements - signing the Franco-German Treaty
  of Friendship and Reconciliation in January 1963
  to become a driving force of European integration
  later on

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De Gaulles Manifestation of Nationalism

• National interests neglected in ECSC (French
  relinquishment of coke in Ruhr)
• National interests neglected in EURATOM (15 years
  history of the Atomic Energy Commissariat)
• National interests neglected in EEC (agricultural
  versus industrial regulations)
• The doctrine of supranationalism national self
  effacement by the leading school of thought
  inside France and support for Europe seen as
  edifice in which technocrats forming an
  executive and parliamentarians assuming
  legislative powers would have the authority to
  decide the fate of the French people

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De Gaulles Manifestation of Nationalism

• Atlantic alliance intentions to prevent France
  from becoming its own master
• Ludwig Erhards Atlanticist position stalling the
  development of the Elyssee Treaty
• Walter Hallsteins ambitions for Germany to
  regain its respectability and preponderant
  influence
• The UK (Harold Macmillan) desire to undermine the
  project of the six dissolving Common Market in
  the Free Trade Area ( Having failed to prevent
  the birth of the Community from without, they
  planned to paralyze it from within)
• Veto of the UK membership application following
  the intergovernmental bargaining process (August
  1961 January 1963)

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The Empty Chair crisis and Luxembourg
Compromise1965 July 1966 January

• in view of the initial financial regulation
  expiry date in July 1965 the Commissions
  proposals to
• introduce the EC own resources funded from
  agricultural levies, customs duties and up to 1
  percent of the national VAT revenue
• enhance the EP and EC budgetary powers
• introduce a system of funding CAP from the EC
  own resources
• introduce majority voting principle into the
  deliberations of the Council of Ministers

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The Empty Chair crisis and Luxembourg
Compromise1965 July 1966 January

• Walter Hallstein announcement of the proposals to
  the EP in Strasbourg
• French counter proposal to continue funding CAP
  from the national contributions as of 1 July
• The Council of Ministers meeting on June 28
  stalemate and withdrawal of the French
  representatives
• De Gaulles attack on the qualified majority
  voting and insistence on the principle of
  unanimity
• The Council meeting on October 25-26 with the
  French chair empty
• December 1965 Presidential election in France
  De Gaulles narrow margin victory over the
  candidate of Europe, Francois Mitterrand
• The Council of Ministers meeting on January
  28-29, 1966

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January 28-29, 1996Luxembourg Compromise

• Financial regulation for CAP
• EC own resources
• EP budgetary powers
• Majority voting

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Outcomes

• Agreement to disagree
• If one member state considered that a vital
  national interest was at stake, the Council would
  endeavor to reach within a reasonable period,
  solutions that could be adopted unanimously.
• The French delegation special position that when
  very important interests were at issue,
  discussions must be continued until unanimous
  agreement is reached

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Outcomes

• Presumption within the Council in favor of
  unanimity / Transformation of the community
  spirit into a more cost-benefit attitude of the
  member-states
• Demonstration of the community dependency on the
  political environment
• Shaped the political environment for the next
  decade
• Intergovernmentalism prevails

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Objections to the Luxembourg Compromise

• The Commission excluded from the meeting was not
  party to the agreement
• The Court of Justice ruled that Resolutions and
  Declaration of political will by the Council can
  not prevail against the Treaty rules

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• Vetoing the accession applications

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The UK first application for EC membership
August 1961 - January 1963 / Conservatives /

• Reasons for realization of the mistake of self
  exclusion from the Treaty of Rome and decision to
  apply /Harold Macmillan/
• Success of the customs union
• Failure to dissolve the EC into the EFTA
• Fear of economic exclusion
• The Commonwealth proving inadequate instrument
  for promotion of British interests
• Kennedys endorsement of the UK membership in the
  EC

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The case for failure

• British position on ensuring its special
  interests in the EFTA and the Commonwealth
• Anglo-American missile accord, December, 1962
• Decision to integrate UK nuclear force into NATO
• The lack of trust and use of intergovernmental
  method of bargaining instead of Monnets
  community method
• January 15, 1963 De Gaulles conference

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The second application May December 1967 /
Labor / Harold Wilson

• Increasing need for accession
• growing European commercial contacts and slumping
  economic ties with the Commonwealth
• Barriers to membership
• De Gaulles anti Atlantisiam - Anglo-American
  special relations
• De Gaulles quest to preserve Frances leadership
  role in the EC
• December 1967 De Gaulles conference

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1968

• May protests, riots and strikes in France
• June dissolution of the parliament by the prime
  minister George Pompidou / reelection of the
  parliament / victory of the Gaullists
• April 1969
• De Gaulles resignation

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De Gaulles road towards European unity

• United Europe is only achieved through
  organization of concerted action in every sphere
• Individual States are the only valid elements,
  when their national interests are at stake
  nothing and nobody must be allowed to force their
  hands, and the cooperation between them is the
  only road that will lead anywhere.
• although it is perfectly natural for the states
  of Europe to have specialized bodies available to
  prepare and whenever necessary to follow up their
  decisions, these decisions must be their own.

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Arguments for Intergovernmental approach

• Common market, a brainchild of technocrats,
  carrying all the hopes and illusions of a
  supranational school.
• Fruitless bargaining with the British showed the
  fledgling Community that good intention are not
  enough to reconcile the irreconcilable, the Six
  found that even in the economic sphere alone the
  adjustment of their respective positions bristled
  with difficulties which could not be resolved
  solely on terms of treaties concluded to that
  end.
• Executives of the common institutions were
  helpless when it came to making and enforcing
  decisions, only governments were in a position to
  do this, and then only as a result of
  negotiations carried out in due form between
  ministers and ambassadors.
• The important measures should be subordinated to
  the decisions of individual states
• The member states decisions should be the
  cornerstone of the Institutions and a guarantee
  of the members sovereignty

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Recommended Readings

• Macmillan Harold Britain Place and purpose in
  the World. Extract from speech at Conservative
  party conference, October 1961. Pro-European
  Reader. 2002. Palgrave.
• Kennedy F. John The US Welcomes European Unity.
  Speech at Washington, DC, 17 may 1962.
  Pro-European Reader. 2002. Palgrave
• Jenkins Roy Let us go in with Hope and
  Confidence. Speech at labor party conference,
  October 1062. Pro-European Reader. 2002. Palgrave
• Wilson Harold We mean business. Extract from
  speech to the Council of Europe, Strabourg, 23
  January 1967. Pro-European Reader. 2002. Palgrave

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Lecture 4 The Intergovernmentalist backlash

• Critiques and contemplations of
  Neofunctionalism

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Readings for the lecture

• Hoffman S. Obstinate or Obsolete? The Fate of the
  Nation State and the Case of Western Europe
  (1966). The European Union. Readings on the
  Theory and Practice of European Integration,
  Nelsen B.F. and Alexander C G. Stubb (eds.),
  Palgrave, 1998
• Lindberg L.N. Political Integration Definitions
  and Hypotheses (1963). The European Union.
  Readings on the Theory and Practice of European
  Integration, Nelsen B.F. and Alexander C G.
  Stubb (eds.), Palgrave, 1998
• Rosamond Ben. (2000) Theories of European
  Integration. The European Union Series. Palgrave
  Chapter 4

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• Thank you!