THE EUROPEAN IDEA

The Beginnings of European Union: Business at the Service of Politics

Various factors were responsible for the resuscitation of the European idea, which at the time had yet to progress beyond the good intentions of the inter-war period: One such factor was the desire to prevent future wars, a central concern of Europe’s citizens and politicians motivated by the experience of the devastation of World War II. At the same time, the Cold War made unity in Western Europe a necessity, and with the end of colonial rule, the former colonial powers' sphere of influence shrank back to centre on Europe. In the eyes of its supporters, the European idea would allow the Old Continent to regain influence in relations with the two superpowers of the United States and the Soviet Union, and to maintain control over Germany once it regained its strength. Besides which, European unification would create a major market without customs barriers.

Although Churchill spoke of a "United States of Europe" as early as 1946, the first attempts at re-launching the European idea were a direct consequence of the Cold War and the ossification of bipolar structures. After the May 1948 conference in The Hague, the European idea took on a political dimension with the founding in May 1949 of the Council of Europe, an organisation based on inter-government cooperation whose key achievements include passing the European Convention on Human Rights (Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms) on November 4, 1950. Since its creation, the Council of Europe has worked to implement these rights and promote political and cultural cooperation in Western Europe.

An important step towards European unification came with the founding in 1951 of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). The idea came from the French planning minister Jean Monnet, who saw Franco-German reconciliation as an essential precondition for European union. France's foreign minister Robert Schuman used this insight in his concept for joint control of the coal and steel industries. The German chancellor Konrad Adenauer gave the plan his unconditional approval, since it took into account French fears of an economically and militarily recovered Germany as a potential aggressor at the same time as preventing an internationalization of the Ruhr Valley. It also provided the young Federal Republic with its first opportunity to act as a sovereign state on the international stage.

The ECSC Treaty created the first European organisation based on a supranational structure whose executive body, the High Authority, had its own powers, independent of the nation-states. The ECSC, which was based on voluntary surrender of sovereignty, realized concrete aims in the strategically important field of coal and steel production, a crucial part of any war effort. But the founding of the ECSC was seen merely as the first step towards a long-term goal, described in the preamble to the treaty as follows: "to create, by establishing an economic community, the basis for a broader and deeper community among peoples long divided by bloody conflicts".

A Milestone in European Integration: The Common Market

Having failed in 1954 to create a common European army (the EDC), the ECSC member states chose a new domain in which to further the European idea, based on a concept for functional integration: the creation of a single market. This integration was to begin in less controversial areas and be gradually extended. The treaties for the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Community (EURATOM) were signed on March 25, 1957. The institutions of the EEC were a parliamentary assembly (which in 1962 became the European Parliament), a council of ministers consisting of representatives of the member states, and a commission, whose members were to represent the community as a whole and not their countries of origin.

From the start, Franco-German cooperation provided key impulses for the building of a common Europe. By 1970, the treaty's two main objectives had been achieved: customs union, established in July 1968, and the Common Agricultural Policy. Besides its economic successes, the EEC was not immune to conflict, as the partners did not always see eye to eye on aims, methods, and the importance accorded to nation-states in relation to community institutions. The 1960s were marked by a series of differences between de Gaulle's France, which clung firmly to the privileged status of the nation-state, and the other member countries. When de Gaulle left office in 1969, the conditions for further European integration improved. The revitalization of the European idea crystallized in December 1969 at a summit in The Hague around two topics: definitive financial regulation of the Common Agricultural Policy, and the enlargement of the EEC to include Ireland, Denmark and Great Britain in 1973. In 1970, the first scheme for economic and monetary union was presented in the Werner Plan. However, the economic crisis of the 1970s prevented both the implementation of this particular project and advances in European integration in general.

The Single European Act: European Integration Regains Momentum

In 1985, after long years of standstill, the European Commission published a White Paper venturing forward with European integration. In his first speech before the European Parliament, Jacques Delors (President of the European Commission from January 1985) named December 31, 1992, as the projected date for completion of the single European market, in which the "Four Freedoms" set out in the EEC Treaty (free movement of persons, goods, services and capital) were to be fully implemented. After negotiations, the member states signed the Single European Act (SEA) in February 1986. Besides regulations governing the single market, the SEA contained three fundamental reforms: The extension of majority voting in the Council of Ministers on questions concerning the single market; the extension of the powers of the Community; and increased European Parliament involvement in the decision-making process.

To promote economic and social cohesion within the EEC, the SEA defined common structural policy for the economy and social affairs, for research and technological development, and for environmental issues. The extension of qualified majority voting facilitated rapid adoption of a total of 280 planned measures. The reforms ran according to schedule: By January 1993, 95 percent of the laws required for this large and complex joint undertaking had been passed.

In addition, the member states organized regular meetings of their foreign ministers aimed at determining a unified foreign policy.

The Schengen Treaty initially signed in June 1985 by five states (France, Germany and the Benelux countries) set out terms for the end of border controls and dealt with the consequences of this change in terms of the fight against crime. This led to considerable intensification in cross-border cooperation between police authorities.

The European Community also pursued enlargement in the newly democratic south. After the fall of the "Colonels Junta" in 1974, Greece joined the EEC in 1981. And after their respective liberation from military dictatorships, Portugal and Spain joined the EC in 1986. Europe became more attractive both for its neighbours (Turkey, Austria, Switzerland) and for Mediterranean countries (Morocco) and ACP states (Africa, Caribbean, Pacific), linked to the EC by the three Lomé Conventions signed between 1975 and 1985. Europe, whose previous weakness had always been its fragmentation, had created the means of strengthening its inner cohesion. This in turn enabled Europe to achieve the status of an equal partner in its future relations with the USA.