Download Preconditions of the European integration Historical antecedents

EU-integration knowledges
1st Semester, Academic Year 2010/2011
Written by Endre Domonkos
I. Preconditions of the European integration I.
•
The Roman Empire used to be the first integration endeavor. After the armed conquest the so called „Pax
Romana” was also provided. The cohesion force was the Roman law and the administrative system.
•
During the Middle Ages behind the feudal division the Christianity and the Latin language played an
important role. Geographic unit was also created by Charlemagne (Charles the Great or Charles I in the
regnal lists of France and Germany). The King of the Franks succeeded in unifying the central and western
part of Europe.
•
Charlemagne was crowned by Pope Leo III as The Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire on 25 December 800.
•
In 1648 the Peace of Westphalia meant a new era in the modern interstate relationships. Its results were the
followings: the establishment of territorial national states and the creation of absolute monarchies.
•
The most important non-written principle of the international relationship was the balance of power.
•
The system of Holy Alliance in 1815. It was the antecedent of the organization among states.
•
After the World War I tighter cooperation form was created by the European states. According to the
Declaration of Woodrow Wilson the League of Nations were also established that used to be a forum for
resolving debates.
•
The plan for making an unified Europe was discussed in the framework of the League of Nations by the
French Ministry of foreign affairs, Aristide Briand who suggested in creating a European confederation
(dismantling the customs and barriers, and using a common currency).
•
After World War II. an important endeavor was the promotion of interstate cooperation worldwide.
I. Preconditions of the European integration II.
•
However the idea of united European states is rooted in common European thinking much earlier, especially
in the Middle Ages, and its emergence cannot be attributed exclusively to the political and economic
conditions that prevailed after the World War II.
•
Various idealistic concepts had been formulated before in the works of artist, philosophers and scientists,
including Dante, Comenius, Erasmus of Rotterdam, or Immanuel Kant.
•
Dante supported the principle of universal monarchy. The monarchs were equals and sovereign in the
system, but they accepted the principle of common law and a supranational power for preserving the peace
among them.
•
Pierre Dubois: instead of creating a common monarch he suggested in establishing a European Court of
Justice composed on philosophers. This institution would have got sanctional competence as well.
•
George Podjebrad: creation of „European federation” in there the sovereign states would have undertaken by
the common norms. Their common things would have arranged by the Assembly and their disputes would
have solved by European level Court. This form of Alliance would have had common army and budget as well.
•
Prince of Sully (advisor of the French King Henry the Fourth): plan of a „Christian Republic” as a
confederation of fifteen European independent states. The confederation would have got a European
Council and common laws as well.
•
Abbé de Saint Pierre: his work about the European confederation, international law and about the Council of
European Alliance determined the process of integration later.
I. Preconditions of the European integration III.
•
Immanuel Kant’s „Everlasting Peace” conception: it should be established the confederation of democratic
and free states in the framework of rule of law. The „Everlasting Peace” would be guaranteed by acceptation
of the common law system among the bourgeois Republic states.
•
Saint-Simon’s conception: he studied the economic and technical conditions of European integration,
pointing out the need for establishing a comprehensive European organisation, a kind of European
Parliament.
•
In 1849, Victor Hugo used the term „United States of Europe” to indicate a goal to be aimed at by each
European country.
•
Then, in the first half of the 20th century, several plans were put forward to realise European unity in an
institutionalized form.
•
In this respect, special mention should be made of Richard Coudenhove Calergi, a citizen born in the
Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, who published his book entitled „Pan-Europe” in 1923.
•
The book lists concrete proposals for uniting Europe. The „Pan European Movement”, organised on the basis
of his work in the 1920s, formulated a concept of economic integration as well.
•
During the interwar period we had to mention the plan of European Confederation by Aristide Briand.
•
In 1943, the so called Ventotene Declaration was adopted by Altiero Spinelli and Ernesto Rossi. Their main
targets were to create a federal Europe. Later Spinelli established the European Federal Movement and
wanted to create a federal Europe as MP of the European Parliament.
I. Preconditions of the European integration IV.

Yet, a basis for actually creating an institutionalised Europe was provided through the lessons learned from
the destruction caused by World War II.

It was then that many realised that cooperation created on loose intergovernmental basis, similar to that of
League of Nations which operated between the two world wars, could not provide a sufficient guarantee for
peaceful coexistence and development of the states of Europe.

The League of Nations failed to draw together European states either politically, economically and culturally,
and it even failed, as a result of its weakness as an institution for one thing, to prevent the most horrible war
in the history of Europe from happening.

This failure showed that Member States do not look upon an organisation operating without supranational
control and based on loose intergovernmental relations as a guarantee of sustainable cooperation.

The Western part of Europe, split-up after World War II, realised quite early that the old continent would be
able to increase its largely diminished political and economic weight and influence in the nascent bipolar
arrangement of the world only through integration.

Regional economic cooperation appeared indispensable for the development of the countries of Europe with
fragmented national markets, and also for regaining and strengthening the position occupied in the world
economy.

Economic cooperation was necessary for restructuring the world economy and provide the competitive
advantage of the United States. Technological and structural modernisation was also important as well.
I. Preconditions of the European integration V.

After the World War II. politicians in Western Europe started to discuss the feasibility, rather than the
necessity, or integration.

The main issue was whether a political, military, or economic orientation, or a combination thereof, was
needed to preserve peace in Europe and enable the countries of Europe to recover; also, it had to be
determined which countries would take part in the integration process.

The development of the idea of European unity is evidenced by the fact that parties belonging to differing
political families started to set up their European organisations with the aim of creating a federalist Europe.

A feature shared by the various national and international movements was the intention to create a united
Europe on the basis of a common system of institutions. These ideas centred around a federalism that
included, directly and indirectly, the establishment of a European system of institutions on a supranational
basis.

Most governments of the European countries, however, appeared reluctant to make a definitive step in this
direction and took a standpoint that preferred looser cooperation based on intergovernmental cooperation,
in line with the tradition of policy making by nation-states.

This was the approach taken in the setting up of the Council of Europe on 5 May 1949 by ten countries of
Western Europe.

The Council of Europe didn’t represent a block aiming at integration in terms of competence, operation or
activities; rather, it appeared to be a regional international organisation in its traditional sense.
II. The international order after the World War II.

In 1944 conference was held in Bretton Woods that created the International Monetary Fund IMF) and World
Bank (IBRD).

The Bretton Woods system was history's first example of a fully negotiated monetary order intended to
govern currency relations among sovereign states. In principle, the regime was designed to combine binding
legal obligations with multilateral decision-making conducted through an international organization, the
IMF, endowed with limited supranational authority.

The American government set up a system of fixed exchange rates managed by a series of newly created
international institutions using the U.S. dollar (which was a gold standard currency for central banks) as
a reserve currency. The Bretton Woods system was based on monetary stability.

On 25 April 1945, the UN Conference on International Organization began in San Francisco, attended by 50
governments and a number of non-governmental organizations involved in drafting the Charter of the
United Nations.

The main target of the establishment of UN was to promote the peaceful cooperation among the sovereign
states and to avoid the eruption of World War III.

The UN officially came into existence on 24 October 1945 upon ratification of the Charter by the five
permanent members of the Security Council—France, the Republic of China, the Soviet Union, the United
Kingdom and the United States—and by a majority of the other 46 signatories.

The Charter of the United Nations is a collection of multilateral treaties that have got supremacy over any
other international treaties.
II. The international order after the World War II.

The Charter of the United Nations determined the purposes of the Organizations that were
the followings:

The Purposes of the United Nations are:

„To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective
measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of
acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and
in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement
of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace;

To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights
and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen
universal peace;

To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic,
social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for
human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex,
language, or religion; and

To be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common
ends.”
III. The establishment of GATT I.

The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was established in 1948 to supervise and liberalize
international trade.

The GATT was the only multilateral instrument governing international trade from 1948 until the WTO was
established in 1995.

The main endeavors of GATT were the followings: to liberalize the international commerce and to eliminate
the tariffs and non-tariff barriers.

The principles of GATT (now WTO) are the followings:
1.
Non-Discrimination. It has two major components: the most favoured nation(MFN) rule, and the national
treatment policy.

The ”most favoured” nation term means the country which is the recipient of this treatment must,
nominally, receive equal trade advantages as the "most favored nation" by the country granting such
treatment.

The notion of „National treatment” means that imported goods should be treated no less favorably than
domestically produced goods (at least after the foreign goods have entered the market) and was introduced
to tackle non-tariff barriers to trade (e.g. technical standards, security standards et al. discriminating against
imported goods).
III. The establishment of GATT II.
2)
Reciprocity. It reflects both a desire to limit the scope of free-riding that may arise because of the MFN rule,
and a desire to obtain better access to foreign markets.

A related point is that for a nation to negotiate, it is necessary that the gain from doing so be greater than the
gain available from unilateral liberalization; reciprocal concessions intend to ensure that such gains will
materialise.
3)
Binding and enforceable commitments. The tariff commitments made by WTO members in a multilateral
trade negotiation and on accession are enumerated in a schedule (list) of concessions.

These schedules establish "ceiling bindings": a country can change its bindings, but only after negotiating
with its trading partners, which could mean compensating them for loss of trade. If satisfaction is not
obtained, the complaining country may invoke the WTO dispute settlement procedures.
4) Transparency. The WTO members are required to publish their trade regulations, to maintain institutions
allowing for the review of administrative decisions affecting trade, to respond to requests for information by
other members, and to notify changes in trade policies to the WTO.

These internal transparency requirements are supplemented and facilitated by periodic country-specific
reports (trade policy reviews) through the Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM)
5)
Safety valves. In specific circumstances, governments are able to restrict trade.

There are three types of provisions in this direction: articles allowing for the use of trade measures to attain
non-economic objectives; articles aimed at ensuring "fair competition"; and provisions permitting
intervention in trade for economic reasons.
IV. The establishment of the Council of Europe

The Council of Europe (CoE) was established by 10 countries of Western Europe (Belgium, Denmark, France,
Ireland, Italy, Luxemburg , the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom in London on 5 May
1949.

The Council of Europe is a regional intergovernmental organisation with the following main aims:
strengthening of a pluralist democracy, maintaining the rule of law, protecting human rights, promoting and
developing the European cultural identity, and seeking solutions to problems facing society.

The activity of the Council of Europe is best charactarised by the nearly 200 Conventions elaborated by the
Council and predominantly dealing with issues concerning human rights and various aspects of society and
culture, including for example, the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Social Charter,
the Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, and the European Charter for Regional or Minority
Languages, all of which become part of national law following their ratification by the Member States.

The headquarters of the Council of Europe is in Strasbourg.

Its main bodies are the followings: the Committee of Ministers, the Parliamentary Assembly and the
Secretariat headed by the Secretary General.

An important role is fulfilled by the European Court of Human Rights established within the framework of
the European Convention on Human Rights, which represents the highest judicial forum for the protection
of human rights in Europe.

Decision-making in the Council of Europe: it needs a full consent of the Member States.
V. The integration process in the second half of 1940’s I.

Of the Western European countries, it was the United Kingdom, with its colonial and commonwealth
interests still playing an important role, that did not intend to join an organisation aimed at integration in
which national sovereignty was restricted through the operation of supranational institutions.

On the other hand, the Benelux states promoted the idea of the establishment of an organisation based on
economic cooperation realising mutual interests.

Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxemburg had decided to set up the Benelux Union in 1944, which was
created in 1948. The cooperation between the Benelux states represented real integration, rather than a mere
customs union.

Denmark, Iceland, Norway and Sweden: intergovernmental political cooperation, collaboration among
national parliaments for controlling national rules + evaluate common standpoint in international politics.
In 1948 Commission was set up to create customs union.

By 1949 dealing with the German issue had become a crucial problem. The Americans considered the
military strengthening of West Germany as an increasingly urgent task, while France and the other earlier
western European allies were reluctant to support this measure for lack of appropriate safety guarantees.

It was clear that resolving French-German relations was a critical issue for the future of Europe. The
resolution of the century-old German-French conflict was a precondition for creating a common Europe.

Promoters of a unified Europe saw a guarantee for building a peaceful and strong Europe through
institutions with a supranational character that could embrace France and Germany.
V. The integration process in the second half of 1940’s II.

Considerable impetus for the acceleration of Western European integration was stimulated by developments
taking place in Central and Eastern Europe.

Following the World War II, the establishment of single-party states and communist regimes in countries
occupied by the Soviet Union proceeded at a high speed.

In 1947, the economic division of Europe was institutionalised through the Marshall Plan. (The countries of
Central and Eastern Europe falling under Soviet orientation, one-party system and centralized planed
economy system was built up).

The participating countries of Western, Northern and Southern Europe established together with the United
States, the OEEC (Organisation for European Economic Cooperation) in 1948.

Its aim was to promote European trade, economic stability and development + to coordinate and distribute
assistance received from America under the Marshall Plan.

In 1961, the OEEC was redesigned considerably in terms of its objectives and cooperation: it converted from a
European organisation of reconstruction into a cooperation organisation for the industrialised countries.
Thus, the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) was created.

On 17 March 1948. Brussels agreement was concluded among the Benelux-states, United Kingdom and
France. Main target: to establish a common defence against aggression + cooperation in economic, social and
cultural field.
V. The integration process in the second half of 1940’s III.

Although the OEEC (and later on, the OECD) could not be viewed as an organisation aimed at integration –
similarly to the Council of Europe – its emergence signaled differing economic paths of progress taken by the
western and the eastern sides of Europe due to political divisions.

The political and economic detachment of Central and Eastern Europe and its binding to the Soviet Union
was indicated by the formation in 1949 of an organisation that was guided by the Soviet Union and which
represented a characteristic economic integration of the communist countries, the Council for Mutual
Economic Assistance (COMECOM).

The COMECOM could not be considered as an example of par excellence integration either since its activity
was primarily confined, at least in the early period, to bartering agreements.

The sight of an Eastern Europe forming a political and also economic cluster had a fundamental influence on
integration ambitions in Western Europe which, however, pursued a different course in terms of politics and
economics.

The setting up of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) in 1949 represented political, military and
defence security against the Soviet threat.

The North Atlantic Treaty, the document set up NATO, was signed in Washington on 4 April 1949 by 10 West
European countries (Belgium, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Norway,
Portugal and the United Kingdom) and the United States and Canada.

While the presence of the United States in NATO meant a guarantee for Western Europe in military terms,
the area of economic thinking was more predominantly characterised by integration ambitions that could
counter-balance the communist threat while at the same time make the western part of Europe independent
of America.
VI. Establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community
I.

Relying on an approach to the integration process from the aspect of economic cooperation and with the
intention of preventing the emergence of a renewed conflict between France and Germany and paving the
way toward security guarantees for French-German cooperation, Robert Schuman, the then French Minister
for Foreign Affairs, put forward a proposal on 9 May 1950 that was prepared together with Jean Monnet, head
of the planning department of the French government.

The proposal that became known as the Schuman Plan laid the foundation of European integration, the
present European Union.

Dedicated to the idea of European unity and French-German reconciliation, Schuman and Monnet set the
objective of creating a European federation along a French-German axis.

In order to realise their programme, they selected as a basis for European integration an area of crucial
importance for maintaining peace in Europe. Their concept relied on the assumption that central control
over the coal and steel industries would make preparations for launching a war impossible.

The Schuman Plan was targeted at creating a common market for German coal and French iron ore, which
would offer a number of economic benefits in addition to providing security for maintaining peace.

At the turn of the forties and fifties, considerable shortages were recorded in both coal and steel and thus the
coordinated utilisation of the available stocks provided an economic justification for the integration of these
areas.
VI. Establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community
II.

The Schumann Plan proposed that French-German coal and steel production be placed under a single high
authority in the framework of a system that would be open to other countries as well.

The French proposal was warmly received in the Federal Republic of Germany, led by Chancellor Konrad
Adenauer. The Benelux-states and Italy also supported the integration process.

On 18 April 1951, Belgium, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands
signed the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which entered into force on
25 July 1952. In accordance with the dispositions of the Paris Treaty the customs for coal, iron and iron scrap
were abolished among the member states. After a transitional period common market was established for
the above mentioned products.

The organisation was headed by the „High Authority” (consisted of independent officials as members,
nominated by their respective governments but acting fully independently when making decisions on the
basis of the interests of the community as a whole). Decisions were taken by consensual way and had got
direct effects to the Member States.

The Council of Ministers operated as intergovernmental body, supervising the activity of the High Authority
+ fulfilled a legislative function.

The Assembly was established as well, which consisted of delegates from the Member State parliaments
(consultative function).

The Coal and Steal Community had got its own budget (taxes levied for coal and iron products of 1% of the
revenues).
VII. From the failure of the European Defence Community to
the Treaty of Rome I.

Impressed by the warm reception given to the ECSC, the promoters of federalism found that the time was
also ripe for creating political integration in Europe.

The European Defence Community (EDC), which was to be set up form a common European defence force,
again at the initiative of the French government, was intended to serve as the foundation stone.

The idea was based on the Pléven Plan named after the French prime minister and announced in October
1950.

The main target of the Pléven Plan was to set up a form of common European defence force. Putting the
European defence forces and military industry under the control of High Authority. The European defence
force would have been headed by the European defence minister + Council of Ministers.

Following several years of hesitation, the National Assembly of France refused to give its assent to the
European Defence Community Treaty on 30 August 1954.

Failure of the EDC brought with it a stoppage of the attempts aimed at establishing a European Political
Community (EPC).

It became apparent that the conditions for the political integration of Europe hadn’t been created.

Although six Member States of the ECSC and the United Kingdom created a defence organisation in 1954 to
replace EDC, under the name Western European Union (WEU), this was based on a much weaker foundation
than the EDC, with no intention of setting up a common defence force, restricting its mission to the
adherence of collective defence.
VII. From the failure of the European Defence Community to
the Treaty of Rome II.

Once the EDC failed, federalists had to resort again to the field of economics to promote the process of
integration.

Member states of the ESCS met on 1 and 2 June 1955 in Messina to discuss the issue of deepening and
expanding economic integration, with institutional issues of possible cooperation in the area of atomic
energy and a common market in general.

The committee was headed by the Belgian foreign affairs minister, Paul-Henry Spaak. His suggestion were
the followings: realising a common market based on customs union.

The Spaak Report proposed an institutionalised community structure for the would-be organisation of
integration in which issues pertaining to general politics and the operation of the common market were to
be handled separately.

While the former would remain within the competence of the Member States, a body with authority and
community responsibility would be set up with the function of ensuring the operation of the common
market.

The Spaak Committee evaded the reference to supranational status.

The pragmatic approach of the Spaak Committee appeared successful in working out concepts that was
acceptable to all six ESCS Member states.
VII. From the failure of the European Defence Community to
the Treaty of Rome III.

The governments of Belgium, France, Netherlands, Luxembourg, the Federal Republic of Germany and Italy
signed the treaties establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy
Community (Euratom) in Rome on 25 March 1957, known as the Treaties of Rome, which became effective on
1 January 1958.

The institutional model applied to the EEC and Euratom was that of the ECSC, with the difference that there
was a shift in the scope of decision-making competence away from the Commission, that played the role of
High Authority with respect to these treaties, to the Council as the body representing the governments.

Thus, an intergovernmental model, rather than a supranational one, was established as a consequence of the
general political climate after the failure of the EDC.

The Commission became the main initiator of decisions, equipped with some decision-making
authorisation but more restricted than enjoyed by the High Authority of the ECSC.

The Council of Ministers, on the other hand, being the main decision-making body, had more power than its
ECSC counterpart.

The Assembly was assigned a similar role that in the ECSC, of consultation, authorisation and very limited
supervisory competence.

The Court of Justice received the task of controlling and securing compliance with legal provisions. These
latter two institutions operated as common bodies of the ECSC, the EEC and the Euratom, while the
Commission and the Council were separate institutions for each of the three organisations.
VIII. Dispositions of the Treaty of Rome

The Treaty of Rome that established the EEC, set the establishment of a common market as the overall aim of
the Community;

The main task of the Treaty was to provide „the harmonious and balanced development of economic
activities… raising of the standard of living… economic and social cohesion and solidarity among Member
States… through gradual convergence of economic policy (Article 2 of the Treaty).

The overall aim was to be achieved by following main specific objectives (Article 3):
- the elimination of customs duties and quantitative restrictions, and of all other measures having
equivalent effect;
- the establishment of a customs union and adherence to a common commercial policy against countries
outside the Community; free movement not only for goods and services, but also of labour and capital
within the Community;
- to establish a common policy in the areas of agriculture, transport, and competition; approximation of
national laws.

The Treaty of Rome that established EURATOM set as one of its aims the quick establishment and
development of the atomic energy industry, identifying a number of tasks from common research to the
effective utilisation of atomic energy + provision of nuclear safety.
IX. The establishment of EFTA

In the fifties, the British who traditionally favoured free trade, intended to establish a free trade association
embracing all of Western Europe.

Instead of supranational organisations the British government supported the intergovermental cooperation
and free trade.

However it became clear with the establishment of the EEC that „the Six” had a different idea about European
integration.

Thus, the British had to realise their plan without the six states, so they set out to establish the European
Free Trade Association (EFTA).

The agreement on establishing EFTA was signed in Stockholm on 4 January 1960.

Member States: Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden and United Kingdom. (Later Iceland, Finland
and Lichtenstein joined the Association).

However, some member countries left the organisation and decided to join the European Communities.

In accordance with the EFTA-agreement the Member States established a lazy form of cooperation and they
concluded to reduce the industrial customs tariffs in the same way and manner as the EEC. Exceptions: the
EFTA-agreement didn’t set up common external tariffs and wasn’t related to agricultural products.