An outline, era by era

European integration

EEC, then European Union (1993)

20th Century · 1914 – 2000

European integration is the process by which many states of Europe, after the Second World War, tied their economies and then their politics together through shared institutions. It began in Western Europe in the early 1950s with the European Coal and Steel Community, and grew into the European Economic Community (EEC), created by the Treaty of Rome in 1957 with six members: France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Over the following decades the community added members, removed internal trade barriers and built common policies. The Maastricht Treaty, signed in 1992 and in force from 1 November 1993, created the European Union (EU), adding cooperation on foreign policy, justice and home affairs, and setting a path to a single currency. The project matters because it was meant to make another war between France and Germany unthinkable, and it reshaped trade, law and daily life across the continent.

Things happened, and the rest is history

  1. The Marshall Plan and the OEEC

    Event

    What happened

    In June 1947 US Secretary of State George Marshall offers American aid to help rebuild Europe. In 1948 sixteen Western European countries set up the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation (OEEC) to share out the aid and plan recovery together.

    The rest is history

    The OEEC taught governments to cooperate on economic questions and to lower trade barriers among themselves. It did not have supranational powers, and states such as Britain wanted to keep it that way. This pushed those who wanted deeper union, notably Jean Monnet, to look for a narrower but more binding arrangement. The OEEC later became the OECD in 1961.

    Sources

    1. BookHogan, Michael J. The Marshall Plan: America, Britain and the Reconstruction of Western Europe, 1947-1952. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.
    2. BookMilward, Alan S. The Reconstruction of Western Europe, 1945-51. London: Methuen, 1984.

  2. The Council of Europe and the Hague Congress

    Event

    What happened

    In May 1948 about 750 politicians and activists meet at The Hague in the Congress of Europe, chaired by Winston Churchill. Their calls for European unity lead to the founding of the Council of Europe in May 1949 at London, with ten member states.

    The rest is history

    The Council of Europe, based in Strasbourg, produced the European Convention on Human Rights in 1950. But the congress showed a split between federalists, who wanted shared sovereignty, and those who preferred looser cooperation between governments, with Britain in the second group. The Council's limited powers convinced many federalists that a different route was needed.

    Sources

    1. BookLipgens, Walter, and Wilfried Loth, eds. Documents on the History of European Integration. Berlin: De Gruyter, 1985-1991.
    2. BookGillingham, John. European Integration, 1950-2003: Superstate or New Market Economy? Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.

  3. The Schuman Declaration

    Event

    What happened

    On 9 May 1950 French foreign minister Robert Schuman, working from a plan prepared by Jean Monnet, proposes placing French and German coal and steel production under a common High Authority. The offer is open to other European countries.

    The rest is history

    The aim was to tie together the industries that had fed past wars, and to bring West Germany back into European affairs on equal terms. Six countries accepted. 9 May is now celebrated as Europe Day.

    Sources

    1. PrimarySchuman Declaration. Statement by Robert Schuman, Paris, 9 May 1950.
    2. BookMonnet, Jean. Memoirs. Translated by Richard Mayne. London: Collins, 1978.

  4. The European Coal and Steel Community

    Event

    What happened

    The Treaty of Paris is signed on 18 April 1951 by France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, and enters into force in July 1952. It creates a common market in coal and steel run by a High Authority with powers over member states.

    The rest is history

    This was the first European institution with supranational authority, and it set the model of a High Authority, an Assembly, a Council and a Court. Its success encouraged the Six to try wider cooperation. It was followed by the failed plan for a European Defence Community, but also by further economic steps.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryTreaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community. Treaty of Paris, signed 18 April 1951.
    2. BookGillingham, John. Coal, Steel, and the Rebirth of Europe, 1945-1955. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.

  5. The failure of the European Defence Community

    Event

    What happened

    In 1952 the Six sign a treaty to create a joint European army, as a way to allow West German rearmament during the Korean War. On 30 August 1954 the French National Assembly refuses to ratify it.

    The rest is history

    The defeat ended hopes of quick political and military union. West Germany joined NATO in 1955 instead. Integration advanced again through economic channels, at the Messina conference of June 1955, which began the work leading to the Treaty of Rome.

    Sources

    1. BookFursdon, Edward. The European Defence Community: A History. London: Macmillan, 1980.
    2. BookDinan, Desmond. Europe Recast: A History of European Union. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.

  6. The Treaties of Rome

    Event

    What happened

    On 25 March 1957 the Six sign two treaties in Rome, creating the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). They come into force on 1 January 1958. The EEC plans a customs union and a common market, with common policies for agriculture and trade.

    The rest is history

    The EEC removed internal tariffs on industrial goods by 1968, ahead of the original schedule. The Common Agricultural Policy, begun in the 1960s, became its largest budget item. Britain stayed outside and formed the European Free Trade Association in 1960, then later sought to join.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryTreaty establishing the European Economic Community. Treaty of Rome, signed 25 March 1957.
    2. BookMilward, Alan S. The European Rescue of the Nation-State. London: Routledge, 1992.

  7. De Gaulle's vetoes and the Empty Chair crisis

    Event

    What happened

    In January 1963 French president Charles de Gaulle vetoes Britain's first application to join the EEC, and does so again in 1967. In 1965 France boycotts Council meetings for about six months in a dispute over funding and majority voting. The crisis is settled by the Luxembourg Compromise of January 1966.

    The rest is history

    The compromise allowed a member to insist that very important national interests be settled by agreement, and it slowed a move to majority voting for years. After de Gaulle left office in 1969, the Hague summit cleared the way for enlargement. Britain, Ireland and Denmark joined on 1 January 1973.

    Sources

    1. BookLudlow, N. Piers. The European Community and the Crises of the 1960s: Negotiating the Gaullist Challenge. London: Routledge, 2006.
    2. BookDinan, Desmond. Ever Closer Union: An Introduction to European Integration. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2005.

  8. The Single European Act and the road to Maastricht

    Event

    What happened

    The Single European Act, signed in February 1986 and in force from July 1987, sets a goal of completing a single market by the end of 1992 and extends majority voting. After the Cold War ends, the Maastricht Treaty is signed on 7 February 1992. It enters into force on 1 November 1993, founding the European Union.

    The rest is history

    Greece, Spain and Portugal had joined between 1981 and 1986. Maastricht set criteria for a single currency, which became the euro, launched in 1999 and in circulation from 2002. Denmark rejected the treaty in a first referendum in 1992 and accepted it after opt-outs. Austria, Finland and Sweden joined in 1995.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryTreaty on European Union. Treaty of Maastricht, signed 7 February 1992.
    2. BookMoravcsik, Andrew. The Choice for Europe: Social Purpose and State Power from Messina to Maastricht. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998.

  9. The EU as a faceless bureaucracy that bans bendy bananas

    Popular belief

    The legend

    A widely repeated claim says Brussels bureaucrats ban bananas that are too curved, cucumbers that bend and other produce, imposing absurd rules on member states.

    The rest is history

    The claim comes from marketing standards for fruit and vegetables. A 1994 Commission regulation did set quality classes for bananas, requiring them to be green, unblemished and of minimum size, and a 1988 regulation set classes for cucumbers. These were trade grades that let buyers compare goods, and produce outside the classes could still be sold, in some cases labelled differently. The curvature claim was popularised by British newspapers in the early 1990s. Most such standards were relaxed in 2009.

    Sources

    1. PrimaryCommission Regulation (EC) No 2257/94 laying down quality standards for bananas. Official Journal of the European Communities, 1994.
    2. BookDaddow, Oliver. New Labour and the European Union. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2011.

  10. Charlemagne's Europe and the dream of a united continent

    Popular belief

    The legend

    It is often said that European integration revives the old unity of Charlemagne's empire, or that the EU is a modern Holy Roman Empire, with unity being Europe's natural state.

    The rest is history

    Charlemagne was crowned emperor in 800 and his realm covered France, Germany, northern Italy and neighbouring lands, but it split by the Treaty of Verdun in 843. Its area roughly matches the original Six, and the Charlemagne Prize has been awarded at Aachen since 1950 for service to European unity. The founders themselves, however, argued from the two world wars, not the Carolingians. The EEC was created by treaties between sovereign states in 1957, a different thing from an empire.

    Sources

    1. BookPagden, Anthony, ed. The Idea of Europe: From Antiquity to the European Union. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
    2. BookMcKitterick, Rosamond. Charlemagne: The Formation of a European Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008.

  11. Monnet's flash of genius, or an American plot

    Popular belief

    The legend

    One version says the EEC was the work of a few unelected idealists who built the union in secret. Another says it was a plan imposed by the United States to control Europe.

    The rest is history

    The first version rests on the real role of Jean Monnet, who worked behind the scenes, but the treaties were negotiated by governments and ratified by national parliaments. The second rests on real American support, such as the Marshall Plan and diplomatic backing for integration, though the Schuman Plan came from French and German interests, and historians such as Alan Milward argue that national governments pursued economic goals of their own. The ECSC Treaty of 1951 was ratified by all six parliaments.

    Sources

    1. BookMilward, Alan S. The European Rescue of the Nation-State. London: Routledge, 1992.
    2. BookDuchêne, François. Jean Monnet: The First Statesman of Interdependence. New York: Norton, 1994.

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