European integration since 1945
1. Why is there no European army (yet)?
1948: THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE UN IS HELD IN THE PALAIS DE CHAILLOT
- Paul-Henri Spaak
Belgian Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs
o message to the present delegation form Moscow:
o Not eager to join NATO and lackluster regarding the economic help
America is offering European countries through the Marshallplan
o Conclusion that the contradictions between the US and the SU are
irreconcilable and that he will be forced to choose sides
o ‘nous avons peur’
1.1. The Cold War
IMMEDIATELY AFTER WWII: MORE HOPE FOR CONSTRUCTIVE INTERNATIONAL
COOPERATION
- During WWII, the Allies (including the US and SU) fought against Nazism and
fascism in Germany, Italy and Japan
- During the war the Allies decided to shape the post-war world with the US and SU
as key players
OCT 1943: MINISTERS OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF SU, US AND UK MEET + AMBASSADOR OF
CHINA TO SU MEET IN MOSCOW
- The need for a new international organization is recognized, based on the principle
of sovereign equality between peaceful states
- The new organization must learn from the mistakes of the League of Nations (had
fallen apart in the inter-war period due to internal strife)
MEETINGS IN TEHRAN (IRAN) AND WASHINGTON DC
- The Allies lay the basis for an organization whose aim it is to bring about peace,
security, cooperation and friendly relations
- => the idea for the establishment of the UN is raised for the first time
1945: THE YALTA CONFERENCE
- Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill
- Discussing the spheres of influence regarding the organization of a post-war
Germany and Europe
- Stalin confirmed the participation of the SU in the UN (necessary for the success of
the organization)
April 25, 1945
- 850 delegates from 50 countries come together to formally establish the UN
- UN Security Council consisting of China, FRA, US, SU, and UK as permanent
members (with veto rights), and 6 rotating members (alternating every 2 years)
Changed to 10 rotating members in 1965
- => feeling of optimism; idea of a new era in which countries live together in peace
BUT start of Cold War
,GROWING SUSPICIONS BETWEEN THE WEST AND THE SOVIET UNION
- Stalin's perspective:
US and UK waited too long to establish a western front (until the Normandy
landings in June 1944)
o SU had already been in direct confrontation with German troops
since 1941, needed them to establish a Western front to alleviate
pressure on the SU
o Did they wait so long with the idea that Nazi Germany and the SU
would exhaust each other?
- Western perspective:
communists are doing very well in Western Europe (BE, ITA, FRA) due to
the decisive role of the SU to control the Germans
o The communist party was even included in multiple governments in
Belgium
o => optimism towards the communists steadily disappears
- => Growing suspicions on both sides
During the war, the SU annexed the Baltic states and part of Finland
After the war: involved in the civil war in Greece and communist coup in
Czechoslovakia
SU uses its veto power in the UN Security Council liberally
Pro-Soviet Prime Minister in power in Persia, Russian support for the
territorial ambitions of Armenia and Georgia
APRIL 1949: WASHINGTON TREATY
- Twelve Western countries meet in the White House (under the impetus of the
perceived Soviet threat)
- Signed by American president Truman and eleven ministers of foreign affairs
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, NL,
Norway, Portugal, UK, and US
- Focus: collective defense arrangement
aggression on the territory of one of the member states above the Tropic of
Cancer signifies an attack on all participating countries
- => Formalises the transatlantic relations between Western Europe and US
Intended by the US to guarantee the security of Western Europe against
the threat of the SU (communism) out of economic and political self-
interest
1955: WARSAW PACT
- <= Greece and Turkey also accede to NATO two years later and the SU is almost
surrounded by NATO-countries
- => Response: a pact between the SU and communist countries (Albania, Hungary,
Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, GDR, and Czechoslovakia) with their own collective
defense arrangements
- => on both sides of the Iron Curtain the Cold War has been institutionalized
1.2. Pan-Europa
AFTER WW I: IDEAS OF EUROPEAN UNIFICATION TO ESTABLISH A NEW, MORE PEACEFUL
EUROPE
- Culturally: arises from cosmopolitanism that predates the rise of nationalism
- Politically: the conviction was held that nation states alone are under-equipped to
tackle the current issues (The Revolt of the Masses, José Ortega y Gasset)
- Economically: Europe must remain competitive with the SU and the US
, - Austrian-Japanese author and politician Count Richard von Choudenhove-Kalergi
launced a pan-European movement in 1923
Allowing EU countries to join forces through economic cooperation in the
ore, coal and mining industries
To avert the convergence between the German Weimar Republic and the
SU
1927: THE KELLOG-BRIAND PACT
- French Minister of Foreign Affairs Aristide Briand (honorary chairman of the pan-
European movement of Coudenhove-Kalergi) initiates a new project with American
Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank Kellogg
- Attempt at committing countries around the world to opt for peaceful solutions
instead of war when conflicts arise
- Was futile at the start of WW II but people’s minds were primed to change the
configuration of Western Europe for a while, at least within a part of the powers
that were
=> European pioneers after WW II, made good use of these political and
intellectual reflections
1.3. French-German rapprochement
CHRISTIAN DEMOCRAT POLITICIANS FROM FRANCE AND GERMANY MEET TO RESTORE
RELATIONS
- Relationship between France and Germany after WW II very delicate
<= 75-year-long period of war (Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), WW I and
WW II)
- => meetings between Chr-Dems on neutral ground (Geneva) = Genfer Kreis
Ex. Future German Chancellor Adenauer meets with various leading French
Chr-Dems and Robert Schuman’s fellow party members
- => establishing of channels for informal contact between delegations of Western
European Chr-Dem parties
=> 1947: creation of the federate Nouvelle Équipes Internationales under
the guidance of 80 delegates from 12 countries
- Liberals and socialists also reach out to each other
=> creation of the Liberal International and the Mouvement Socialiste pour
les États-Unis d’Europe
- The transnational networks are weak and spontaneous, but they do form an
important basis for European integration (e.g. the key players were no longer
unknown at the negotiating table), later more structural networks
1946: SPEECH WINSTON CHURCHILL AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ZÜRICH
- Lot of political authority <= leader of the only country not overrun by the
Germans in WW II
- Supporter of close political and military relations
=> in favour of rapprochement between France and Germany
Hoping to reintegrate West Germany into the game between European
powers
Neutralizing the French’s distrust of West Germany, and protect West
Germany from itself
No role for the UK, but close relations with France could serve as leverage
to guarantee British influence on this Franco-West German relationship
KONRAD ADENAUER (1876-1967)
- Prominent Catholic politician during the Weimarer Republik, spiritual father of the
Federal Republic of Germany after WW II
- Studied law and poli-sci => becoming mayor in his birthplace of Cologne (1927)
, - 1930s: at odds with the NSDAP (National Socialist party of Adolf Hitler)
refuses to hang up National Socialist flags, shake hands with Nazis and to
host Hitler in Cologne's city hall
=> 1933: Hitler removes him of his office
=> goes into hiding, is arrested, released and arrested again
- 1944: detained for 9 weeks because the NSDAP believed he had something to do
with the failed assassination attempt on Hitler
- 1946: Adenauer becomes chairman of the new CDU (Christlich Demokratische
Union)
- 1949: elected first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
With the help of Ludwig Erhard (Minister of Economic Affairs), they succeed
in quickly reestablishing the West German economy (Wirtschaftwunder)
o Foundations for a socially responsible market economy in an
ordoliberal model (state creates a framework for a relatively free
economy)
- ECSC (1952), NATO membership (1955), European Communities (1957)
<= integrating West Germany into the West by structural cooperation
- 1952: failed assassination attempt
- 1953: turns down offer from Stalin to reunite Germany as a neutral power
- 1963: stepping down as Chancellor
<= criticism on his Westbindung and the Entnazifizierung (the prosecution
of former SS officers)
<= construction of the Berlin wall, the Spiegel Affair
Just before: signs the Franco-German treaty of friendship with De Gaulle
- Passes away at the age of 91 (‘Der Alte’)
1.4. Benelux as an example
IN 1943 AND 1944, BELGIUM, NL AND LUX REACHED AN AGREEMENT ON UNIFORM
PAYMENT SYSTEM, INCREASED ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES AND A UNIFIED TARIFF COMMUNITY
- Inspired by the Belgian-Luxembourg Economic Union (BLEU) (1921), striving to
achieve a single currency and customs union
1944: BENELUX IS FOUNDED AS AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION
- 1948: Benelux Treaty comes into effect: the three countries form one customs
union
- 1958: Economic Union, aimed at a common trade policy with third countries,
coordination of economic, financial and social policy, and the free movement of
goods, services, persons, and capital
- Fritalux: attempt to involve France and Italy failed
- Relatively autonomous institutions: ministerial committee, general secretariat,
courthouse, and parliament
Pioneering and exemplary role
=> later inspire the 4 institutions in the ECSC and EU
1.5. Marshall plan
WEAKENED WESTERN EUROPE AFTER THE WAR
- => vulnerable to Stalin's Red Army (which has even remained active outside the
occupied territories)
- US troops have been removed from non-occupied areas, but do not want to simply
give up the liberated areas
1. Why is there no European army (yet)?
1948: THIRD GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE UN IS HELD IN THE PALAIS DE CHAILLOT
- Paul-Henri Spaak
Belgian Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs
o message to the present delegation form Moscow:
o Not eager to join NATO and lackluster regarding the economic help
America is offering European countries through the Marshallplan
o Conclusion that the contradictions between the US and the SU are
irreconcilable and that he will be forced to choose sides
o ‘nous avons peur’
1.1. The Cold War
IMMEDIATELY AFTER WWII: MORE HOPE FOR CONSTRUCTIVE INTERNATIONAL
COOPERATION
- During WWII, the Allies (including the US and SU) fought against Nazism and
fascism in Germany, Italy and Japan
- During the war the Allies decided to shape the post-war world with the US and SU
as key players
OCT 1943: MINISTERS OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS OF SU, US AND UK MEET + AMBASSADOR OF
CHINA TO SU MEET IN MOSCOW
- The need for a new international organization is recognized, based on the principle
of sovereign equality between peaceful states
- The new organization must learn from the mistakes of the League of Nations (had
fallen apart in the inter-war period due to internal strife)
MEETINGS IN TEHRAN (IRAN) AND WASHINGTON DC
- The Allies lay the basis for an organization whose aim it is to bring about peace,
security, cooperation and friendly relations
- => the idea for the establishment of the UN is raised for the first time
1945: THE YALTA CONFERENCE
- Stalin, Roosevelt and Churchill
- Discussing the spheres of influence regarding the organization of a post-war
Germany and Europe
- Stalin confirmed the participation of the SU in the UN (necessary for the success of
the organization)
April 25, 1945
- 850 delegates from 50 countries come together to formally establish the UN
- UN Security Council consisting of China, FRA, US, SU, and UK as permanent
members (with veto rights), and 6 rotating members (alternating every 2 years)
Changed to 10 rotating members in 1965
- => feeling of optimism; idea of a new era in which countries live together in peace
BUT start of Cold War
,GROWING SUSPICIONS BETWEEN THE WEST AND THE SOVIET UNION
- Stalin's perspective:
US and UK waited too long to establish a western front (until the Normandy
landings in June 1944)
o SU had already been in direct confrontation with German troops
since 1941, needed them to establish a Western front to alleviate
pressure on the SU
o Did they wait so long with the idea that Nazi Germany and the SU
would exhaust each other?
- Western perspective:
communists are doing very well in Western Europe (BE, ITA, FRA) due to
the decisive role of the SU to control the Germans
o The communist party was even included in multiple governments in
Belgium
o => optimism towards the communists steadily disappears
- => Growing suspicions on both sides
During the war, the SU annexed the Baltic states and part of Finland
After the war: involved in the civil war in Greece and communist coup in
Czechoslovakia
SU uses its veto power in the UN Security Council liberally
Pro-Soviet Prime Minister in power in Persia, Russian support for the
territorial ambitions of Armenia and Georgia
APRIL 1949: WASHINGTON TREATY
- Twelve Western countries meet in the White House (under the impetus of the
perceived Soviet threat)
- Signed by American president Truman and eleven ministers of foreign affairs
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, NL,
Norway, Portugal, UK, and US
- Focus: collective defense arrangement
aggression on the territory of one of the member states above the Tropic of
Cancer signifies an attack on all participating countries
- => Formalises the transatlantic relations between Western Europe and US
Intended by the US to guarantee the security of Western Europe against
the threat of the SU (communism) out of economic and political self-
interest
1955: WARSAW PACT
- <= Greece and Turkey also accede to NATO two years later and the SU is almost
surrounded by NATO-countries
- => Response: a pact between the SU and communist countries (Albania, Hungary,
Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, GDR, and Czechoslovakia) with their own collective
defense arrangements
- => on both sides of the Iron Curtain the Cold War has been institutionalized
1.2. Pan-Europa
AFTER WW I: IDEAS OF EUROPEAN UNIFICATION TO ESTABLISH A NEW, MORE PEACEFUL
EUROPE
- Culturally: arises from cosmopolitanism that predates the rise of nationalism
- Politically: the conviction was held that nation states alone are under-equipped to
tackle the current issues (The Revolt of the Masses, José Ortega y Gasset)
- Economically: Europe must remain competitive with the SU and the US
, - Austrian-Japanese author and politician Count Richard von Choudenhove-Kalergi
launced a pan-European movement in 1923
Allowing EU countries to join forces through economic cooperation in the
ore, coal and mining industries
To avert the convergence between the German Weimar Republic and the
SU
1927: THE KELLOG-BRIAND PACT
- French Minister of Foreign Affairs Aristide Briand (honorary chairman of the pan-
European movement of Coudenhove-Kalergi) initiates a new project with American
Minister of Foreign Affairs Frank Kellogg
- Attempt at committing countries around the world to opt for peaceful solutions
instead of war when conflicts arise
- Was futile at the start of WW II but people’s minds were primed to change the
configuration of Western Europe for a while, at least within a part of the powers
that were
=> European pioneers after WW II, made good use of these political and
intellectual reflections
1.3. French-German rapprochement
CHRISTIAN DEMOCRAT POLITICIANS FROM FRANCE AND GERMANY MEET TO RESTORE
RELATIONS
- Relationship between France and Germany after WW II very delicate
<= 75-year-long period of war (Franco-Prussian War (1870-71), WW I and
WW II)
- => meetings between Chr-Dems on neutral ground (Geneva) = Genfer Kreis
Ex. Future German Chancellor Adenauer meets with various leading French
Chr-Dems and Robert Schuman’s fellow party members
- => establishing of channels for informal contact between delegations of Western
European Chr-Dem parties
=> 1947: creation of the federate Nouvelle Équipes Internationales under
the guidance of 80 delegates from 12 countries
- Liberals and socialists also reach out to each other
=> creation of the Liberal International and the Mouvement Socialiste pour
les États-Unis d’Europe
- The transnational networks are weak and spontaneous, but they do form an
important basis for European integration (e.g. the key players were no longer
unknown at the negotiating table), later more structural networks
1946: SPEECH WINSTON CHURCHILL AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ZÜRICH
- Lot of political authority <= leader of the only country not overrun by the
Germans in WW II
- Supporter of close political and military relations
=> in favour of rapprochement between France and Germany
Hoping to reintegrate West Germany into the game between European
powers
Neutralizing the French’s distrust of West Germany, and protect West
Germany from itself
No role for the UK, but close relations with France could serve as leverage
to guarantee British influence on this Franco-West German relationship
KONRAD ADENAUER (1876-1967)
- Prominent Catholic politician during the Weimarer Republik, spiritual father of the
Federal Republic of Germany after WW II
- Studied law and poli-sci => becoming mayor in his birthplace of Cologne (1927)
, - 1930s: at odds with the NSDAP (National Socialist party of Adolf Hitler)
refuses to hang up National Socialist flags, shake hands with Nazis and to
host Hitler in Cologne's city hall
=> 1933: Hitler removes him of his office
=> goes into hiding, is arrested, released and arrested again
- 1944: detained for 9 weeks because the NSDAP believed he had something to do
with the failed assassination attempt on Hitler
- 1946: Adenauer becomes chairman of the new CDU (Christlich Demokratische
Union)
- 1949: elected first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany
With the help of Ludwig Erhard (Minister of Economic Affairs), they succeed
in quickly reestablishing the West German economy (Wirtschaftwunder)
o Foundations for a socially responsible market economy in an
ordoliberal model (state creates a framework for a relatively free
economy)
- ECSC (1952), NATO membership (1955), European Communities (1957)
<= integrating West Germany into the West by structural cooperation
- 1952: failed assassination attempt
- 1953: turns down offer from Stalin to reunite Germany as a neutral power
- 1963: stepping down as Chancellor
<= criticism on his Westbindung and the Entnazifizierung (the prosecution
of former SS officers)
<= construction of the Berlin wall, the Spiegel Affair
Just before: signs the Franco-German treaty of friendship with De Gaulle
- Passes away at the age of 91 (‘Der Alte’)
1.4. Benelux as an example
IN 1943 AND 1944, BELGIUM, NL AND LUX REACHED AN AGREEMENT ON UNIFORM
PAYMENT SYSTEM, INCREASED ECONOMIC ACTIVITIES AND A UNIFIED TARIFF COMMUNITY
- Inspired by the Belgian-Luxembourg Economic Union (BLEU) (1921), striving to
achieve a single currency and customs union
1944: BENELUX IS FOUNDED AS AN INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION
- 1948: Benelux Treaty comes into effect: the three countries form one customs
union
- 1958: Economic Union, aimed at a common trade policy with third countries,
coordination of economic, financial and social policy, and the free movement of
goods, services, persons, and capital
- Fritalux: attempt to involve France and Italy failed
- Relatively autonomous institutions: ministerial committee, general secretariat,
courthouse, and parliament
Pioneering and exemplary role
=> later inspire the 4 institutions in the ECSC and EU
1.5. Marshall plan
WEAKENED WESTERN EUROPE AFTER THE WAR
- => vulnerable to Stalin's Red Army (which has even remained active outside the
occupied territories)
- US troops have been removed from non-occupied areas, but do not want to simply
give up the liberated areas
