One of the corner stones of the European Economic Community since its inception in 1958 has been the concept of political cooperation among the member states. Despite its economic character the founding fathers envisaged an essentially political community to be brought about by greater functional cooperation through Community organs such as the Commission, the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.1 Greater harmony was also to be brought about in the conduct of Member States' foreign relations and the Community was increasingly to speak with one voice in international affairs.2
Although the necessity to impart a more formal character to the process of consultations on foreign policy issues was felt during the decade following the establishment of the Community the first concrete steps in this regard were initiated only in 1969 which resulted in the so-called ‘Davignon Report’ in 1970.3 Following its recommendation for a common European diplomatic effort European Political Cooperation (EPC) was set up in 1970. The process which was to consist of foreign policy coordination among the Member States of the European Community was to be conducted outside the framework of the treaties establishing the Community and thus not to be governed by the decision-making rules that applied to the meetings of the EEC Council of Ministers.4
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References
1.
The Council of Ministers which comprises of Ministerial Representatives of the governments of the Member States of the Community and which is at the centre of the Community's decision-making process and the Commission, the bureaucratic apparatus of the Community, entrusted with the responsibilities of both initiating the process of policy formulation and their implementation, are the two principal organs of the EEC. The European Parliament is largely a ceremonial institution and has no meaningful democratic control over Community decision-making.
2.
EC, Office for Official Publications, European Unification: The Origins and Growth of the European Community (Luxembourg, 1986), p. 61.
3.
It was so called after the most influential member of the Group which produced the report i.e., Etienne Davignon, Political Director of the Belgian Foreign Ministry; New York Times, 16 December 1973.
4.
EC, The Commission of the European Communities, Britain in the Community, 1973–33 (London, 1984), p. 87. The treaties provide for common policies over a wide range of commercial, economic and social matters whose application within the member states is mandatory as per EEC rulee.
5.
The Times, 4 January 1973.
6.
Speech by Edward Heath, London Press Service, 2 January 1973, pp 2–3. Interestingly enough while he whole-heartedly supported political cooperation within the Community Edward Heath also shared the French position which insisted that foreign policy coordination was an inter-governmental matter to be conducted outside Brussels institutions. Heath felt that the two sets of machinery were working satisfactorily and that there was no need for changes at that stage. The Guardian's “Interview with Edward Heath,”The Guardian, 2 November 1973.
7.
The Times, 4 January 1973. The French were so paranoid on this point that once in 1973 during the first Danish Presidency of the Council, Michel Jobber!, the French Foreign Minister, “insisted that Foreign Ministers should meet in political cooperation in Copenhagen. in the morning, and move to Brussels for a Council Meeting in the afternoon.” See Sir Michael Butler, Europe: More than a Continent (London, 1986), p. 32. The idea obviously was to keep the two sets of functions rigidly separate so that there was no adverse impact on the independent conduct of French foreign policy.
8.
KissingerHenry, Years of Upheaval (New Delhi, 1981), pp. 896–905.
9.
The Conservative Party led by Edward Heath lost the General Elections held in Britain in February 1974 and was replaced by a Labour Government headed by Harold Wilson.
10.
UK, HMSO, Membership of the European Communities: Report on Re-negotiation. Cmnd 6003 (1975), Paras 112 & 113. The Wilson Government which considered the terms of entry obtained by Heath to be unsatisfactory conducted a process of re-negotiation in 1974–75 to bring about some improvements on these terms.
11.
UK, HMSO, Developments in the European Communities, March-October 1974. Cmnd 5790 (1974), Para 52.
12.
The Statement of the Foreign Secretary. See UK, HMSO, Developments in the European Communities, April-October 1975. Cmnd 6349 (1975), Para 5.
13.
Anthony Crosland, “Britain, Europe and the World,”Socialist Commentary (London), November 1976, p. 12.
14.
UK, HMSO, n. 12, Para 6. The Final Act which had already been finalized and agreed in Geneva was the comprehensive document signed by the participants at Helsinki.
15.
RutherfordMalcolm, “Well-informed Debate,”Financial Times, 8 December 1975.
16.
Central Office of Information, Britain 1989: An Official Handbook (London, 1989), p. 80.
17.
AlienDavid, “British Foreign Policy and West European Cooperation,” in ByrdPeter (Ed.), British Foreign Policy Under Thatcher (London, 1988), p. 50.
18.
Ibid.
19.
Central Office of Information, Britain 1989, n. 16, p 81.
20.
“EEC Statement on Angola made in Luxembourg on Twenty-third February, Nineteen Seventy Six.”London Press Service, 24 February 1976.
21.
The Times, 24 February 1976.
22.
The Callaghan Government undertook, in partnership with the Carter Administration, the initiative in bringing about majority black rule in Rhodesia in 1978–79. For details see VanceCyrus, Hard Choices: Critical Years in America's Foreign Policy (New York, 1983), pp. 261–91.
23.
The Times, 8 May 1976.
24.
Financial Times, 13 July 1977 and The Guardian, 14 June 1978.
25.
France and Germany, the Community's two principal powers, however, usually sided with Britain on this issue. See The Guardian, 14 June 1978.
26.
HollandMartin, “The European Community and South Africa: In Search of a Policy for the 1990s,”International Affairs (London), Vol. 64, no. 3, Summer 1988, pp. 415–30. See also James Barber, “Southern Africa” in Peter Byrd, British Foreign Policy under Thatcher, pp. 109–10.
27.
James Barber, Ibid.
28.
Britain was opposed to comprehensive economic sanctions as its huge economic stakes in South Africa were likely to be jeopardized. For details see BhattacharyaPurusottam“Commonwealth: No Longer a British Priority,”The Statesman (Calcutta), 20 August 1986.
29.
James Barber, n. 26, pp. 109–10.
30.
Ibid.
31.
Ibid. See also Central Office of Information, Britain 1989: An Official Handbook (London, 1989), p. 81.
32.
Britain 1989: An Official Handbook, Ibid.
33.
Ibid. See also BarberJames, n. 26.
34.
This was a major occasion when Britain sought to demonstrate that it was able and willing to take a stand more in consonance with its European partners than its long standing ally, the United States of America. For details see KissingerHenry, Years of Upheaval (New Delhi, 1981), pp. 493–5, 583–91.
35.
WilsonHarold, Final Term: The Labour Government 1974–76 (London, 1979), p. 165.
36.
UK, HMSO, Development in the European Communities: March-October 1974. Cmnd 5790 (1974), Para 50.
37.
Sunday Times interview with David Owen, the British Foreign Secretary. Sunday Times, 18 September 1977.
38.
DaleReginald, “Progress Towards Coordination,”Financial Times, 2 December 1974.
39.
The Guardian, 11 September 1979. Also see Daily Telegraph, 12 September 1979.
40.
UK, HMSO, Developments in the European Communities, January-December 1979. Cmnd 7780 (1980), Para 2.3. This position was subsequently enshrined in the Venice Declaration of July 1980. See UK, HMSO, Developments in the European Communities, January-June, 1980. Cmnd 8042 (1980), Para 2.8.
41.
Greece had joined the Community in January 1980.
42.
UK, HMSO, Developments in European Communities, July-December 1981. Cmnd 8525 (1982), Para 3.6.
43.
Central Office of Information, Britain 1989: An Official Handbook (London, 1989), p. 80. See also David Allen, “British Foreign Policy and West European Cooperation” in Peter Byrd, British Foreign Policy Under Thatcher, p. 47. The Camp David Agreement, signed under the auspices of President Carter in 1978, included only Israel and Egypt.
44.
Ibid., p. 81.
45.
Lord Carrington at a Press Conference in London. London Press Service, 14 May 1979, p. 4.
46.
Interview of Lord Carrington with a Paris paper. London Press Service, 27 November 1980.
47.
Ibid, See also HurdDouglas, “Political Cooperation,”International Affairs (London), Summer 1981, p. 389. Douglas Hurd was the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs at the time.
48.
Speech by Lord Carrington at Hamburg, London Press Service, 17 November 1980, pp. 7–8. See also Le Monde interview with Lord Carrington. London Press Service, 24 June 1981, p. 3.
49.
UK, HMSO, Report on European Political Cooperation, Cmnd 8426 (1981), pp. 4–8. See also UK, HMSO, Developments in the European Community, July-December 1981. Cmnd 8525 (1982), Para 3.1.
50.
For instance the Venice Declaration on the Middle East adopted by the Community Heads of Governments in June 1980 had a significant, if marginal, effect on events in the area. See Sir Michael Butler, n. 7, p. 143.
51.
Ibid., p. 32.
52.
Office for the official publications of the European Communities, European Unification: The Origins and Growth of the European Community (Luxembourg, 1985), p. 62. For an upto date discussion on the Single European Act and what it is striving to achieve see Chitra Subramaniam, “The Battle for 1992: Difficult Last Laps of Europe's Ambitious Plan,” The Hindu (Madras), 11 July 1989.
53.
WallaceHelen, “The British Presidency of the European Community's Council of Ministers: The Opportunity to Persuade,”International Affairs (London), Vol. 62, no. 4, Autumn 1986, pp. 583–99.
54.
The Community was enlarged to ten in 1981 when Greece joined and to twelve in 1986 when Spain and Portugal joined.
55.
For details on ‘Perestroika’ see FrankPeter, “‘Perestroika’ in Crisis,”The World Today (London), Vol. 45, no. 11, November 1989, pp. 185 8.
56.
The other three countries are the United States, Japan and Canada.
57.
The Hindu (Madras) 28 September 1989.
58.
The Hindu, 20 November 1989.
59.
More than 80 per cent of Germans on both sides support the creation of a reunified German state in the form of a Grand German Confederation in Central Europe. See The Hindu, 9 November 1989.
60.
The Hindu, 9 December 1989.
61.
The Hindu, 21 November 1989.
62.
The Hindu, 11 December 1989.
63.
DelorsJacques, “Europe on the Way to 1992,”International Affairs (Moscow), November 1989, pp. 14–21.
64.
Douglas Hurd, n. 47, p. 384.
65.
UK, Central Office of Information, Britain in the European Community (London, 1983), pp. 58–60.
66.
Speech by Lord Carrington at Hamburg, London Press Service, 17 November 1980, p. 7. See also the BBC interview with Lord Carrington, 29 April 1981. London Press Service, 5 May 1981, p. 2 and Douglas Hurd, n. 47, p. 386.
