THE SHORT BUT INTENSE HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

 

  As we approach to present time it is more difficult to set up the lines of the history of European integration. Especially because it is a very complicated unfinished process, that is narrowly linked with the ongoing history. Nevertheless in Teaching Guide 12 we will try to understand why the European Union appeared and which are the main obstacles that prevent its 27 Member States to become a World Power in the present complicated international situation due, among other circumstances, to the Wars in Ukraine and in Palestine. 

 In teaching guide 11 we saw how evolved Communitarian Europe before the Fall of the Berlin Wall and the disappearance of the Iron Curtain. After De Gaulle's retirement form the French Government in 1969 there was  relaunching of the European integration in which important steps were taken.  

A: Relaunching the Integration Process (1969-1991) 

After De Gaulle abandoned the Government in France on 28 April 1969, the mood in Europe was again favorable to Communitarian integration, as proved by:  

1) The first enlargements of the European Communities:  1973 (UK, Ireland and Denmark), 1981 (Greece) and 1986 (Spain and Portugal) that brought Communitarian Europe from 6 to 12 Member States. 

2) The creation of the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) that established a direct relationship between Communitarian Institutions and the European Regions (without the intervention of the Member States). 

3) The democratization of European Integration through the election by European citizens of the European Parliament (since 7-10 May 1979), and thereafter every 5 years.

The European Parliament building in Brussels

4) The elimination of borders and customs between Communitarian Member States through the Schengen Agreement (14 June 1985. Effective 26 March 1995).

5) The relaunch of the European Common Market by the Single European Act (1986-1987).

The German reunification (1990) and the disappearance of the USSR (December 1991) had a direct impact in the European Integration process, as the Three European Communities were replaced by one single entity: the EUROPEAN UNION

B: The Communitarian Reaction to the end of the Cold War: The birth of the European Union (The Maastricht Treaty).

 As you can see European integration was on its way  when the 9 of November 1989 the Berlin Wall fell. And this crucial event not only changed international equilibrium at the World level but opened wide perspectives for a stronger European Integration, starting with an expansion towards Eastern Europe countries that were since 1948 beyond the “Iron Curtain”.  

Communitarian Europe was lucky to have a great President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors (1985-1994). He was already responsible for the signing of the Single European Act (1986) and after the end of 1989 he had the idea of substituting the three European Communities (ECSC, EEC and EAEC) by a single Community: the European Union. 

                                                                      Jacques Delors (1985-1994)

 As Delors was well aware of the importance of the end of the Cold War he decided to refound the Communitarian Europe through a new Treaty that was signed in the dutch city of Maastricht on the 7th of February of 1992. The European Union was born.

The signing of the Maastricht Treaty

Today the Treaty of the European Union (TEU) or Maastricht Treaty constitute with the Treaty that created the EEC, now called Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), the legal basis of Comunitarian Europe, the closest we have got so far to a European common constitution. 

 The brand new European Union had a conventional legal tool to advance on European integration. The problem was how to make it effective. The first step was to pass from the Unanimity Voting imposed by the De Gaulle in the Luxembourg Compromise of 1966 to the principle of the Qualified Majority Voting. 

The European leaders that signed the Maastricht Treaty

C. Unanimity Voting vs Qualified Majority Voting and the Pillar Structure

 The strengthening of the integration process required on the first place to push for the restriction of the Unanimity Voting approved in the Luxembourg Compromise (1966) and get back to the Majority Voting with the restriction of Qualified Majority Voting (QMV) a mechanism used to take decisions without the need for unanimity but which go beyond a simple majority of members, that is it requires the approval of  a certain number of States representing a minimum percentage of population.

 There are two forms of qualified majority: standard and reinforced. For the former, decisions are adopted if at least 55% of member states – meaning 15 out of 27 – representing at least 65% of the EU population, approve. For the latter, at least 72% of member states must approve, representing the same proportion of the EU population. Abstention counts as a vote against. 

A standard qualified majority is the ordinary procedure used for most EU legislation, whereas a reinforced qualified majority is used if the Council is acting on proposal that has not come from the Commission or High Representative for Foreign Affairs, or when electing key posts like the President of the European Central Bank or the High Representative for Foreign Affairs 

In order to convince the Governments to accept the QMV, Delors invented the “PILLAR STRUCTURE”. QMV was the rule in the First Pillar (Community Pillar) corresponding to the three existing Treaties in 1992. The other two pillars (The second pillar dealt with Common Foreign and Security Policy, and the third addressed Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters) followed the Intergovernmental principle, which meant that in these areas the decision-making procedures essentially followed the Unanimity Principle. 

The Maastricht Pillar Structure

                                              

D. Towards the East

The second difficulty for strenghtening European integration was what to do with the European countries that had been for decades on the other side of the Iron Curtain.  The big problem that European Integration faced after the Fall of the Berlin Wall was what to do with the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (CEEC) with underdeveloped economies resulting from being for more than four decades under Communist regimes controlled by the USSR. Some resisted to the idea of a rapid integration with the argument that it would affect seriously the balance of an integrated Europe. Some others, led by Germany, wanted at any cost to integrate these States as new Members as proved with the early recognition of Croatia as an independent State since January 1992.  It was the old idea of Mitteleuropa that would consolidate the German pre-eminence. This is why some countries were reluctant to it.   

Mitteleuropa

 The Maastricht Treaty, that was the consequence of the end of the Cold War had been signed by 12 Member States. But soon new States were lining up to join. In 1995 the EU had 15 members (with the integration of Austria, Finland and Sweden). But 9 years later, in 2004, this number was raised to 25 Members with the integration of 10 new States, most of the from Eastern Europe: Poland, the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia. In 2007 Bulgaria and Romania joined, bringing the number of Member States to 27. And in 2013 the peak of 28 Member States was reached with the integration of Croatia. This number was brought down to 27 again since January 31, 2020 with the leave of the UK.  

                                                                     The EU in May 2021T

E: Reorganizing the decision making procedure in such a large EU: The Lisbon Treaty (2009)

The acceptance of this huge enlargement put the EU in serious trouble as it badly needed a profound reorganization in terms of decision making for avoiding collapse. Because having 27 Governments to agree on something was not a piece of cake.   So the Treaties had to be renegotiated and amended. This what happened with the Amsterdam Treaty (1997), the Nice Treaty (2001) followed by the failure of the Treaty called A Constitution for Europe (2005). Finally the reestructuration of the EU was made possible by the approval of the Lisbon Treaty in 2007 (that entered into force on 1st December 2009).

The heads of Government of the EU after signing the Lisbon Treaty  

G: The Institutional Mess of the European Union.

 The European Integration process has not ended with the enactment of the Lisbon Treaty. The European Union is still not a strong World Power because we have not created a Federal European State over the 27 Member States. The EU states together because the Judicial Power of Communitarian Europe since the early 1960's (concretely since sentence on the Costa vs. Enel Case 15 July 1964) have created a "Legal Federation" (not a Political one) by declaring that Communitarian Law is superior to National Law. Thanks to this "judicial decision" the EU stays together. 

As you can imagine a Judicial Union is far less strong than a political federation. And this is why the EU has a lot of trouble for becoming a real World Power. Because it has not a strong Executive, as has the Presidential system of the United States Federal Union. 

 The US has three powers: Legislative Power (the Congress integrated by the Assembly of States -Senate- and the Assembly of Citizens Representatives -the House of Representatives), the Supreme Court and the President (POTUS). The EU has also three powers but they are much weaker. The reason is that there are two Legislative powers (one representing the integrated Europe: the European Parliament and another the Member States: the Council of Ministers), two Executives (one representing the integrated Europe: the European Commission, and another the Member States: the European Council. The only unique power is the Judicial represented by the Court of the European Union in Luxembourg, and this is why it is the most powerful of the three. 

 In fact the institutions of the European Union are quite complicated and not very efficient in terms of decision making and implementing these decisions. Let's see the three main powers of the organization of Communitarian Europe: 1) The appearance of a European Parliament; 2) The creation of a European Court of Justice and 3) The lack of a powerful common European executive.

1) The EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT appears in 1962. But it derives from two former legislatures: The Common Assembly of ECSC (1952-1958) that was ins Strasbourg though its secretariat was in Luxembourg where were the headquarters of the High Authority. After the creation of the EAEC and the EEC the Common Assembly became initially the European Parliamentary Assembly in Strasbourg (1958-1962).

 The European Parliamentary Assembly ended up becoming in 1962 the European Parliament. Initially its headquarters were in Strasbourg but it also had offices in Luxembourg and Brussels. In 1989  was decided to create a second building in Brussels behind the Gare Léopold in Brussels. The new building was inaugurated in 1993, and named Paul-Henri Spaak Building in 1999. Most of the EP's work is performed in Brussels, though twelve monthly part-sessions -including the session for budget approval, are held in Strasbourg.   EP committees ordinarily  meet in Brussels.     

 Since 1979 the European Parliament is elected by the citizens of the Member States. The legislature lasts 5 years. There have been so far 9 legislatures. In 2024 (6-9 June) there will new elections for the tenth legislature. The EP does vote the Communitarian Budget, but also control the government of the EU, as it approves the nomination of the President of the Commission, and could proceed to a vote of no confidence, but also exercises with the Council of the European Union (Council of Ministers) the Legislative Power of the EU. 

The Legislative Power in the EU

 The EP is not alone legislating because the States are directly part of the legislative process through the "Council of Ministers". It is integrated by the National Ministers of the 27 Member States in a concrete area (Economy, Education, Agriculture, etc). In this way the States counterbalance the action of the European Parliament. Commission the councils of ministers of the three European Communities (ECSC, EAEC and EEC) merged into a single “Council of European Communities”. 

Since the Treaty of Maastricht (1992-1993) that created the European Union, the "Council of Ministers” became the Council of the European Union, also named “The Council”. 

2) The EUROPEAN COURT OF JUSTICE derives from the original Court of Justice of the ECSC (1952-1958). After the Treaty of Rome it became the Court of Justice of the European Communities (1958-2009). In 2009 it became the actual Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) .It is located in  Luxembourg.

 The Court of Justice of the European Union has 1 judge by each EU country, that is actually 27, plus 11 advocates general. It does not apply directly Communitarian Law, as this task correspond to the national judges of the 27 Member States. It's main fonction is to rule over the conflicts between National and Communitarian Law (Decide if prevails the European rule or the National one: Conventionality control). In fact the CJEU is the most important institution of the European Union, as it has enacted the superiority of Communitarian Law over National Law of the Member States, since the early 1960's. 

3) The EXECUTIVE POWER OF THE EUROPEAN UNION. The first European Community, the ECSC had an executive called the High Authority that had its headquarters in Luxembourg.  The Treaty of Rome 1957 created two new communities;  the EAEC and the EEC. Both Communities had their own executive powers called "Commissions". The  executives of the three European Communities were reunited in one through the Executive Merger Treaty (8 April 1965, but entered into force on 1 July 1967).  The three bodies, collectively named the European Executives, co-existed until 1 July 1967 and opened the way to create a single Executive for Communitarian Europe, a single administration: the European Commission, that has his seat in the Berlaymont Buiding in Brussels. 

 Since 2014 each party presents a candidate for presiding the European Commission. Normally the winning party does not reach absolute majority and has to negotiate the election of the President. Since December 2019, the president of the Commission is the German Medicine Doctor Ursula von der Leyen (1958). 

The President of the European Commission has its ministers. They are called Commissioners and they are 27, one by each EU Country.

The Ursula von der Leyen Commission (2019-2024)

 The problem of the Commission is that it is not the only Executive Power of the EU. The States form their own Communitarian Executive that counterbalance the action of the European Commission. It is integrated by the heads of the Government of the 27 Member States. It is called the European Council (EUCO). Beware do not confuse the  European Council and Council of the European Union and the though they have the same logo, they are not at all the same institutions. The first is the Executive Power and the second is part of the Legislative Power of the EU. These confusing denominations, make the EU even more complex and confusing.

 But where does the European Council comes from? Straight from the reluctance that former French President Charles De Gaulle had against the whole process of European Integration. 

The De Gaulle parenthesis and the origins of the EUCO

You already know that the arrival to power of General Charles De Gaulle in France (1958-1969) opened up a parenthesis in European integration with the Empty Chair Crisis, in which France boycotted all the meetings of the “councils” of the European Communities, that was only solved after reaching the Luxembourg Compromise (30 January 1966), that brought back the principle of the Unanimity voting, instead of the Qualified Majority voting principle through the Luxembourg Compromise (January 1966).

 It was precisely De Gaulle’s resentment at the domination of supranational institutions in the European Commission brought the principle of informal summits of the leaders of Communitarian Europe.  After the Luxembourg Compromise European leaders started to meet on summits. The first one was held in The Hague in 1969. Informal Summits became formalized as the European Council (EUCO) for the first time in the summit held in Dublin (10-11 March 1973). It received official recognition in the European Treaties for the first time in the Single European Act (17-28 February 1986, entering into force 1st July 1987).  The role of EUCO was regulated for the first time in the Lisbon Treaty (2007-2009) that established a minimum of 2 meetings per year (the average being 3). 

 But who is the President of the EUCO? After the implementation of the Maastricht Treaty (1993), the European Council was presided by the Head of the government of the Member State holding the presidency, rotating every six months. Every 6 months one of the Governments of the 27 Member States heads the EUCO. It changes in January and July. 

But things got more complex  since the enactment of the Treaty of Lisbon (approved 2007, entered into force on 1st December 2009) as it created the figure of the Permanent President of the European Council. Since then the EUCO has two Presidents: one permanent and a non permanent that changes every 6 months. Today the permanent President of the EUCO is the belgian politician Charles Michels.

Charles Michel

The crisis of the "Sofa Gate" (7 April 2021)

The wonder is that this mess works. Though not always smoothly as a result that as you already know the EU has in fact two governments: One representing Integrated Europe (Communitarian method), with the European Parliament as Legislative Assembly and the Commission as Executive, and another representing the States (Intergovernmental method) with the European Council of Ministers now called the European Council as an interstate Legislative Assembly and an Interstate executive the Permanent President of the European Council, created by the Lisbon Treaty. 

 The existence of two Executives is not a simple thing and can create problems like it happened in the crisis called the the clash of the Sofa Gate (7 April 2021), provoked by male chauvinist Islamic President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan that put the first Woman President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen in an humiliating position, as he put only one seat besides him for Charles Michel the Belgian actual President of the European Council, leaving Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the Commission to sit in a distant sofa.

Istambul, 7 April 2021

Besides this unacceptable patriarchal approach, the problem is to decide who represent the EU: the executive of integrated Europe or the executive representing the Member States. 

                                                   Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel

 On top of that 2 years later (2023) Charles Michel was tackled by the European Parliament because he had been spending too much money in his official travels. The 47 year old former Belgian prime ministers was concretely criticized for spending too much time and money traveling and too little on preparing and running the EUCO's, the core function of his job. 

May be his ego is excessive. In any case it is quite expensive. Can we afford so many presidents of the EU?

                             

H. Could the EU become a World power?

 The complexity of the functioning of the EU have developed a lot of Eurosceptics that think we should get rid of Communitarian Europe and recover the full sovereignty of its Member States. Especially after Brexit. 

But others think that  UK leave is a great oportunity as the British had never been fair players of the European Integration game. Now, they say, it is the time for moving forward a closer integration, aming  at a federal type of integration. If we look to the facts, the future of the EU might not be so dark, as the COVID-19 and the Ukranian War crisis have just proven.  

The vaccination policy of the EU was slow but now population of EU Member States is the best protected in the world. And the EU has granted important economic aids to relieve Member States Economies. 

 Things are however different concerning the Communitarian response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Intially there was certainly a strong and quick unified response of EU Member States to Russian aggression on Ukraine. EU Member States reacted sending weapons to Ukraine, and approving packages of sanctions against Russia, especially towards oligarchs that surround Putin. In some weeks European integration  advanced more than in the last 30 years. On the Brussels table is the creation of a common European Army. 

BUT as the War goes on some Member States have started to become reluctant to keep on helping Ukraine to the point that today Putin is quite close to win the war. Once again Ukranians would not be helped by Europeans but by the United States, which Congress approved in April 2024 an aid of 60.000 Millions dollars for Ukraine. So the EU is again at the mercy of Biden or Putin. Or Xi Jiping. WE ARE FAR OF BECOMING A WORLD POWER. Because our common institutions are really really weak.

And because Europeans are essentially concerned by their material well being. They are not willing, for instance, to provide the effort of creating and funding a powerful common European Army, that would  be the only way of having some real influence at the World level. 

On the other hand a deglobalization movement has started, which affects deeply China that was producing 95% of manufactured goods before the COVID-19 Crisis. European investments in China are receding and industries are coming back to Europe, in part due to the drastic rise of the cost of transportation.  The movement has increased since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Does the European Union have any possibility of becoming a World Power? Wait and see. But so far I am really pessimistic. 

CHRONOLOGY: 

a) The end of the Iron Curtain

1989, 9 November Fall of the Berlin Wall.

1990

12 September. Signing in Moscow of the Two Plus Four Agreement. England, France, the United States and the Soviet Union renounce the rights they had vis-a-vis Germany since 1945.

3 October. Reunification of Germany.

b) The Dissolution of the Soviet Union.

1991,

9 April   Georgia declares Independence. 

 24 August   Ukraine Act of Independence. Approved by referendum 1st December (92%). 

25 August Declaration of Independence of Belarus. 

1991, 

8 December: Belavezha Accords.

 Rejection of the Treaty of Creation of the USSR (signed 29 December, effective 30 December 1922). The Representatives of Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus declare that the Soviet Union had ceased to exist and decide to establish the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in its place. 

21 December. Alma-Ata Protocol.

The representatives of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan. Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan agree to join Belarus, Russia and Ukraine in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).. 

Turkmenistan and Ukraine never ratified. Ukraine ceased to participate in CIS in 2014 as a result of the Russian occupation of Crimea, and withdrew representatives from all statutory bodies of CIS in 2018 as a result of the War in Donbass. 

25 December : Retaining the Soviet Union's UN’s seat as permanent member of the Security Council

Boris Yeltsin inform the UN Secretary-General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of the dissolution of the Soviet Union and that Russia would, as its successor state, continue the Soviet Union's membership in the United Nations with the name of Russian Federation.  

1992, 

 January 31

After the UN Secretary-General circulated Yeltsin’s request, and as any UN Member State formulated any objection, the Russian Federation took the Soviet Union's UN seat as permanent member of the Security Council. On January 31, 1992, Russian Federation President Yeltsin personally took part in a Security Council meeting as representative of the Russian Federation. 

c) The Creation of the EU (1992-2002)

The diagram of the European Union Powers

1992, 7 February. Signing in Maastricht (Netherlands) of the European Union  Treaty. It   comes into force, once all ratification procedures are finalized, on 1 November 1993.

1994, 20 July Alexander Lukashenko becomes President of Belarus. Still in Office though the 2020 election is widely contested. 

1995

1 January. Austria, Finland and Sweden join the EU. The Europe of the  15 is born.

1997

2 April: Creation of the Commonwealth of Russia and Belarus. 

8-9 July. Madrid Summit. 15th NATO Summit. The Organization invites Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic to join the alliance. The Russian Federation agrees. 

2 October. The foreign ministers of the 15 sign the Amsterdam Treaty.  It enters into force on 1 May 1967.

1998, 1st June  Creation of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.

1999, 

19 June. Bologna Declaration. European education ministers approve the creation of the European Higher Education Area, to be fully implemented by December 31, 2010.

8 December: Creation of the Union State of Russia and Belarus. New Confederation. 

31st December    Putin is named head of the Russian Federation.

2000, 7 December. Ratification of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, adopted on 2 October. 

2001, 26 February. The Treaty of Nice is signed, setting the majorities necessary to make decisions after the successive expansions carried out. It comes into force on 1 February 2003 after the ratification procedures are finalized.

2002

1 January. The euro enters into force. On February 28 it becomes the sole, official currency, the day that Spain occupies the presidency of the European Council (previously: 1989, 1995) for the third time.

23 July. The ECSC is dissolved.

d) The EU’s expansion to the East

2004, 1 May. 

The disappearance of the Iron Curtain and dissolution of the USSR enables an important expansion of the EU to the East. Besides the integration of Cyprus and Malta, 9 States that were under the Soviet influence join the EU: Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia. The EU has 25 Member States.

29 October. Rome. The heads of state and government and their respective ministers of foreign affairs sign a treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. Despite its name it is not a Supranational Constitution, but only a rearrangement of former Comunitarian Treaties.

22 November: Orange Revolution in Ukraine (Until 23 January 2005). Pro EU and pro NATO leaders Victor Yushchenko and Yulia Timoshenko to power.   

2005

29 May. In a referendum the French reject the Constitution Treaty.

1 June. The people of the Netherlands also refuse to ratify the Constitutional Treaty.

2007

1 January. 

Another two former countries that were under the influence of the Soviet Union join the EU:  Bulgaria and Romania. The Europe of the 27 is born.

10 February: Munich Speech. Vladimir Putin’s Speech in Munich Security Conference in which he explains his position on the International politics of Russia. He criticizes the United States monopolistic dominance in global relations. He accepts that Ukraine can join the EU but not NATO. 

Putin speaking in Munich

3 December. 

Signing of the Treaty of Lisbon, which replaces the Constitutional Treaty from three years earlier.

A version of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union is officially promulgated on 12 December 2007 in Strasbourg. After the signing of the Lisbon Treaty the Charter becomes binding upon all states

2008

August: Russo-Georgian War. On August 26 Russia recognizes Abkhazia and South Ossetia as separate republics. Georgia Government consider both as occupied territories. And break Diplomatic relationships with the Russian Federation.  

2009

1 December. The Treaty of Lisbon enters into force after the 27 ratification processes are completed.

2013, 

1 July. The EU keeps expanding East as Croatia joins the EU as its 28th member state.

So far the EU enlargement concerned European States beyond the Iron Curtain. So the Russian Federation was not happy but accepted. The problems began when Member States of the CIS tried to get closer to Communitarian Europe. 

Ukraine crisis began. In February 2013 the Ukranian Parliament  (Verkhovna Rada) approved by an overwhelming majority a political agreement and a free trade agreement with the EU. Ukrainian President Yanukovych refused to sign the agreement and prefer to set closer ties with the Russian Federation and the Eurasian Economic Union. 

21 November: Beginning of the Maidan Revolution (Independence square) in Kyiv. “Revolution of Dignity”. Until 23 February 2014. 130 killed on both sides (including 13 police officers)

2014

20 February : Russia invades Crimea. (Annexation 18 March 2014). 

22-25 May: 8th election of the European Parliament. For the first time the European parties have named a candidate for presiding the European Commission. The European Popular Party wins the election and his candidate Jean Claude Juncker becomes President of the Commission (1st November).

5 September: First Minsk Agreement searching for ending the war in the Donbass Region between Ukraine and Russia with the mediation of France and Germany. Minsk II was signed on 12 February 2015

e) The Brexit, Covid-19 and the Russo-Ukrainian War Crisis

2016: 

June 23:  Brexit referendum. The UK votes for leaving the EU. 51.9% of UK voters (17.410,742 votes) were for leaving and 48.1 (16.141.241 votes) for remaining in the EU. By territories the result was: England 53,4% for Brexit and 46,4% for Bremain; Northern Ireland 44,2% for Brexit and 55,8% for Bremain; Scotland 38% for Brexit and 62% for Bremain; Wales 52,5% for Brexit and 47,5% for Bremain.  Gibraltar 4% for Brexit and 96% for Bremain. London: 39.1% for Brexit 59.9% for Bremain.

2017

October: Independentists fail to declare the Independence of Catalonia.  

2020: 

January 31: The UK leaves the EU. 

March: COVID Pandemic extends all over. The EU centralizes vaccination. It is slow but it is free for citizens of the EU Member States. 

July: The European Council of the EU agrees to a massive recovery fund of 750 billion called “Next Generation EU” (NGEU) to support member economies states hit by COVID-19 Pandemic. The NGEU fund goes over the years 2021-2023 and is tied to the 2021-20227 budget of the EU(MFF). The comprehensive packages of NGEU and MFF will reach the size of 1824,3 billion euros. 

Also the European Investment Bank Group decides to establish a 25 billion euros Pan-European Guarantee fund, that could grow up to 200 billion euros. 

26 November the European Parliament votes massively againts recognizing the right to self determination of Regions (487 no v. 170 yes). 

2021:

January COVID Crisis: Ursula von der Leyen is criticized for EU’s response to the Covid crisis. She says that the EU was late to authorize vaccines , but it was the wise and prudent thing to do. 

7 April: Sofa Gate Crisis. On an official visit of the EU to Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan that put the first Woman President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen in an humiliating position with Charles Michel the Belgian actual President of the European Council, as there was just one seat close to President Erdogan, and Van der Leyen had to sit in a sofa. 

June: Nearly half of the Population of the EU had received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccination. 

2022

21 February: Russia recognizes the Luhansk and Donetsk people’s republics. On the following day Vladimir Putin declare that the Minsk Agreements (of 2014) no longer existed. 

24 February: Russia invades Ukraine. Since then the EU has been adopting 5 packages of sanctions (23, 25, 28 February, 2 15 March  and 8 April) against Russia, especially against 217 individuals and 18 entities. 

27 February: German Chancellor Olaf Scholz sharply increases Germany spending on defense to more than 2% of its economic output. Russia’s Gross National Product in December 2020 was 4.036 USD billion (146 million people) and Germany’s 4.597. (3 million people).

June Ukraine is granted “candidate statute” for integrating the EU. 

26 September Giorgia Meloni wins the general elections in Italy. She is the first woman head of Government in country’s history. Despite its hard right wing program, she is surprisingly no longer against European Integration, and certainly not in the line of Hungary and Poland. 

2023

April  Former Belgian Prime Minister and current President of the European Council Charles Michel faces growing backlash over his "excessive" travel expenses, after EU budgetary officials asked for a 27.5% budget increase for his office from 2023 to 2024.

INSTRUCTIONS: First read the text included in your Materials (pages 292-310) before proceeding to answer the Concrete Questions, the Concepts and the General Questions. 

Concerning the Basic Chronology (pages 314-316) you should get familiar with the dates from November 1989 to Russian invasion of Ukraine (24 February 2022). 

TOPIC FOR DISCUSSION IN CLASS: Would European States be better off without the European Union in a multipolar World?

Please consider the following aspects: 

1. Consider what were the historical circumstances that led to the creation of the European Union in 1992. 

2. Take into consideration why were signed the Treaties of Amsterdam (1997), the Treaty of Nice (2001) and the Lisbon Treaty (2007-2009). 

3. Why the Treaty A Constitution for Europe failed in 2005? Was it really a “Constitution”?

4. Is the European Union a Legal Person distinct from the 27 Member States? 

5. Is there such a thing as a European Citizenship? 

6. In what measure the creation of the Creation of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt in 1998, and .of the Euro in 2002 has created some strong financial difficulties for some Member States?

7. Is the UK going to be better off out of the EU? And the EU without the UK?

8. Could European countries individually would be able to face a Russian invasion?

9. Is it possible that the EU reach the Federal Stage? Which are the main obstacles on your opinion?

THE ORIGINS OF COMMUNITARIAN EUROPE

 

1. The beginning of the Cold War (1948)

The failure of the Congress of The Hague (7-11 May 1948) seemed to end any hope about creating an integrated Europe. But the situation was unsustainable for European States because Stalin, as a reaction against the Marshall Plan broke with the Western allies of the USSR and rose the “Iron Curtain”, an expression of Churchill meaning that all Eastern Europe was under the occupation of the Red Army. The only exception was West Berlin occupied by American, British and French troops, though it was surrounded by territory under Soviet control. No wonder then that the Cold War started when Stalin ordered its troops to isolate West Berlin (Berlin Blockade) West Berliners did no surrender because from June 1948 to May 1949 the Western Allies supplied the besieged city by air (Berlin Airlift). American and British pilots conducted during this period more than 250.000 flights dropping food, medicines, fuel and anything West Berlin population needed. They started delivering 3,475 tons of supplies daily, but by the end of the blockade, the spring of 1949,the figure had risen to 12,941 tons. 

 

A plane of the Berlin Airlift landing at Berlin Templehof

 As you can imagine, after breaking with Stalin, the Governments of the European Western States were afraid that the powerful Red Army that already occupied Eastern Europe could move further West. So they needed to do something to prevent a Russian invasion. In fact they did two things. At the continental level they created a Western German State to ensure a defensive frontier against the Red wave. At the World level they requested the aid of the US through a defensive alliance. 

2. The creation of two brand new German States (May and October 1949)

 The first defensive measure against Soviet imperialism was the creation of a new German State in occupied Germany. Just after the War, in the Spring of 1945, the intention of the Alies was to occupy with troops Germany permanently. Nevertheless after breaking with Stalin they considered that the best defense was to create a brand new German State: the German Federal Republic created the 23 May 1949, just at the end of the Berlin Blockade. Stalin decided to retaliate and responded 5 months later imposing the creation of the German Democratic Republic (7 October 1949). 

            

As a result of this Germany became the symbol of the Cold War, especially after the East German authorities started building the Berlin Wall (Berliner Mauer) on the 13 of August 1961. The Iron Curtain ceased to be only a metaphor. The Berlin Wall  would not be torn down until 9 November 1989. Almost three decades of isolation for the West Berliners. 

 The Germans had nothing to say as they had lost their sovereignty as a consequence of their defeat. They will only retrieve it thanks to the "Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany   (Vertrag über die abschließende Regelung in Bezug auf Deutschland) also known as the Two Plus Four Agreement  (Zwei-plus-Vier-Vertrag) because it dealt with the reunification of the TWO Germanies, and was accepted by the FOUR powers that had occupied German territory in May 1945. Signed on 12 September 1990, it was effective since the 15 March 1991. Germany had lacked of sovereignty for 46 years. 

The Two Plus Four Agreement

3. The appearance of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization

The other step required by Western Europeans for protecting themselves from Stalin was the creation of military Alliance  of Western European States and Canada and The US.  At the demand of Europeans Governments who considered they could not defend themselves alone in case of an attack from the Red Army, US and Canada agreed to constitute NATO in 4 April 1949;, a month before the creation of the West German State. In fact the creation of this Alliance had also further purposes: to prevent war among the European States favoring European integration. Fortunately, by then the United States had turned its back on its traditional policy of diplomatic isolationism.

It is often said that the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was founded in response to the threat posed by the Soviet Union. This is only partially true. In fact, the Alliance’s creation was part of a broader effort to serve three purposes: 1) deterring Soviet expansionism, 2) forbidding the revival of nationalist militarism in Europe through a strong North American presence on the continent, and 3) encouraging European political integration.

The aftermath of World War II saw much of Europe devastated in a way that is now difficult to envision. Approximately 36.5 million Europeans had died in the conflict, 19 million of them civilians. Refugee camps and rationing dominated daily life. In some areas, infant mortality rates were one in four. Millions of orphans wandered the burnt-out shells of former metropolises. In the German city of Hamburg alone, half a million people were homeless.

In addition, Communists aided by the Soviet Union were threatening elected governments across Europe. In February 1948, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia, with covert backing from the Soviet Union, overthrew the democratically elected government in that country. Then, in reaction to the democratic consolidation of West Germany, the Soviets blockaded Allied-controlled West Berlin in a bid to consolidate their hold on the German capital. The heroism of the Berlin Airlift provided future Allies with some solace, but privation remained a grave threat to freedom and stability.

Creation of NATO, April 4, 1949

... after much discussion and debate, the North Atlantic Treaty was signed on 4 April, 1949. In the Treaty’s renowned Article 5, the new Allies agreed “an armed attack against one or more of them… shall be considered an attack against them all” and that following such an attack, each Ally would take “such action as it deems necessary, including the use of armed force” in response.

President Truman signing the NATO Agreement

While the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty had created Allies, it had not created a military structure that could effectively coordinate their actions. This changed when growing worries about Soviet intentions culminated in the Soviet detonation of an atomic bomb in 1949 and in the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. The effect upon the Alliance was dramatic. NATO soon gained a consolidated command structure with a military Headquarters … (Text extracted from the NATO web page) Reference: https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/declassified_139339.htm [Last retrieved April 2022]

A World divided between the NATO (1949) and the Warsaw Pact (1955-1991)

4. European integration as a priority

But the founding of NATO and the creation of West Germany were short-term measures, and there was a growing feeling in European Western States that they should join their efforts to survive at the World Level between the two super powers: the US and the USSR. The problem was how to do it as European governments were not willing to give up the smallest bit of sovereignty of their respective countries, as demonstrated the failure of the Hague Congress. 

Fortunately European politicians did not pay any attention to a singular personality: Jean Monnet (1888-1979) who was essentially a pragmatic business man that had an essential role in World politics since World War 1, not only in Europe but the US, as part of the Think Tank of President F. D. Roosevelt. He was, for instance, determinant for the launching of the Marshall Plan under the Truman Administration.  

Jean Monnet (1888-1979)

Monnet was fully aware that nationalism of the European States made impossible to consider a united supranational Europe. But protected by NATO alliance and considering the success of the Marshall Plan, that for economic reasons worked at the supranational level, as it was a collective deal were European States accepted to submit for the purposes or reconstruction to a joint action, he thought that if remaining in the economic field an integration could be tried.

Robert Schuman (1866-1963)

He was lucky to be a good friend of an important French politician, Robert Schuman, and that West Germany had as head of Government a lucid politician, Konrad Adenauer, that was more than willing to have Germany accepted as an equal by the other European Western States, in order to avoid the disaster of the 1919 "Versailles Diktat".

5. The Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950. 

 Monnet and Schuman agreed to launch a very modest first step towards European integration, as it was apparently limited to the joint production of Coal and Steel. But if you read carefully the brief Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950, you will easily discover that the initiative had far more reaching consequences for the six initial member states.

The Schuman Declaration

6. The first European Community: the E.C.S.C. 

The Treaty of Paris (18 April 1951) founding the European Coal and Steel Community (1952-2002) was not a constitution. It was a contract, an agreement creating a six member States European Community. Each of the signing states had their own constitution, legal system and full independence and sovereignty, with a tiny exception: they gave up control over the production of coal, iron and steel that depended on a High Authority that imposed its decisions over the member states. 

The European Coal and Steel Community

7. The failure of the European Defense Community

As the Communitarian method had worked, the founding members of the ECSC decided to go for another try. But what was the most urgent question that ECSC member States faced? In the beginning of the cold war, with the mighty Stalin Army on its borders, and despite of the creation of NATO it made a lot of sense to create a European Defense Community (EDC). Proposed by the then French Prime Minister René Pleven the Treaty establishing the new community was signed on the 27 May 1952. However the Treaty was never effective as the French National Assembly refused to ratify it on 30 August 1954 by a vote of 319 against 264. 

The European Defence Community

 Military integration was by far a too sensitive matter, especially for the French in 1954, as France had suffered a severe defeat in the Dien Bien Phu battle (13 March to 7 May 1954) that ended the Indochina War and the French presence in this territory, actually Vietnam. 

Scene of the Dien Bien Phu Battle

 Even today, in a world of a growing tendency to a full scale war, with the Ukraine War started in February 2022, or the War in Gaza started in October 2024, with China menace of invasion of Taiwan, Europeans cannot agree in creating a Common Army.  The 27 Member States of the EU are most unwilling to renounce to this essential part of their sovereignty: their national armies. So NATO and the US Army are the only way that Europe could prevent an open war with Russia or China. 

8. Staying away from politics: getting back to the old idea of a European Customs Union. 

Jean Monet understood that the only possible way of getting together was through economy, and this why at the Messina Conference (June 1955) he came along with the old idea of a Customs Union. Something that, as we already know had a precedent in the Prussian Zollverein (1834). 

The negotiations result was the signature of the Treaty of Rome in March 1957, that enabled to create two new European Communities, besides the ESCC: the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC). T

The Treaties of Rome (25 March 1957)

 The EEC was going to be the decisive step for initiating an effective integration. It was such a success that only 3 years later of its creation, the UK, that had refused initially to join the new European Customs Union, decided to retaliate with the creation of their own Customs Union. The European Free Trade Agreement (EFTA) including besides the United Kingdom: Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Austria, Portugal and Switzerland. 

9. European integration slows down because of De Gaulle (1958-1969). 

 EFTA however did not go as well as expected as proven by the fact that one year later (July 1961) the British Government asked to join the EEC. They would have to wait however 13 years because they had the fierce opposition of the French President Charles De Gaulle (1958-1969) who felt France had been humiliated by Churchill in 1945. 

Charles de Gaulle (1890-1970) in one of his famous television speeches

 The paradox is that De Gaulle did not like very much the idea of European integration, as he was a big supporter of the French "Grandeur" and he was not willing to give up any substantial parcel of French sovereignty. European integration was on its way but it had to slow down because De Gaulle French nationalism. During the 10 years he was in power he permanently vetoed the entry of the UK in the EEC. Let's say that after Brexit we have to conclude that De Gaulle was absolutely right about the fact that the British had nothing to do in an integrated Europe. 

 As De Gaulle did no accept that France would be obliged by a Majority Vote he started what was called the Empty Chair policy, meaning simply that France did not attend the European Summits, in a way to block any possibility of reaching agreements to take common decisions. The crisis was resolved through the Luxembourg Compromise that established the principle of unanimity vote of the Member States as the usual way of adopting decisions.

 The other important point that De Gaulle imposed in Communitarian Europe was that the main decisions were personally adopted by the heads of State or Government. This is the origin of the actual European Council, that directly represent the member states in front of the Communitarian Executive (the Commission).  

The Empty Chair Crisis

10. An enlarged Communitarian Europe 

De Gaulle’s gone finally the European integration had a restart and new Member States were admitted in successive enlargements. The UK, with Ireland and Danemark joined Communitarian Europe in 1973. Since then many members state have joined the EEC including Greece (1981), Spain and Portugal (1986). After the creation in 1992 of the European Union, as a result of the fall of the Berlin Walll and the disappearance of the USSR, many more countries would integrate until reaching the actual number of 27. At one point there were 28 Member States, but the UK left on the 31 January 2020, implementing the vote at the Brexit Referendum in 2016.  

11. Towards the European Union. 

 Before the decisive decade of the 1990's that saw the creation of the European Union there were substantial advances in the European integration as was the democratic election of a European Parliament  since 1979. In 1985 the Schengen Treaty opened the way to the suppression of common frontiers and in 1986 the Common Market was relaunched through another Treaty: the Single European Act. Three Years later, the Fall of the Berlin Wall opened wide perspectives for a stronger integration. We will see its consequences in Teaching Guide number 12.     

  

INSTRUCTIONS: First read the text included in your Materials (pages 260 to 267 FOR Teaching Guide 10 and 273 to 285 for Teaching Guide 11), before proceeding to answer the Concrete Questions, the Concepts and the General Questions.

Concerning the Basic Chronology (pages 268-269 for TG 10 and 286-288 for TG 11) you should get familiar with the following dates:

1949,

 23 May: Creation of the German Federal Republic.

 7 October: Creation of the German Democratic Republic. 

1950, 9 May: Schuman Declaration

1951: ECSC (Treaty of Paris). Europe of 6.

1952-1954: Failure of the EDC

1955, June: Messina Conference.

1957, 25 March : Treaties of Rome (EEC and EAEC)

1960 : EFTA

1965: Executive Merger Treaty.

1966: Luxembourg Compromise

1973, January 1st: First Enlargement of Communitarian Europe (UK, Ireland and Denmark). Europe of 9.

1975: Creation of the ERDF (Europe of Regions)

1979: First elections to the European Parliament.

1981. Second Enlargement: Greece joins Communitarian Europe. Europe of 10.

1985: Schengen Agreement

1986, January 1st: Third Enlargement: Spain and Portugal join an Europe of 12.

1987, 1st July : Single European Act enters into force amending the EEC.  

 

 TOPIC FOR DISCUSSION IN CLASS: Should Communitarian Europe remain essentially economic?

Please consider the following aspects:

1. Review what was the Monnet and Schuman approach in the Schuman Declaration. What was the spirit of it?

2. Take into consideration the failure of the European Defense Community, proposed initially by France and rejected by the same country.

3. Consider the De Gaulle’s reaction that led to the Luxembourg Compromise

4. Which was the political aim of the European Regional Development Fund?

5. Why was necessary the Single European Act?   

Spain signs the treaties for joining Communitarian Europe  (12 June 1985)