On the 28th of March 2001, Lionel Jospin, the French Prime Minister made an interesting declaration: 'Europe is more than a market. It stands for a model of society that has grown historically.' . This statement refers to the development of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951 into the European Union (EU) that we know today. This development has been far from easy and steady and has depended on various factors such as international relations and international issues, the performances of the European Community, the member states and the
leaders of the member states and the Community. Those factors have whether accelerated and facilitated the development of the EU or hindered it.
First of all, one of the most important factors in shaping the EU and imposing its growth pace is
international relations. International events often have positive as well as negative consequences on
the EU's development. Firstly, the major international issue one has to consider is the role of the
USA in the development of the EU. It is widely assumed that Europe was shaped by the geopolitical
context after WWII . At the end of WWII, the USA gave money to Western Europe withinthe framework of the Marshall Plan in exchange of the creation of a Western European Community.
[...] 383-396. McCormick, J Understanding the European Union. Basingstoke: Palgrave. pp.56-83 Thody, P An Historical Introduction to the European Union. London : Routledge Smith, K. 'EU Externa relations' in Cini, M European Union Politics. Oxford : Oxford University Press, pp. 229-245. Stirk, P A History of European Integration since 1914. [...]
[...] What has been going on inside the EU has been of paramount importance in shaping the Community. Firstly, the performance of the EU, especially its economic performance has often decided the pace of development. The ECSC was successful in its immediate economic objectives. It succeeded in removing all customs barriers to the sale of coal and steel among the six member states and their economic growth rate was high . Being so successful, the six member states pursued economic integration with the creation of the EEC in 1957 ( the Treaty of Rome) when they decided to hand over the management of some sectors of their national economies to a High Authority . [...]
[...] When the Berlin Wall fell on the 9th of November 1989, the EC was expected to take on international responsibilities. Those responsibilities were made even clearer by the withdrawal of US troops from Western Europe . From then on, the Common Foreign and Security Policy was created (second pillar of the Community), its role extended. Peacekeeping missions were launched such as the operation Artemis (in the Democratic Republic of Congo) or the operation Althea (which aims at ensuring a seamless transition from NATO- led forces to EU forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina Linked to the end of the Cold War is the issue of enlargement. [...]
[...] There are other factors which seek to explain the unevenness of the development of the EU such as the empowerment of the EU institutions, which then led to integration. One of them has emerged quite recently. It is still a hypothesis and its effects are hardly 3 quantifiable. It suggests one reason for which the development of the EU has been so uneven. Since the beginning, the member states and the EU institutions do not have a clear idea of the direction of the development of the EU (in a federalist direction? [...]
[...] During the so-called 'Dark Ages' of the Community, the slow development of the EC led some scholars to argue that the 'EPC [which was only an intergovernmental agreement] was one of the few bright spots of the 1970s' . Nevertheless, as mentioned above, the severe economic recession led to social developments in the EC. Secondly, there are other internal aspects to consider. For example, the failure in 1954 of the European Defense Community (EDC) reminded the member states that political union would be achieved through economic union. [...]
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