Information about History Of The European Communities (1945 1957)

This article is part of the series:    History of the European Union
History of Europe
Pre-1945 thought
1945–1957
1958–1972
1973–1993
Timeline Topics
See also:	Enlargement & Treaties

The first moves towards the establishment of the Union came following the end of the Second World War. In 1951 the first community was established and led to two others being founded by the end of the 50s.

Beginnings of cooperation

The Second World War from 1939 to 1945 saw an unprecedented human and economic cost which hit Europe hardest. It demonstrated the horrors of war and also of extremism, through the holocaust for example. Once again, there was a desire to ensure it could never happen again, particularly with the war giving the world nuclear weapons and two ideologically opposed superpowers.^[1] (See: Cold War)

In 1946, war-time British Prime Minister Winston Churchill spoke at the University of Zurich on "The tragedy of Europe"; in which he called for a United States of Europe (a term used by Victor Hugo), to be created on a regional level while strengthening the United Nations. He did however include the United Kingdom with its Commonwealth of Nations along side the United States of America and the Soviet Union in supporting this US-style federation, not inside it. He described the first step to a "USE" as a "Council of Europe".^[2] In 1949 the Council of Europe was established in Strasbourg, it is primarily a UN-like body dealing with human rights issues and expanded over the years to include every European country except Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican city.^[3]

With the start of the Cold War, the Treaty of Brussels was signed in 1948. It expanded upon the Dunkirk treaty which was a military pact between France and the United Kingdom who were concerned about the threat from the USSR following the communist take over in Czechoslovakia. The new treaty included the Benelux countries and was to promote cooperation not only in the military matters but in economic, social and cultural spheres. These roles however were rapidly taken over by other organisations.^[4] In 1954 it would be amended by the Paris accords which created the Western European Union which would take on European defence and be merged into the EU in later decades.^[5] However the signatories of the Brussels treaty quickly realised their common defence was not enough against the USSR. However wider solitary, such as that seen over the Berlin Blockade in 1949, was seen to provide sufficient deterrent. Hence in 1949 the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation was created. It expanded the Brussels treaty members to include Denmark, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Portugal as well as Canada and most notably the United States. Military integration in NATO sped up following the first Soviet atomic bomb test and the start of the Korean War which prompted a desire for the inclusion of West Germany.^[6]

In the same year as the Brussels treaty, Sweden presented plans for a Scandinavian defence union (of Sweden, Denmark and Norway) which neutral of the proposed NATO. However due to pressure from the United States, Norway and Denmark joined NATO and the plans collapsed. Although a "‘Scandinavian joint committee for economic cooperation" was established which led to a customs union under the Nordic Council which held its first meeting in 1953.^[7] Similar economic activity was taking place between the Benelux countries. The Benelux Customs Union became operative between Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. During the war, the three governments in exile signed a customs convention between their countries. This followed a monetary agreement which fixed their currencies against each other. This integration would lead to an economic union and the countries cooperating in foreign affairs as the union was out of a desire to strengthen their position as small states. However the Benelux became a precursor and proving ground for later European integration.^[8]

Coal and Steel Community

On 9 May 1950, the French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman (on the basis of proposals from Jean Monnet, both Founding fathers of the European Union) proposed the combining Europe's coal and steel resources, being the resources needed for war (Schuman declaration).^[9] It led to the Treaty of Paris (1951) forming the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), it was formed by "the six": France, Italy, the Benelux countries (Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg) together with West Germany. The United Kingdom refused to participate due to a rejection of supranational authority.^[10][11] During the existence of the ECSC, steel production would improve and increase fourfold. Coal production however would decline but its technology, safety and environmental quality would improve. ECSC helped deal with crises in the industry and ensured balanced development and distribution of resources. However the treaty, unlike its successors, was designed to expire after 50 years. Therefore, the Community ceased to exist on 2002-07-23 with all its activities and finances being transferred to the European Community.^[12]

With the treaty of Paris, the first institutions were created. At its centre was the High Authority, a supranational executive body, the first president of which was Jean Monnet. The Council of Ministers represented governments in order to balance the supranationalism of the Authority with national representation. The Common Assembly was also created. It was composed of 78 members who were drawn from their national parliaments (of the six founding members at the time). It was not originally part of the Schuman Plan but put forward by Jean Monnet on the second day of treaty negotiations. The assembly was intended as a counter-weight and check to the High Authority but had no formal powers. The first President was Paul-Henri Spaak.^[10] Despite this lack of formal power, on 16 May 1952 Foreign Ministers of the six founders asked the Assembly to draft a treaty for a European Political Community, indicating its importance at such an early stage.

The treaty however made no decision on where to base the institutions of the new community. The treaties allowed for the seat(s) to be decided by common accord of governments and at a conference of the ECSC members on 23 July 1952 no permanent seat was decided. Instead Luxembourg was chosen as a provisional seat of the new institutions, except the Common Assembly (Parliament), which would be based in Strasbourg^[13] — the Council of Europe (CoE) was already based there, in the Palace of Europe. The chamber of the CoE's Parliamentary Assembly could serve the Common Assembly also, and they did so until 1999 when a new complex of buildings were built across the river from the Palace.^[14]

Germany

The early French plans were concerned with keeping Germany weak and strengthening the French economy at the expense of that of Germany. (see the Monnet plan) French foreign policy aimed at dismantling German heavy industry, place the coal rich Ruhr area and Rhineland under French control or at a minimum internationalise them, and also to join the coal rich Saarland with the iron rich province of Lorraine (which had been handed over from Germany to France again in 1944).^[15] When American diplomats reminded the French of what a devastating effect this would have on the German economy, France's response was to suggest the Germans would just have to "make [the] necessary adjustments" to deal with the inevitable foreign exchange deficit"."^[16]

The dismantling of the German heavy industry was in its later stages supported mainly by France, the Petersberg Agreement of November 1949 reduced the levels vastly, though dismantling of minor German factories continued until 1951.^[17] The final limitations on German industrial levels were lifted after the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, though arms manufacture remained prohibited.^[18] (see also The industrial plans for Germany) With U.S. support, (as given in the September 1946 Stuttgart Speech), France in 1947 turned the coal rich Saarland into the Saar protectorate and integrated it into the French economy. The Franco-German conflict over the Saarland was later to prove one of the major hurdles to the integration of the European communities.

The Ruhr Agreement was imposed on the Germans as a condition for permitting them to establish the Federal Republic of Germany.^[19] By controlling the production and distribution of coal and steel (i.e. how much coal and steel the Germans themselves would get), the International Authority for the Ruhr in effect controlled the entire West German economy, much to the dismay of the Germans. They were however permitted to send their delegations to the authority after the Petersberg agreement. With the West German agreement to join the European Coal and Steel Community in order to lift the restrictions imposed by the IAR,^[20] thus also ensuring French security by perpetuating French access to Ruhr coal,^[21] the role of the IAR was taken over by the ECSC.^[22]

The Europeanisation of the Saarland

France had broken off the coal rich Saar from Germany and made it into a protectorate, economically integrated with France and nominally politically independent although security and foreign policy was dictated from France. In addition, France maintained a High Commissioner in the Saar with wide ranging powers. Parties advocating a return of the Saar to Germany were banned, with the consequence that West Germany did not recognise the democratic legality of the Saar government. In view of continued conflict between Germany and France over the future of the Saarland efforts were made by the other Western European nations to find a solution to the potentially dangerous problem. Placed under increasing international pressure France finally agreed to a compromise. The Saar territory was to be Europeanised under the context of the Western European Union. France and Germany agreed in the Paris Agreements that until a peace treaty was signed with Germany, the Saar area would be governed under a "statute" that was to be supervised by a European Commissioner who in turn would be responsible to the Council of Ministers of the Western European Union. The Saarland would however have to remain in economic union with France.^[23][24]

Despite the endorsement of the statute by West Germany, in the 1955 referendum amongst the Saarlanders that was needed for it to come into effect the statute was rejected by 67.7% of the population. Despite French pre-referendum assertions that a no to the statute would simple result in the Saarland remaining in its previous status as a French controlled territory, the claim of the campaign group for a "no" to the statute that it would lead to unification with West Germany turned out to be correct. The Saarland was politically reintegrated with West Germany in 1 January 1957, but economic reintegration took many additional years. In return for agreeing to return the Saar France demanded and gained the following concessions: France was permitted to extract coal from the Warndt coal deposit until 1981. Germany had to agree to the channelisation of the Moselle. This reduced French freight costs in the Lorraine steel industry. Germany had to agree to the teaching of French as the first foreign language in schools in the Saarland. Although no longer binding, the agreement is still in the main followed.^[25][24]

Development of new Communities

Following on from the creation of the ECSC, the European Defence Community (EDC) was drawn up and signed on 27 May 1952. It would combine national armies and allow West Germany to rearm under the control of the new Community. However in 1954]], the treaty is rejected by the French National Assembly.^[26] The rejection also derails further plans for a European Political Community, being drawn up by members of the Common Assembly which would have created a federation to ensure democratic control over the future European army.^[27] In response to the rejection of the EDC, Jean Monnet resigned as President of the High Authority and began work on new integration efforts in the field of the economy. In 1955, the Council of Europe adopted an emblem for all Europe, twelve golden starts in a circle upon a blue field. It would later be adopted by the European Communities^[28]

In 1956, the Egyption government under Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalised the Suez canal and closing it to Israeli traffic, sparking the Suez Crisis. This was in response to the withdrawal of funding for the Aswan Dam by the UK and United States due to Egypt's ties to the Soviet Union. The canal was owned by the UK and French investors and had been a neutral zone under British control. The nationalisation and closure to Israeli traffic prompted a military response by the UK, France and Israel, a move opposed by the United States. It was a military successes but a political disaster for the UK and France. The UK in particular saw it could not operate alone, instead turning to the US and it also prompted the next British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, to look towards joining the European Community. Equally France saw its future with the Community but opposed British entry, with then French President Charles de Gaulle stating he would veto British entry out of a fear it would lead to US domination.^[29]

During the war, Israel gained the Sinai Peninsula and an UN force guarded the border. However shortly after the UN force was expelled and a Six-Day War broke out between Israeli and its Arab neighbours. This in turn sparked the 1967 Oil Embargo which cut off or limited oils supplies to various Israel and the west. Europe was hit especially bad due mainly to a lack of solidarity and uniformity in embargoing specific countries. As a result of the crisis, the Common Assembly proposed extending the powers of the ECSC to cover other sources of energy. However Jean Monnet desired a separate community to cover atomic energy and Louis Armand was put in charge of a study into the prospects of nuclear energy use in Europe. The report concluded further nuclear development was needed to fill the deficit left by the exhaustion of coal deposits and to reduce dependence on oil producers. However the the Benelux states and Germany were also keen on creating a general common market, although it was opposed by France due to its protectionism and Jean Monnet thought it too large and difficult a task. In the end, both Monnet proposed the creating of both, as separate communities, to reconcile both groups.^[30]

Based on a report drawn up by Paul-Henri Spaak, foreign ministers drew up the new treaties. The new communities would share the Common Assembly (now Parliamentary Assembly) with the ECSC, as it would with the Court of Justice. However they would not share the ECSC's Council of High Authority. The two new High Authorities would be called Commissions, this was due to a reduction in their powers. France was reluctant to agree to more supranational powers and hence the new Commissions would only have basic powers and important decisions would have to be approved by the Council, which now adopted majority voting. Thus, on 25 March 1957, the Treaties of Rome were signed. They came into force on 1958-01-01 establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). The latter body fostered co-operation in the nuclear field, at the time a very popular area, and the EEC was to create a full customs union between members. Louis Armand became the first President of Euratom Commission and Walter Hallstein became the first President of the EEC Commission.^{[31][32][33][34][35]}

See also

• Organisation for European Economic Cooperation
• Hungarian Revolution of 1956

References

Source of majority of the dates: A peaceful Europe - the beginnings of cooperation

•  • [ e] Topics on the European Union
History	History of Europe Timeline (Pre-1945 1945–1957 1958–1972 1973–1993 1999–2004 2004–Present) ECSC EEC Euratom
Politics	Enlargement Eurojust Europol Three pillars (Community Common Foreign and Security Policy Police and Judicial Cooperation) Integration Military
Government	Agencies Commission Council Courts Elections Enlargement European Council Foreign relations Parliament Political parties
Law	Acquis Competition law Copyright law Journal Procedure Regulation Treaties (Rome • Maastricht • Amsterdam • Nice • Reform)
Geography	Borders Extreme points Largest cities Largest urban areas Member states Special member-state territories Regions
Economy	Agriculture Euro (€) Central Bank Investment Bank Investment Fund Eurozone Energy Regional development Transport (Galileo)
Society	Citizenship Demographics Education EIIT Languages News media Religion Sport Symbols (Flag Anthem) Statistics
	Agencies Directives Largest cities Member states Political parties Presidency Tallest buildings
WikiProject