The European Ideal
From war's s wreckage came the visions of a unified Europe
Ironically, it was repeated disappointments on those other fronts that spurred movement toward the EEC. Foremost was the failure of the European Defense Community, a proposed supranational force that would absorb small-size German units into its ranks. But France balked, unwilling to go along with any kind of German rearmament. That opened the way to a U.S.-led North Atlantic Treaty Organization, which brought West German forces into a larger alliance resisting the Soviet threat.
Even the ECSC proved disappointing. High Authority technocrats imposed inefficiencies on industries that were being buffeted by international developments, including the Korean War. And the increasing availability of oil made coal a less crucial source of energy.
Single market. But if the disappointments were great, the ECSC was a crucial first step toward bringing part of Germany into a community of democratic European nations. "After the failure of the European Defense Community," says Charles Kupchan, a professor of international relations at Georgetown University, "European elites felt they should focus on where they could advance—on a single market."
And then, as Schuker points out, there were those happy accidents: a Socialist coalition government briefly in power in Paris and eager for some good news after France's Suez Crisis debacle; a German chancellor yearning for stronger ties with the West; an unusual willingness on the part of the other ECSC nations to grant France its special demands, including extensive subsidies for its agricultural products; an equal willingness on the part of France and Germany to include inducements to the smaller nations.
No wonder, then, that supporters of the treaty felt such urgency to close a deal that could so easily have gone up in smoke. And, indeed, when de Gaulle returned to power in 1958, he initially stood in the way of EEC progress, vetoing England's first bid to join the market. But even de Gaulle would come around and push to dismantle all internal tariffs ahead of the scheduled date.
As it evolved, expanded, and changed names (eventually to European Union), this unique institution showed its power as an economic engine. Trade within the community grew more than sixfold even before Britain entered the club in 1973. While the original institutions underwent transformations, the Commission (established as the executive body in the original 1957 treaty) would consistently be the generator of ideas and efforts to advance integration, most dramatically through the creation of a single currency and a European passport.
But in one important sense, the EU has fallen short. "Were they alive today," says Kupchan, "the original designers of the EU would probably have been disappointed. They had federalist expectations and would have expected, by 2007, something closer to a United States of Europe."
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