"Linking political and monetary union: the Maastricht Agenda and domestic politics"

Woolley, John T. (1993) "Linking political and monetary union: the Maastricht Agenda and domestic politics". In: UNSPECIFIED, Washington, DC. (Unpublished)

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Abstract

[From the Introduction]. A most important, indeed fateful, development early in the Maastricht process was a decision to broaden the agenda of reform by launching two parallel intergovernmental conferences, one on economic and monetary union, the other on political union. Typical of so much of the history of the development of European institutions, the joining of these two sets of issues seems to have occurred In a decisive initiating act by the leaders of Germany and France. Many accounts identify as critical a joint Franco-German declaration of April 19, 1990 favoring the launching of a second intergovernmental conference to deal with political union. This intent was echoed immediately thereafter in a decision of a special European Council meeting in Dublin. In that decision, the Council instructed foreign ministers to develop proposals for a second intergovernmental conference for consideration at the upcoming June summit. (2) It is important to examine the conditions for creating this parallel linkage because with hindsight it is clear that most of the misgivings expressed in the course of the ratification process--not least in Denmark--have had to do with the political union elements in the treaty. (3) It is also important to examine because for many observers, the linkage appears to have been unnecessary and therefore problematical. (4) I shall argue that the historical evidence shows that the support of German Chancellor Helmut Kohl was especially critical in making the link of political and economic and monetary union. While many others, especially Jacques Delors, President of the European Commission, promoted the issue and gave it visibility and specificity, it was Kohl, more than any other participant, who assured that the whole array of issues appeared on the formal agenda for negotiations.

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