"The Europeans, the EC and the Gulf: The Nature of the Response"

Salmon, Trevor C. (1991) "The Europeans, the EC and the Gulf: The Nature of the Response". In European Union Studies Association (EUSA) > Biennial Conference > 1991 (2nd), May 22-24, 1991, pages 31.

Abstract

[From the introduction]. The Treaty of Rome laid as an objective the laying of "the foundations of an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe." Whilst the treaty identified certain policies, mechanisms, and principles for achieving that union, it did not encompass defence, security, or foreign policy. Nonetheless, the Community cannot be understood by a formal, legalistic study of the treaties. It must be located within a wider political environment, especially the aspiration to achieve political integration, integration in fact, with the creation of a West European political federation with common foreign and defence policies. Inherent in the original ideal was the notion that Europe would act as a single unit in world affairs, would be an actor in its own right. That aspiration surfaced on several subsequent occasions, for example, in the ill-fated attempt in 1972-3 to define 'the European identity' and prior to that in the proposals emanating from The Hague summit in 1969 and the subsequent creation of the Davignon system. Initialy, of course, this new system was separate from the EC system per se, a problem brought home in November 1973 when Foreign Ministers met in Copenhagen as the 'Conference of Foreign Ministers' only to have to travel to Brussels in the afternoon for an EC Council meeting. Thereafter the Ministers were somewhat more flexible in their approach.