1st Edition
The European Community and the Crises of the 1960s Negotiating the Gaullist Challenge
A new and detailed study of the European Community's development between 1963 and 1969, with a special focus on the struggle between France and its EC partners over the purpose, structure and membership of the emerging European Community.
On all three, French President Charles de Gaulle held divergent views from those of his fellow leaders. The six years in question were hence marked by a succession of confrontations over what the Community did, the way in which it functioned, and the question of whether new members (notably Britain) should be allowed to enter. Despite these multiple crises, however, the six founding members continued to press on with their joint experiment, demonstrating a surprisingly firm commitment to cooperation with each other. The period thus highlights both the strengths and the weaknesses of the early Community and highlights the origins of many of the structures and procedures that have survived until the current day.
Contents
Introduction: Writing a Supranational History of the EEC
Chapter One Back From the Brink (January-December 1963)
Chapter Two From Cereals Agreement to Council Breakdown (January 1964 – June 1965)
Chapter Three A Careful Confrontation (July-December 1965)
Chapter Four National Interest and the Rescue of the EEC (January – July 1966)
Chapter Five The Return of the English Question (September 1966 – December 1967)
Chapter Six The Impossibility of Progress à Six (January 1968 – April 1969)
Chapter Seven The Road to The Hague (June – December 1969)
Conclusions The Gaullist Challenge and its Effects
Bibliography
Index
Biography
Piers Ludlow is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of International History at the London School of Economics. He is an expert on the history of the European integration process and is the author of Dealing With Britain: the Six and the First UK Application to the EEC (1997).
'This study on the development of the European Economic Community from Charles de Gaulle's brusque veto of Great Britain's first application for admission in January 1963 to the Hague Summit in December 1969, which opened the way for the entry of Britain, Ireland, and Denmark, is excellently documented, closely written, and gripping in its analysis.' - The American Historical Review
