The process continues” “

Even Mark Twain can be cited to explain the new impasse into which the European Union has fallen, after the failed referenda in France and Holland and the stalemate of the European Council of Ministers of mid-June. Culture and history, by helping to clarify the origins and objectives of integration, are able to indicate viable ways out of the impasse to overcome the obstacles of the present time. TURNING OUR GAZE TO THE PAST… The President of the European Commission, JOSÉ MANUEL DURAO BARROSO, recalling, on 4 June, the 50th anniversary of the Messina Conference (1-2 June 1955) that revived the process of European “construction” after the failure of the EDC (European Defence Community), sought words of comfort in the “father” of Tom Sawyer to explain the recurrent crises in European integration: “History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes”, observed the writer. We need to understand – this is the lesson – the errors of the past, without being discouraged by the recurrent difficulties. Barroso emphasized that “the shock caused by the French ‘no’ to the EDC a half century ago is comparable to that to the Constitution today”. And yet, “the politicians then did not renounce their European ideals”. On the contrary, “the conviction was strengthened that a strong and rapid reaction was needed” with the objective of “realizing a peaceful and prosperous Europe”. THE “CRISIS OF THE EMPTY SEAT”. Since then, and at almost regular intervals every ten years, the history of the European Community has been punctuated by sudden setbacks and inconceivable steps forwards that have much to teach the Union today. In July 1965 there was fresh impasse. In response to some proposals of the Commission, under the presidency of the German WALTHER HALLSTEIN, aimed at creating the EEC’s own budgetary resources and reinforcing the powers of the Parliament in Strasbourg, the France of CHARLES DE GAULLE (“euro-lukewarm”) abandoned all the negotiating tables and the meetings through which common policy was decided and coordinated. It was the “crisis of the empty seat”, which was overcome several months later by a diplomatic deal on majority voting, known as the “Luxembourg compromise”. Here too the analogies with the present day are not lacking… NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN THE MID-1970S. In the middle of the following decade, in the midst of a global economic recession, the EEC had to tackle new obstacles. Great Britain, led by Labour Prime Minister HAROLD WILSON, which had entered the Community two years earlier, announced its intention immediately to “re-negotiate” its presence in the EEC: the only way to continue the close cooperation between London and the other capitals was that of political negotiation and a popular vote that endorsed the British decision to remain in Europe. In June 1975, 67% of the British voted in favour of remaining in the “common home”. The Commission could then adopt a document on the “European union”, followed by an ambitious report drawn up by Belgian premier LEO TINDEMANS: a document that had no immediate effect, but that spelt out the guidelines of a policy of closer integration. THE CHALLENGE OF JACQUES DELORS. 1985 was, perhaps more than any other year, a turning-point in the history of the Community. As soon as it was installed, the Commission headed by the Frenchman JACQUES DELORS came to the conclusion that it was necessary to overhaul the EEC Treaties to adjust them to the needs of a larger Community (expanded from the 6 founding states to the current 10 and about to accept a further two), which had extended its political remit. The White Paper on the completion of the single market was published in June 1985. It was followed by the European Council of Milan of 28-29 June. At this summit – whose protagonists included politicians of the calibre of HELMUT KOHL (Germany), MARGARET THATCHER (UK) and FRANÇOIS MITTERRAND (France) – it was decided to convene an intergovernmental conference that would deal with the economic and monetary union, and common foreign and security policy. It would be followed, in 1986, by the Single Act, the first substantial reform of the founding treaties of the EEC. DECADE OF GREAT NOVELTIES. One positive year in terms of European policy, on the other hand, was 1995. On 1st January Austria, Finland and Sweden joined the EU (which replaced the EEC by the Treaty of Maastricht of 1992). The EU now had 15 members. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, various countries applied for EU accession: a new intergovernmental Conference was prepared for the opening of the frontiers eastwards, while the European Council of Madrid finally launched the process for the adoption of the single currency. These historical ups and downs have continued to the present day: Britain, which assumed the rotating Presidency of the European Council on 1st July, will have to clarify whether 2005 will be remembered as a year of failures or a year of revival of the Community process.