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De Gaulle as a Father of Europe: The Unpredictability of the FTA's Failure and the EEC's Success (1956–58)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 September 2011

LAURENT WARLOUZET
LAURENT WARLOUZET*
Affiliation:
University of Artois-CREHS, 9 rue du Temple, 62000 Arras, France; Laurent.warlouzet@univ-artois.fr
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Abstract

The failure of the Free Trade Area (FTA), a British ‘Greater Europe’ free-market project, has often been contrasted with the European Economic Community (EEC)'s rapid success. However, this article claims that the EEC's success was neither logical nor automatic. The FTA project was not bound to failure, but could easily have become the principal institution for European co-operation. Moreover, the French leader, Charles de Gaulle, played such a prominent role in the EEC that he could be described as a new ‘Father of Europe’. Without the EEC, France would certainly have been forced to reach agreement on the FTA, but conversely, without de Gaulle, the EEC would probably have been diluted into a larger FTA.

De gaulle, père de l'europe: l'impossibilité de prévoir l'échec de l'aele et le succès de la cee (1956–58)

On a souvent contrasté l'echec de la grande ‘zone de libre-échange’ européenne (ZLE), un projet britannique pour la ‘Grande Europe’, avec la réussite rapide de la Communauté économique européenne (CEE). Cet article soutient que le succès de la CEE n'était pourtant ni logique ni automatique. Le projet de la ZLE n'était pas voué à l'échec, mais aurait facilement pu devenir l'organe principal de la coopération européenne. Le dirigeant français, Charles de Gaulle, joua un rôle central dans l'affirmation de la CEE, si bien qu'il mérite l'appellation ‘Père de l'Europe’. En 1958, sans la CEE, la France aurait certainement été obligée de trouver un accord sur la ZLE; par contre, sans de Gaulle, la CEE se serait vue diluée dans une ZLE plus élargie.

De gaulle als vater europas: die unvorhersehbarkeit des scheiterns einer europäischen freihandelszone und der erfolg der ewg (1956–58)

Das Scheitern der Bildung einer europäischen Freihandelszone (FTA), eines britischen Projekts, ‘Groß Europa’ als freien Markt zu konstituieren, wurde oft dem raschen Erfolg der Europäischen Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft (EWG) gegenüber gestellt. Dieser Artikel argumentiert dagegen, dass der Erfolg der EWG weder logisch noch automatisch war. Das Projekt einer Freihandelszone war nicht zum Scheitern verurteilt und hätte leicht zur Hauptinstitution für die europäische Integration werden können. Der französische Präsident Charles de Gaulle spielte eine solche wichtige Rolle für die EWG, dass man ihn mit einiger Berechtigung als den ‘neuen Vater Europas’ bezeichnen kann. Ohne die EWG wäre Frankreich gezwungen gewesen, eine Einigung zur Freihandelszone zu akzeptieren. Und umgekehrt wäre die EWF ohne de Gaulle zu einer größeren Freihandelszone geworden.

Type
Articles
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 20 , Issue 4 , November 2011 , pp. 419 - 434
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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