![Sample our Politics & International Relations journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5947/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Politics-International-Relations.jpg"})
Abstract
This paper explores the conceptualization and interpretation of ‘European solidarity’ by the French President François Mitterrand. It discusses the relevance of former concepts of foreign and European policy. It differentiates between a European idea and European institutions, also taking into account personal experiences. Finally, it analyses the correlation between different concepts such as ‘European solidarity’, ‘transatlantic solidarity’, ‘West European solidarity’ and ‘pan-European solidarity’.
Notes
1. Gordon, A Certain Idea of France, 118–19. Controversial debates about Mitterrand’s past and political orientations appeared at the end of his mandate and after his presidency. Provoked by the publication of the biography ‘Une jeunesse française’ by Pierre Péan, the discussion centred on the question of Mitterrand’s engagement within the Vichy regime; Péan, Une jeunesse française; see also Hildebrand, “Wiedervereinigung und Staatenwelt,” 193–210; Lappenküper, Mitterrand und Deutschland.
2. “Mitterrand et l’Europe en 1981, d’après André Chandernagor,” in Faire l’Europe sans défaire la France, ed. Gérard Bossuat, 459.
3. Du Réau, “L’engagement européen,” 285, 294.
4. Saunier, “‘J’y étais, j’y croyais,’” 384.
5. Bossuat, Faire l’Europe sans défaire la France.
6. In comparison to this article, see Mathias Haeussler working on Helmut Schmidt’s concepts of European Solidarity “The Convictions of a Realist: Concepts of ‘Solidarity’ in Helmut Schmidt’s European Thought, 1945–82”, in this issue.
7. Tranow, Das Konzept der Solidarität, 13.
8. Habermas, “‘Für ein starkes Europa,’” 87.
9. Koselleck, Vergangene Zukunft, 349 ff.
10. Institut für Zeitgeschichte, ed. Akten zur Auswärtigen Politik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (AAPD) 1981. 3 vols. Munich: Oldenbourg, 2012; Institut für Zeitgeschichte, ed. Akten zur Auswärtigen Politik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (AAPD) 1982. 2 vols. Munich: Oldenbourg, 2013.
11. Loth, Building Europe, 1 ff.
12. On the conceptualization of Charles de Gaulle’s détente policy see: Vaïsse, La Grandeur, 419 ff.
13. Loth, “De Gaulle und die europäische Einigung;” Weisenfeld, “Europa vom Atlantik zum Ural.”
14. Weisenfeld, “Europa vom Atlantik zum Ural,” 74.
15. Loth, Building Europe, 2.
16. Loth, “Sources of European Integration,” 22–4.
17. Loth, “Léon Blum und das Europa der Dritten Kraft,” 442–3.
18. Giesbert, François Mitterrand, 9–56.
19. Mitterrand and Wiesel, Nachlese, 101, 120–1.
20. Ibid., 170.
21. Loth, Building Europe, 1, 25.
22. Saunier, “‘J’y étais, j’y croyais,’” 378; “Gespräch des Bundeskanzlers Kohl mit Staatspräsident Mitterrand in Paris, 4. Oktober 1982,” printed in AAPD 1982, 1332; “Die deutsch-französische Freundschaft hängt doch nicht an einer Tasse Tee,” Der Stern, July 9, 1981, 80; “Speech of François Mitterrand in the German Parliament on 20th January 1983,” printed in Deutscher Bundestag. Stenographische Berichte Bd. 123 (1983), 8986.
23. Saunier, “‘J’y étais, j’y croyais,’” 380.
24. Ibid., 386.
25. Ibid., 386.
26. Loth, Building Europe, 1–2.
27. Mitterrand, Der Sieg der Rose, 222.
28. Ibid., 222.
29. Saunier, “François Mitterrand, un projet socialiste pour l’Europe?,” 438.
30. Mitterrand, Der Sieg der Rose, 223; Note from Pierre Morel as cited in Attali, Verbatim I, 76.
31. Bossuat, Faire l’Europe sans défaire la France, 159–60; Du Réau, “L’engagement européen,” 285.
32. “Gespräch des Bundeskanzlers Schmidt mit Staatspräsident Mitterrand in Latche am 7. Oktober 1981,” printed in AAPD 1981, 1539.
33. “Gespräch des Bundespräsidenten Carstens mit Staatspräsident Mitterrand am 13. Juli 1981,” printed in AAPD 1981, 1072.
34. “Gespräch des Bundeskanzlers Schmidt mit Staatspräsident Mitterrand in Latche am 7. Oktober 1981,” printed in AAPD 1981, 1544.
35. “Gespräch des Bundespräsidenten Carstens mit Staatspräsident Mitterrand am 13. Juli 1981,” printed in AAPD 1981, 1072.
36. Mitterrand, Der Sieg der Rose, 214.
37. Attali, Verbatim I, 587.
38. For instance, on 3 July 1981, the French Foreign Minister declared entire solidarity towards the Atlantic Alliance and its dual-track decision from 1979: Védrine, Les mondes de François Mitterrand, 117; “Die deutsch-französische Freundschaft hängt doch nicht an einer Tasse Tee,” Der Stern, July 9, 1981, 80–4; “Excerpts from Interview with François Mitterrand,” New York Times, June 4, 1981, https://www.nytimes.com/1981/06/04/world/excerpts-from-interview-with-francois-mitterrand.html?pagewanted=all&pagewanted=print (accessed April 14, 2016); “Everything is a Struggle. Everything Requires Courage and Effort,” Time, October 19, 1981; “Gespräch des Bundeskanzlers Schmidt mit Staatspräsident Mitterrand;” Archives Nationales, AG/5(4)/CD/74, dossier 1; “Resumé de l’entretien entre le Président de la République et le Président des États-Unis, Montebello,” 19 July 1981.
39. The French ambassador Bernard Vernier-Palliez attributed the risk of an American demobilization in Europe to the agitations of the Western peace movement: Archives Nationales, AG/5(4)/CD/262, dossier 1; Ministère des Relations Extérieures, TD Washington 655, Visite de M. le Président de la République. Fiche sur les relations au sein de l’Alliance Atlantique, Vernier-Palliez, 9 March 1982.
40. Note from Pierre Morel as cited in Attali, Verbatim I, 75 ff.; Pierre Mauroy combined his denomination to the Atlantic treaties with a revitalization of the engagement within the framework of the Western European Union, cf. Mauroy, “La Cohérence d’une politique de défense,” 19.
41. In 1974, the motion for the demobilization of 76,000 American soldiers from Europe provided for in the so-called Mansfield Amendment failed by only a few votes. Vernier-Palliez refers to this Amendment and integrates French fears of the insecurity of the American protective shield in his analysis.
42. Mauroy, “La Cohérence d’une politique de défense,” 22.
43. Interview François Mitterrand with Michel Tatu in Le Monde July 31, 1980, printed in Mitterrand, Der Sieg der Rose, 201.
44. “Speech of François Mitterrand in the German parliament on 20th January 1983,” printed in Deutscher Bundestag. Stenographische Berichte Bd. 123 (1983), 8987; Archives Nationales, AG/5(4)/CD/161, dossier 2, Ministère des Relations Extérieures, Le Conseiller Technique, Denis Delbourg, “Réunion de la Commission franco-allemande sur la sécurité et la défense – 29 April 1983 – Compte-Rendu”, 5 May 1983.
45. See for example: Archives Nationales, AG/5(4)/CD/161, dossier 2, Ministère des Relations Extérieures, Centre d'Analyse et de Prévision, Note “Allemagne: l’avis de trois experts (J. Rovan, B. Spinelli, J. Dumoulin),” Michel Duclos, 16 March 1983.
46. Favier and Martin-Roland, La Décennie Mitterrand, 241; Dumas, Affaires étrangères, 74.
47. See for example: Archives Nationales, AG/5(4)/CD/74, dossier 1; “Resumé de l’entretien entre le Président de la République et le Président des États-Unis, Montebello,” 19 July 1981.
48. On Mitterrand’s disappointment and frustration according to the behaviour of the American administration, see for example “Gespräch des Bundeskanzlers Schmidt mit Staatspräsident Mitterrand in Brüssel,” printed in AAPD 1982, 1036 f.; see also Archives Nationales, AG/5(4)/CD/265, Présidence de la République, Le Conseiller Technique, Hubert Védrine, Note pour le Président de la République “de votre eintretien avec M. William (Bill) Clarck, Conseiller du Président Reagan pour affaires de sécurité nationale,” 27 October 1982.
49. Grosser, “Serrer le jeu sans fermer,” 263.
50. Védrine, Les mondes de François Mitterrand, 318; Dumas, Affaires étrangères, 89.
51. Dumas, Affaires étrangères, 90; Favier and Martin-Roland, La Décennie Mitterrand, 261.
52. On French economic and monetary policy as well as on the controversial discussion of Mitterrand’s decision in March 1983, which is sometimes called “tournant communitaire,” see for example: Du Réau, “L’engagement européen,” 291 ff.; Asselain, “L’expérience socialiste,” 385–430; Olivi, L’Europe difficile, 280 ff.; Bossuat, Faire l’Europe sans défaire la France, 163 f.; Dumas, Affaires étrangères, 97 ff; Attali, Verbatim I, 484 ff.
53. Loth, Building Europe, 2.
54. Ibid., 267.
55. Chaput, La France.
56. Saunier, “France, the East European Revolutions and the Reunification of Germany,” 388.
57. Dumas, Politiquement incorrect; Attali, Verbatim III, 544; Saunier, “France, the East European Revolutions and the Reunification of Germany,” 388.
58. Attali, Verbatim 1986–1991, 621.
59. While no clear connection to the proposal of a “Fondation pour l’Autre Europe” has yet been traced, the “Fondation Jean Jaurès,” the progressive think tank associated with the Socialist Party, was founded in 1992. Its mission is to establish a dialogue between politicians, scientists and agents of civil society in order to ensure progress of democracy.
60. Archives Nationales, AG/5(4)/CDM/35, Présidence de la République, Le Conseiller Technique, Jean Musitelli, Note pour le Président de la République, “Projet de création d’une ‘Fondation pour l’Autre Europe,’” 25 August 1988.
61. “Discours de François Mitterrand devant le Parlement européen (25 octobre 1989),” Journal officiel des Communautés européennes (JOCE). Débats du Parlement européen, 25 October 1989, n° 3–382, pp. 161–163, https://www.cvce.eu/obj/discours_de_francois_mitterrand_sur_les_bouleversements_en_europe_de_l_est_strasbourg_25_octobre_1989-fr-e8763523-d492-4c2c-b0f4-d3c2449204ab.html (accessed November 5, 2016).
62. Attali, Verbatim 1986–1991, 621.
63. Bozo, Mitterrand, the End of the Cold War, and German Unification, 34, 36.
64. Attali, Verbatim 1986–1991, 623.
65. Bozo, Mitterrand, the End of the Cold War, and German Unification, 311; Bozo, “Mitterrand’s France,” 465.
66. Archives Nationales, AG/5(4)/CDM/35, Le Conseiller à la Présidence de la République, Hubert Védrine, Note pour le Président de la République, 6 April 1989.
67. Archives Nationales, AG/5(4)/CDM/48, Fiche “Conception française du rapprochement des deux Europe et de la solution à la question allemande,” 30 November 1989.
68. The topical academic debate on the correlation between politics and emotions is of high relevance for the given topic. Due to limited space, however, this discussion could not be treated in this article. For further information, see for example: Frevert, Gefühlspolitik; Kreis, Diplomatie mit Gefühl; Loth, “Angst und Vertrauensbildung.”