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Abstract
This article examines the European Community's reactions to the Soviet proposal of 1972 to establish formal relations between the EC and COMECON (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance). By 1975 the EC and COMECON seemed to have achieved the beginnings of cooperation. It was far from promising, however. Most of the EC members wanted to concentrate on further development of the EC rather than détente. France was the exception, believing that, in principle, détente should have priority over EC integration. Still, the French priority of détente policies did not mean their support for consolidation of the Soviet bloc. In the end, the Nine opposed the institutionalization of EC/COMECON relations; European integration and détente thereafter went their separate ways.
Acknowledgements
This article has been awarded the HEIRS Essay Prize 2006. The author would like to express his gratitude to the History of European Integration Research Society and the Cold War Studies Centre at LSE for their support and help with the publication. The author also would like to thank the important comments and suggestions of N. Piers Ludlow, Kristina Spohr-Readman, Garret Martin, Ryo Ikeda, Toshihiko Aono, Takase Hirohumi, and Woo-Jung (Lia) Choi.
Notes
[1] As regards the Soviet attitude towards European integration in the Stalin era, see CitationNarinski, “La construction européenne vue par l'URSS,” 69–71. As regards not only the Stalin but also Khrushchev era, see CitationGrachev, “The Soviet Leadership's View.” Zubok and Rey provide overviews. CitationZubok, “The Soviet Union and European Integration”; Rey, “Le retour à l'Europe?” There is also a piece from the East German point of view; CitationWustenhagen, “RGW und EWG.”
[2] Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, Paris (hereafter MAE), Série Europe 1966–70, 2723, NOTE “A.S. Attitude de l'URSS à l'égard de l'unification européenne,” 17 November 1970.
[3] Van Oudenaren, Détente in Europe, 276; Pinder, The European Community, 8.
[4] The National Archives (Public Record Office), Kew, London (hereafter TNA). Foreign and Commonwealth Office (hereafter FCO) 28/1868, “Extract from Brezhnev's speech to the 15th Soviet Trade Unions Congress on 20th March, 1972”; Cutler, “Harmonising EEC–CMEA relations,” 263; Van Oudenaren, Détente in Europe, 277; Rey, “Le retour à l'Europe?” 14–15.
[5] CitationLudlow, The European Community and the Crises; CitationLoth, Crises and Compromises; CitationHannay, Britain's Entry; CitationNuttall, European Political Co-operation.
[6] CitationGarthoff, Détente and Confrontation; CitationGarton Ash, In Europe's Name; CitationFontaine, Un seul lit; CitationLoth, Overcoming the Cold War.
[7] Baumer and Jacobsen, “EC and COMECON”; Wallace and Clarke, Comecon; CitationOugarov, “The External Relations of the CMEA”; Van Oudenaren, Détente in Europe, 275–82; CitationNewton, Russia, France, 96–100.
[8] CitationCutler, “Harmonising EEC–CMEA Relations”; Maslen, “European Community–CMEA”; CitationPinder, The European Community; CitationLippert, “EC–CMEA Relations.” There are two contemporary works written in the 1970s. However, in their analysis, the Western reactions towards Brezhnev's proposal are just briefly and generally mentioned. CitationPinder, “Economic Integration and East–West Trade”; CitationRansom, The European Community and Eastern Europe.
[9] Pinder, The European Community, 9.
[10] CitationBecker, Die frühe KSZE-Politik, 124.
[11] MAE, Europe 1966–1970, 2723, NOTE “A.S: Attitude de l'URSS à l'égard de l'unification européenne,” 17 November 1970.
[12] Citation Akten zur Auswärtigen Politik der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (hereafter AAPD) 1970, Dok. 388, “Gespräch des Bundeskanzlers Brandt mit dem Generalsekretär des ZK der KPdSU, Breschnew, in Moskau,” 12 August 1970, 1463.
[13] MAE, Europe 1966–70, 2723, “Réunion des Ministres des Affaires Etrangères des États Membres des Communautés Europénnes, Munich – 19 novembre 1970,” 17 December 1970.
[14] Van Oudenaren observes Moscow's somewhat more relaxed attitude toward the EEC from the mid-1960s. Van Oudenaren, Détente in Europe, 276.
[15] At The Hague summit meeting of 2–3 December 1969, the EC leaders generally agreed the enlargement of the Common Market. While the Soviet Union acquiesced in British, Denmark, Ireland and Norwegian entry into the EEC, the Russians were strongly opposed to the membership of neutral countries, such as Austria and Finland.
[16] MAE, Europe 1971–juin 1976, 2921, Bonn, 22 March 1971; TNA, FCO 30/569, Bonn tel. no. 1429, 20 November 1970.
[17] CitationSarotte, Dealing with the Devil, 122.
[18] CitationBundy, A Tangled Web, 247.
[19] Sarotte, Dealing with the Devil, 136–7.
[20] MAE, Europe, 1971–juin 1976, 3689, Moscou tel. no. 2006/12 to Paris, 21 March 1972.
[21] Newton, Russia, France, 97. See also CitationBaumer and Jacobsen, “EC and COMECON,” 111.
[22] Pinder, The European Community, 12–13; CitationRey, “Le retour à l'Europe?” 16–17.
[23] Under Article 3 of the Treaty of Rome the Community's member states undertook to coordinate their commercial relations with third countries. The Common Commercial Policy mainly covered tariff and quota arrangements on trade. Whether it included credit policies was disputed principally between France and the EC Commission.
[24] The Common Commercial Policy was not immediately applied to the communist countries for coordinating the trade policies of individual member states in their bilateral relations with COMECON countries. From 1 January 1973, the member states were no longer permitted to negotiate bilaterally with them on trade agreements. The Community also agreed that the existing trade agreements with COMECON member states were to expire at the end of 1974. Then the CCP was fully implemented with the communist countries from 1975.
[25] CitationCutler, “Harmonising EEC–CMEA relations,” 263.
[26] A brief history of COMECON from the Stalin to Brezhnev era, see Wallace and Clarke, Comecon, chapter 1.
[27] CitationStirk, A History of European Integration, 176–7; CitationFriedmann, Warsaw Pact Socialism, 216.
[28] Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria had technical contacts with the EC Commission at 1971 time. MAE, Europe, 1971–juin 1976, 2921, “Attitude de l'Union soviétique, de ses alliés et des Etats neutres d'Europe à l'égard de la Communauté Européenne,” 22 March 1971.
[29] Cutler, “Harmonising EEC–CMEA Relations,” 263; Newton, Russia, France, 97.
[30] Pinder, “Economic Integration and East–West Trade,” 4.
[31] MAE, Europe, 1971–juin 1976, 2925, “Relations between the EEC, CMEA and their Respective Member Countries, including the Attitude of the Eastern Countries to European Integration,” RM(72)9, 1 December 1972 (hereafter, RM(72)9); this paper was approved by the British and French Foreign Ministers and the other member countries also raised no objections to it. TNA. FCO 30/1726, Fall to Butler, 1 January 1973.
[32] RM(72)9.
[33] RM(72)9
[34] RM(72)9
[35] RM(72)9
[36] Pinder, The European Community, 13; Cutler, “Harmonising EEC–CMEA relations,” 265–6. Baumer and Jacobsen, “EC and COMECON,” 114–15.
[37] See also Cutler, “Harmonising EEC–CMEA relations,” 267.
[38] TNA. FCO 28/1685, Fall to Weston, 21 August 1972.
[39] TNA. FCO 28/2194, FCO tel. no. 32 to Warsaw, 23 January 1973; MAE, Europe, 1971–juin 1976, 3723, NOTE “A/s. des récentes déclarations de M. Brejnev concernant les relations entre les pays socialistes et la Communauté économique européenne,” 4 January 1973.
[40] TNA. FCO 30/1728, “EEC Council Meeting Brussels 20 September 1973, Provisional Item 3, EEC/CMEA Relations,” undated; Pinder, The European Community, 13.
[41] AAPD 1973, Dok. 151, “Gespräch des Bundeskanzlers Brandt mit dem Generalsekretär des ZK der KPdSU, Breschnew,” 20 May 1973, 764.
[42] Archives Nationales, Paris (hereafter AN), 5AG2/1019, “Tête à tête entre M. Pompidou et M. Brejnev, le 12 janvier 1973–10 h. 15–14 h. 30.”
[43] AAPD 1973, Dok. 15, “Gespräch des Bundeskanzlers Brandt mit Staatspräsident Pompidou in Paris,” 22 January 1973, 72.
[44] AAPD 1973, Dok. 15, “Gespräch des Bundeskanzlers Brandt mit Staatspräsident Pompidou in Paris,” 22 January 1973, 72
[45] Brandt proposed ‘standardization’ as an example of realistic aims. AAPD 1973, Dok. 151, “Gespräch des Bundeskanzlers Brandt mit dem Generalsekretär des ZK der KPdSU, Breschnew,” 20 May 1973, 764.
[46] TNA. FCO 41/1052, “Relationship between EEC and COMECON,” undated. This is a West German document used internally in the FRG Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which was handed to the FCO and translated into English.
[47] MAE, Europe, 1971–juin 1976, 3723, NOTE “A/s. des récentes déclarations de M. Brejnev concernant les relations entre les pays socialistes et la Communauté économique européenne,” 4 January 1973.
[48] MAE, Europe, 1971–juin 1976, 3723, NOTE “A/s. des récentes déclarations de M. Brejnev concernant les relations entre les pays socialistes et la Communauté économique européenne,” 4 January 1973
[49] MAE, Europe, 1971–juin 1976, 3743, NOTE, “a.s. Proposition soviétique d'établir des rapports entre la CEE et le CAEM,” 11 May 1973.
[50] MAE, Europe, 1971–juin 1976, 3743, Note “A/S. – Examen, au point de vue politique, des relations possibles entre la CEE et le COMECON,” 18 September 1971.
[51] AN, 5AG2/1019, NOTE “a/s. L'Union Soviétique et la Communauté Européenne,” 20 June 1973. As regards bilateral relations in the 1960s between France and East European countries, CitationVaïsse, La Grandeur, 435–43.
[52] AN, 5AG2 / 1019, NOTE “a/s. L'Union Soviétique et la Communauté Européenne,” 20 June 1973.
[53] AN, 5AG2 / 1019, NOTE “a/s. L'Union Soviétique et la Communauté Européenne,” 20 June 1973
[54] CitationCoombes, Politics and Bureaucracy, 181; Ludlow, The European Community and the Crises.
[55] AN, 5AG2/1019, NOTE pour Monsieur le Président de la République “A/s: Rencontre de PITSUNDA (12 et 13 mars 1974),” 11 March 1974.
[56] AN, 5AG2/1019, NOTE “a/s. L'Union Soviétique et la Communauté Européenne,” 20 June 1973.
[57] AN, 5AG2/1019, “Entretien du Président de la République avec M. Brejnev, à Rambouillet, le 26 juin 1973 de 10 h. 45 à 13 h. 40.”
[58] MAE, Europe, 1971–juin 1976, 3743, Delfra-Bruxelles tel no. 2924–2929 to Paris, 26 July 1973; TNA. FCO 30/1727, Moscow tel. no. 854 to FCO, 26 July 1973.
[59] TNA. FCO 30/1727, Paris tel. no. 1034 to FCO, 3 August 1973.
[60] TNA. FCO 30/1727, Moscow tel. no. 888 to FCO, 6 August 1973.
[61] Pinder, The European Community, 13; Rey, “Le retour à l'Europe?” 15–16.
[62] TNA. FCO 30/1728, Shea to Wilkinson, 14 August 1973.
[63] TNA. FCO 30/1728, Marsden to Wright, 6 September 1973.
[64] TNA. FCO 30/1612, UKREP Brussels tel. no. 4384 to FCO, 20 September 1973.
[65] TNA. FCO 30/1612, UKREP Brussels tel. no. 4384 to FCO, 20 September 1973
[66] TNA. FCO 30/1612; MAE, Europe, 1971–juin 1976, 3743, Delfra-Bruxelles, 3136, 20 September 1973.
[67] TNA. FCO 30/1728, UKREP Brussels tel. no. 4302 to FCO, 17 September 1973. The EEC's external trade policy in the 1960s is briefly analysed in CitationLudlow, “Too Far Away, Too Rich and Too Stable,” 270–272.
[68] MAE, Europe, 1971–juin 1976, 3743, Paris tel. no. 386/94 to Delfra-Bruxelles, 11 September 1973.
[69] MAE, Europe, 1971–juin 1976, 3743, Paris tel. no. 386/94 to Delfra-Bruxelles, 11 September 1973
[70] TNA. FCO 30/1728, UKREP Brussels tel. no. 4302 to FCO, 17 September 1973.
[71] TNA. FCO 30/1728, UKREP Brussels tel. no. 4607 to FCO, 2 October 1973.
[72] The Times, “Comecon Waits for Months for an Answer from EEC,” 7 February 1973.
[73] TNA. FCO 30/2158, Broomfield to Fall, 6 March 1974.
[74] The Time, “Comecon Waits for Months for an Answer from EEC,” 7 February 1973.
[75] MAE, Europe, 1971–juin 1976, 3743, Moscou tel. no. 2259/64, 15 May 1974; TNA. FCO 30/2158, Dabbs to Ambassador, 15 May 1974.
[76] MAE, Europe, 1971–juin 1976, 3743, Moscou tel. no. 2259/64, 15 May 1974; TNA. FCO 30/2158, Killick to EID, 1 July 1974; Barrett to Barlow, 3 July 1974.
[77] MAE, Europe, 1971–juin 1976, 3743, Moscou tel. no. 2259/64, 15 May 1974; TNA. FCO 30/2158, Faddeev to Ortoli, translation in English, 16 September 1974. Fadeyev also suggested that this EC/COMECON contact would begin with exchanges of documentation. It meant that the COMECON Secretariat was still not authorized by the COMECON member countries to conclude any legal accords.
[78] MAE, Europe, 1971–juin 1976, 3743, Paris tel. no. 1079 to FCO, 3 October 1974.
[79] TNA. FCO 30/2158, FCO tel. no. 848 to UKREP Brussels, 23 September 1974. London thought that Mr. Wellestein, general director responsible for external relations of the EC Commission, was the appropriate level for this first contact.
[80] TNA. FCO 30/2107, “EEC Council 15 October 1974, EEC Relations with State-Trading Countries,” 11 October 1974.
[81] TNA. FCO 30/2031, Luxembourg tel. no. 292 to FCO, 15 October 1974.
[82] TNA. FCO 30/2031, Luxembourg tel. no. 292 to FCO, 15 October 1974
[83] MAE, Europe, 1971–juin 1976, 3743, Delfra-Bruxelles, no. 4565-73 to Paris, 29 November 1974; TNA. FCO 30/2159, UKREP Brussels tel. no. 5230 to FCO, 15 November 1974.
[84] MAE, Europe, 1971–juin 1976, 3743, Moscow tel. no. 1452 to FCO, 6 December 1974.
[85] MAE, Europe, 1971–juin 1976, 3743, NOTE “a/s. L'URSS, la Communauté et le Conseil d'aide économique mutuelle (CAEM),” 3 March 1975.
[86] CitationMaslen, “European Community–CMEA,” 86–7.
[87] Pinder, “Economic Integration and East–West Trade,” 2.
[88] On 25 June 1988, the joint declaration between the EC and COMECON signed at Luxembourg, which contained matters on cooperation, subsequent agreement on the fields, forms and methods. Pinder, The European Community, 25; CitationVan Oudenaren, Détente in Europe, 281.
[89] Lippert, “EC–CMEA Relations,” 121.
[90] CitationWallace and Clarke, Comecon, 162–3; Rey, “Le retour à l'Europe?” 19–20.
[91] AAPD 1974, Dok. 251, “Aufzeichnung des Ministerialdirigenten Fischer, Bundeskanzleramt,” 3 September 1974.