The Enlarging Community

Until now, we have followed how the European Economic Community (EEC), born of the 1957 Treaty of Rome, lowered borders through the mechanism of the customs union and brought prosperity to the six countries. The community had acquired a bright persuasive power. Then, countries wishing to join its circle from the outside began to appear. Yet the door did not open easily. For one president, with a strong will, held it shut. In this episode, centered on the maneuvering over membership, the first enlargement, the democratization and accession of Southern Europe, and the Common Agricultural Policy that both sustained the community and became a great spark within it, we trace the community’s growth neutrally, through both its ideals and its frictions.

De Gaulle’s Refusal — The Door That Did Not Open

When the EEC was launched, Britain, the great power across the sea, stood outside its circle. At first, Britain kept its distance from the continent-led integration and chose instead the path of building another trade framework. Yet, faced with the six countries growing visibly prosperous, Britain changed its attitude. In the 1960s, Britain applied to join the EEC.

But standing in its way was French President Charles de Gaulle. In 1963, he is said to have declared his opposition to Britain’s membership at a press conference. The reason given was a concern that Britain was too close to America. De Gaulle, who prized the independence of a continent-centered Europe, is also said to have likened Britain to ‘America’s Trojan horse.’ In 1967, Britain applied again, but this too was refused. The will of a single leader closed the community’s door twice over.

This refusal engraved a certain question into the history of integration. For whom, and how far, should the community be open? De Gaulle is also known as a figure who prized national sovereignty and was wary of the community swallowing up the state. In fact, in 1965, he provoked a confrontation called the ‘empty chair policy,’ continuing to absent himself from council meetings over the manner of policy decision-making, and is said to have stiffened the pace of integration for a time. The contest between the ideal of integration and the reality of national sovereignty was inherent in this community from its very earliest days.

The First Enlargement — The Door to Nine Countries

The turning point came with de Gaulle’s departure. When he resigned as president in 1969, Britain’s accession negotiations began to move again. In 1972, under Prime Minister Edward Heath, Britain signed the treaty of accession, and on January 1, 1973, it joined formally together with Denmark and Ireland. The original six member countries here widened to nine. This is the event called the first enlargement.

This enlargement carried a shadow that is easily overlooked. Norway, which had at first applied to join along with Britain and the others, chose to oppose membership in a referendum in 1972. By the reported figures, opposition was about 53.5 percent and support 46.5 percent, with a turnout said to have reached nearly 80 percent. Concerns over fishing and agriculture, resistance to letting go of sovereignty — joining a prosperous community is not necessarily a desirable choice for all of a nation’s people. In the history of enlargement, the choice not to join is also clearly engraved.

Even so, the significance the first enlargement gave the community was no small thing. The participation of Britain, an economic great power in particular, increased the community’s weight. At the same time, Britain, before long after joining, came to nurse growing discontent over its own contribution and over the manner of the common policies. Growing larger, while strengthening cohesion, also brings difficulty in holding together — this two-sidedness of the act of enlargement would become a theme running through the EU’s later history.

Southward — Democratization and Accession

In the 1980s, the community opened its doors to the south. Behind this lay another great story, not economic alone. It was democracy.

The three countries of Greece, Spain, and Portugal had all long been under dictatorship or military rule. As each made the transition to democracy in the 1970s, they came to wish to join the community. Greece expressed its desire to join in 1975 and acceded on January 1, 1981 (the second enlargement). Spain and Portugal, too, having passed through democratization, wished to join in 1977 and acceded simultaneously on January 1, 1986 (the third enlargement). With this, the community became a twelve-country system.

This Southern European enlargement added a new meaning to the community. Membership was received not as mere participation in a market, but as an ‘anchor’ for making secure the democracy they had only just won. Joining the community would tie a country to the side of democratic values — here can be seen the prototype of the idea by which the EU would later strongly demand democracy and human rights as conditions of membership. That said, welcoming in countries still on the way to economic development also meant bringing into the community the difficult problem of disparity with the prosperous advanced nations. Light and shadow were back to back here as well.

The Common Agricultural Policy — A Mechanism That Sustained and Shook the Community

Along with enlargement, there is another great theme worth looking at: the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). This was the community’s earliest common policy, set in motion in 1962, in the era of the six countries.

Its aim was to protect the living standards of farmers and to supply food stably within the region. At the heart of the mechanism was guaranteeing prices for agricultural goods higher than the market rate. For a Europe that had experienced postwar food shortages, supporting agriculture generously and making self-sufficiency secure was an urgent wish. In fact, under the CAP European agricultural production grew greatly, and food shortage became a distant memory. This was, without doubt, the light side.

But that generosity in time cast a shadow. If high prices are guaranteed, farmers naturally produce a great deal. As a result, production beyond demand overflowed, and unsold goods piled up. In the Europe of the time, words like ‘butter mountains,’ ‘wine lakes,’ and ‘grain mountains’ are said to have been spoken of, pointing to the excess stock. The community bought up the surplus agricultural goods at high prices, and the cost swelled until it took up a great portion of the community budget. The tug-of-war among nations over the burden, as symbolized by Britain’s discontent, also became a spark of politics. Furthermore, the export of subsidized cheap agricultural goods outside the region is said to have invited trade friction with farming nations outside the community.

And so the community widened to nine countries, then to twelve, taking into its interior the vitality and friction of enlargement, and the light and shadow of common policy symbolized by the CAP. The community that had grown large could no longer fit within the mere frame of a customs union. What people next aimed for was to remove the many invisible walls that still remained, and to make the market completely one, down to its smallest details. And that attempt would in time lead, under the new name of the ‘European Union,’ to a great step toward political integration.