To mark the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties of Rome, Agence EUROPE has dipped into its unparalleled archives and is republishing articles from 1957, 1967, 1977, 1987, 1997 and 2007 that reported on the celebrations of this event. EUROPE is also publishing the editorials of its own 'founding fathers', which analysed the match between the treaties and the challenges faced, decade by decade, in the European integration project.
See the three first instalments of our commemorative series: 1957 (see EUROPE 11748), 1967 (see EUROPE 11749), 1977 (see EUROPE 11750)
Background
The Treaties of Rome were born out of a desire for relaunch following the breakdown of the European Defence Community (EDC) in 1954. According to Emmanuele Gazzo, Agence Europe's editor-in-chief, this desire must be permanent in order to keep Europe moving towards greater integration. Because the world is changing and will not wait, warns the President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors.
EDITORIAL – "ROMAN WEEK" – A "RELAUNCH" THAT CAME AT A COST
It was certainly not without emotion that we entered the room of the Horatii and the Curiatii where, 30 years ago to the day (it was on a rainy Monday), the 12 representatives of the six states that founded the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) signed the treaties instituting the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC, or Euratom).
Along with the other journalists, we stood right opposite the table that divided the huge room in half lengthways. An area of just a couple of metres, roped off by a long cord attached to small wooden posts, separated us from the table. Behind the 12 "plenipotentiaries" (who were not necessarily heads of government, as the notion of "summit" did not come until much later), were four rows of chairs where politicians, diplomats and senior officials, all of whom had helped to draw up the treaties, had taken their seats. As soon as the signature ceremony started, the clicks and flashes of the cameras were drowned out by the sounds coming from the city: all the bells of Rome rang out loud and clear.
The celebrations gave rise to emotion and memories. For some, they were an opportunity to take stock. Can you take stock of what has happened over the last 30 years of the process of European unification? Probably not, specifically because it is an ongoing process, which still continues, which has seen highs and lows, breakthroughs and setbacks, successes and failures.
It is also a process in which it is hard to identify the things that would have happened anyway, among all the changes that have occurred. Comparing today's relative prosperity with the poverty back then is a meaningless exercise. It is also difficult to judge what would have happened if, in 1950 – let us indeed say 1950 – the Six had not taken the initiative that became the tributary of this process.
What makes it even harder is that it is practically impossible to define a "final goal". In the history of peoples, we can recognise a "direction", but who can say what our future will be made of?
We may observe that alongside an intermingling of European society, which was inevitable in any case, many barriers are still standing; the fact that the "single market", which the Europeans were promised by 1969 the latest, has now been pledged for 1992, all being well… We may also note that even though it is laid down in the preamble, there is still no sign of the "economic union" and that, consequently, Europe lacks power commensurate to its size.
What stood out for us in the speech by Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian Foreign Minister, on the day, was his allusion to the future: "if we succeed in pursuing and in completing the task at hand, this day, 25 March 1957, will be one of the most important dates in the history of Europe". "If" is the operative word here. It means that nothing is for certain, nothing is guaranteed unless there is a steadfast will to move forward. Spaak was aware, possibly more so than others, that the ground on which they were building was arguably as much sand as it was rock.
The Treaties of Rome will undoubtedly pave the way for the progressive integration of the European economies within a framework of social progress, but they have their origin – as all those who lived and suffered through those times will remember – in the urgent necessity to halt the process of the degradation of European enterprise, which was clearly manifest in the breakdown of the European Defence Community (EDC) in 1954 and which threatened to destroy the embryonic future "total Europe", known as the EAEC. This embryo appeared to be of a sectoral and accidental nature; in reality, it already had a clear supernatural structure and contained the "DNA" of political union and common defence.
This is why, after the death of the EDC, the keyword was "relaunch". Relaunching the idea of Europe, relaunching the instruments to put us back on the path of integration on a broader scale. This relaunch has led to the Treaties of Rome, thanks to the action of bold politicians, who reluctantly agreed to take a couple of steps backwards from what had been achieved before.
This was the price that had to be paid, but these far-sighted men and women breathed new life into these texts, which they feel should allow us to turn ahead to the future once again, in spite of everything.
The Treaties of Rome were born out of the desire for relaunch. This desire must be permanent: this is the lesson we must learn from the events of yesterday as well as those of today.
Emanuele Gazzo
30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE TREATY OF ROME : TINDEMANS, DELORS AND PLUMB CALL ON ALL EUROPEANS TO LOOK TO THE FUTURE
ROME (EU), Wednesday 25 March 1987 – "The historians tell us that the achievements of Europe could not have been considered or carried out without the yoke of fear… Where will we find an intelligent European policy in the glaring absence of any pressure of this kind? Have we not heard that the existing European framework does not lend itself to further initiatives? If that's the case, is it not our duty to change it, to remove all obstacles to the European edifice and its future completion? Our generation is supposed to make that effort".
These are the words of the President of the Council of Ministers of the Community, Leo Tindemans, addressing the commemoration ceremony for the 30th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome, which took place on the morning of 25 March in the room of the Horactii and the Curiatii in the Capitole, attended by the Presidents of the European institutions and the President of the Republic of Italy.
Tindemans said that "the only oath we must take here in Rome (…) is to swear that we shall not rest until the European Union is completed". He stressed the need to take radical measures concerning the financial resources of the Community, reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and cohesion: if we succeed in tying the Single Act to these three reforms and "carrying it all out in a manner that in no way falls short of that of our predecessors in 1957", the future of Europe may be a favourable one. We must not, Tindemans added, reserve for the Single Act the same fate as befell other major projects.
If we look back over the last 30 years, the President of the European Commission, Jacques Delors said in turn, "they may show us our inadequacies and our shortsightedness". In the course of those 30 years, he said, "an original model of civilisation based on a balance in the relations between the individual and society" has taken root in Europe.
If Europe has remained on the move, the Commission President added, this is also due to the "institutional infrastructure that is as original as it is ingenious" achieved by the architects of the Treaty of Rome, an infrastructure in which the Commission represents a "strategic body". "Crises come and go and the institutions remain", added Delors, who has seen in the Community a "new strength" brought about by the adoption of the Single European Act, "a substantial reform heralding a new frontier for Europe". All of the decisions we will make, Delors stressed, "will help to usher in a return to confidence, dynamism for our producers and, of course, jobs".
However, Delors went on to ask a series of questions: are the young people and the "often anguished" calls of the countries of the Third World always heard? Who takes the initiatives today "in this vital field of security and strategy"? "Where are the new axes of economic growth, scientific and technological discovery"? "Be careful, the world is turning faster than you think", he said, and "all too often, Europe gives the infuriating impression of sitting on the railway platform having a nice cosy chat, whilst the new trains of history are setting off all around it".
The President of the European Parliament, Sir Henry Plumb, spoke of encouraging developments within the Community, particularly on the institutional front. The European Parliament, he said, "is preparing a new head of steam in favour of the European Union, an impetus that I wholly support. We will expect more, in terms of institutional results, than what we were able to achieve from the Single Act". Reaffirming the European Parliament's own role, Sir Henry said that "it is not just up to the governments to decide on the future political structure of Europe (…). I do not imagine that Jean Monnet expected the Council to become so dominant in the institutional landscape. Power has of course been transferred from the member states to the Community. Only, the European Parliament can make this democratically acceptable".
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