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In Search of Power: The European Commission in the Kennedy Round Negotiations (1963–1967)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 January 2014

LUCIA COPPOLARO
LUCIA COPPOLARO*
Affiliation:
University of Lisbon, Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Aníbal Bettencourt, 9, 1600–189 Lisboa, Portugal; [email protected]
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Abstract

This article is about EEC trade policy-making in the GATT Kennedy Round negotiations. It questions whether the European Commission was decisive in terms of reaching an agreement in Brussels and then in Geneva, and whether the final outcome resembled the Commission's preferences. The article shows that in Brussels the Commission was able to make its preferences prevail only when these appealed to the Council of Ministers. In Geneva, member states pragmatically set limits to the actions of the Commission, guided by the principle of how they could enhance their trade interests. Eventually, they allowed the Commission to strengthen its role because this was in line with their interests.

À la recherche du pouvoir: la commission européenne lors des négociations du kennedy round (1963–1967)

Cet article porte sur l'élaboration des politiques commerciales de la CEE lors des négociations du Kennedy Round au GATT. L'auteur s'interroge sur la fermeté de la Commission lorsqu'il s'est agi de conclure un accord à Bruxelles, puis à Genève, et se demande si le résultat final correspondait aux préférences de la Commission. Il montre qu'à Bruxelles, la Commission n'a pu insister sur ses préférences que lorsque le Conseil des ministres y était favorable. À Genève, les États membres, guidés qu'ils étaient par l'objectif de l'amélioration de leurs intérêts commerciaux, ont adopté une approche pragmatique qui consistait à limiter les actions de la Commission. S'ils ont en fin de compte permis à la Commission de renforcer son rôle, c'est que cela correspondait à leurs intérêts.

Suche nach macht: die europäische kommission in den verhandlungen der kennedy-runde (1963–1967)

Dieser Beitrag befasst sich mit der Handelspolitik der EWG in den Verhandlungen der Kennedy-Runde im Rahmen des GATT. Er setzt sich mit der Frage auseinander, ob die Rolle der Europäischen Kommission für das Erzielen einer Einigung in Brüssel und dann in Genf maßgeblich war und ob das Endergebnis ihren Präferenzen entsprach. Dabei wird deutlich, dass die Kommission ihre Präferenzen in Brüssel nur durchsetzen konnte, wenn sie auch vom Ministerrat befürwortet wurden. In Genf ließen sich die Mitgliedstaaten davon leiten, wie sie ihre Handelsinteressen vorantreiben konnten und setzten dem Vorgehen der Kommission pragmatisch Grenzen. Schließlich unterstützten sie jedoch die Bestrebungen der Kommission, ihre Rolle zu stärken, weil es ihren eigenen Interessen entsprach.

Type
Articles
Information
Contemporary European History , Volume 23 , Issue 1 , February 2014 , pp. 23 - 41
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2013 

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References

1 FO 172311, Telegram 129 from Cohen to Foreign Office, 27 Sept. 1963, Foreign Office Records, The National Archives (hereafter TNA) London.

2 On enlargement see Geary, Michael J., The European Commission and the First Enlargement of the European Union: Challenging for Power? (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)Google Scholar; on the CAP see Knudsen, Ann-Christina L., Farmers on Welfare: The Making of Europe's Common Agricultural Policy, (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2009)Google Scholar.

3 Ludlow, N. Piers, ‘The Emergence of a Commercial Heavy-Weight: The Kennedy Round and the European Community of the 1960s’, Diplomacy and Statecraft, 18, 2 (2007), 351–68CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4 For an analysis of the EEC's participation in the Kennedy Round see Coppolaro, Lucia, The Making of a World Trading Power: The European Economic Community (EEC) in the GATT Kennedy Round Negotiations (1963–1967) (Farnham: Ashgate, 2013)Google Scholar. On the negotiations in the Kennedy Round see, among others, Zeiler, Thomas W., American Trade and Power in the 1960s (New York: Columbia UP, 1992)Google Scholar and Preeg, Ernest H., Traders and Diplomats: An Analysis of the Kennedy Round of Negotiations under the GATT (Washington, DC: Brookings Institute, 1970)Google Scholar.

5 On US–Western Europe relations see Winand, Pascaline, Eisenhower, Kennedy and the United States of Europe (New York: Macmillan, 1993)Google Scholar.

6 Zeiler, American Trade and Power, 73–102.

7 Archives of the Council of Ministers of the European Union, Brussels (hereafter CM2) 1963/946 Note S/628/62, 30 Nov. 1962.

8 HAEC-CEAB 5/1169, Lettre de Wehrer, de la Direction des Relations Extérieurs, à Van Kleffens, de la Délégation de la Haute Autorité auprès du Gouvernement du Royaume-Uni, 4 Mar. 1963.

9 Ministère des Affaires Étrangères, France (hereafter MAEF), DE/CE 1961–1966 GATT 949, Direction des Affaires Économiques et Financières, Note 174/CE, 17 Oct. 1962; CM2 1963 PV de la 100ème session du Conseil de la CEE, 1–2 Apr. 1963.

10 On the German stance towards the CAP, see Knudsen, Farmers on Welfare, 207–65.

11 CM2, 1963/947 PV de la 101ème session du Conseil de la CEE, 8–10 May 1963.

12 Johnson, Michael, European Community Trade Policy and the Article 113 Committee (London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1998), 2–6Google Scholar.

13 Alting Von Gesau, Frans A. M., Economic Relations After the Kennedy Round (Leyden: Sijthoff, 1969), 445Google Scholar.

14 Archives European Commission – Brussels (hereafter AECB), BAC 118/83 845, Commission – CPC/I/4/62, 8 May 1962.

15 AECB, BAC 62/1980–49 Note de la DG des Rélations Extérieurs, 22 Oct. 1962; ibid. DG Rélations Extérieurs, Comité de la politique commerciale, PV de la 12ème réunion, 12 Nov. 1962.

16 AECB, PV 224, 3 Apr. 1963, Participation de l'agriculture aux négociations dans le cadre du TEA, 9 Apr. 1963 and PV 227 30 Apr. 1963.

17 CM2, 1963/947, PV de la 101ème session du Conseil de la CEE, 8–10 May 1963.

18 CM2, 1963/948 CEE Conseil, Réunions de Coordination, 16–20 May 1963.

19 MAEF, Secrétariat General, 17/208, Encontre entre Couve de Murville et Schröder, 17 Sept. 1963 and Akten zur Auswärtigen Politik des Bundesrepublik Deutschland (henceforth AAPD) Runderlass des Staatssekretars Lahr, 18 Sept. 1963.

20 On the grains quarrel see Knudsen, Farmers on Welfare, 207–65.

21 TNA, BT 241/840 Telegram 175 from Cohen to Foreign Office, 26 Nov. 1963.

22 For the US support to the Commission throughout the round, see Coppolaro, Lucia, ‘US policy on European integration during the GATT Kennedy Round negotiations (1962–1967): The last Hurrah of America's Europeanists’, International History Review, 33, 3 (2011), 409–29CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

23 CM2, 1963/541 PV de la 119ème session du Conseil de la CEE, 16–23 Dec. 1963.

24 AECB PV 247 30 Oct. 1963, ‘Préparation des négociations agricoles'.

25 MAEF DE/CE, 1961–1966 GATT 931 ‘Les Accords du 23 décembre 1963’, 8 Jan. 1964.

26 CM2, 1963/541 PV de la 119ème session du Conseil de la CEE, 16–23 Dec. 1963.

27 Telegram 2004 for Bundy from Herter, 7 May 1964, Bator Papers, box 12, LBJL.

28 Telegram 2167 from Tubby to Secretary of State 15 July 1964, NSF – Subject files, Trade, Box 47, LBJL.

29 AECB BAC 62/1980–54, Note ‘Kennedy Round’ 9 Oct. 1964; ibid. PV 289, 12 Oct. 1964.

30 CM2 1964/128, PV de la 144ème session du Conseil de la CEE, 12–13 Oct. 1964.

31 MAEF, DE/CE, 1961–1966 GATT 932, ‘Note remise à la Commission', 27 Oct. 1964.

32 Memorandum from Bator to Bundy, 21 Oct. 1964, NSF – Subject files, Kennedy Round, Box 48, LBJL.

33 CM2 1964/168 PV de la 156ème session du Conseil de la CEE, 12–15 Dec. 1964.

34 AECB 122/1991 – 16, Liste des exceptions, 13 Oct. 1964.

35 This description of the approval of the exceptions list is grounded on CM2 1964/143, PV de la 149ème session du Conseil de la CEE, 10–15 Dec. 1964; AECB Marjolin's cabinet paper Box 791, Liste d'exceptions de la CEE, 4 Dec. 1964.

36 Note from Roth to McGeorge Bundy, 9 Feb. 1965, NSF Subject Files: Trade, Box 48, LBJL; CM2 1965/15 PV de la 160ème session du Conseil de la CEE, 2 Mar. 1965.

37 Ludlow, N. Piers, The European Community and the Crises of the 1960s: Negotiating the Gaullist Challenge (New York: Routledge, 2006), 71–94Google Scholar.

38 AECB PV 326 22 July 1965 and CM2 65/86, 173ème session du Conseil, 26–7 July 1965.

39 MAEF, DE/CE, 1961–1966, GATT 932 telegram 12624/27 from Brunet to French embassy in London, 25 Oct. 1965.

40 AECB, PV 337, 17 Nov. 1965.

41 Coppolaro, ‘US policy’.

42 US National Archives and Records Administration (henceforth NARA), 364 Recs. of the USTR, box 5, telegrams 2343 and 2349 reporting conversation between US Undersecretary of State Ball, Herter and Commissioner Rey in Washington, 27 May 1966.

43 AECB BAC 122/1991- 4 ‘Communication de la Commission au Conseil', 25 Mar. 1966.

44 CM2 1966/34 PV de la 188ème réunion du Conseil de la CEE, 13/14 June 1966 and NARA59 1964–1966 ECIN 3, box 791 telegram 1086 from Fessenden to State Department, 15 June 1966.

45 Administrative History of the Department of State, Volume I, Part VIII ‘International Economic relations', LBJL.

46 CM2 1967/2 PV de la 205ème session du Conseil de la CEE, 12 Jan. 1967; TNA BT 241/847 Telegram 1 from UK delegation to Brussels to Foreign Office, 18 Jan. 1967.

47 TNA BT 241/849 Confidential note ‘Kennedy Round’, 21 Mar. 1967.

48 CM2 1967/17 PV de la 212ème session du Conseil de la CEE, 10–12 Apr. 1967; AAPD 1967 doc 128 Drahterlass des Ministerialdirigenten Frank, 13 Apr. 1967; AECB PV 398, 13 Apr. 1967.

49 CM2 1967/17519 Telegram from Schacht (Consilium Genève) to Calmès and Megret (Consilium Bruxelles), 9 May 1967; telegram 3597 from Roth to Bator, 10 May 1967, Roth papers, box 3, LBJL.

50 CM2 1967/28 PV de la 216ème réunion du Conseil de la CEE, 10–11 May 1967.

51 CM2 1967/28 PV de la 216ème réunion du Conseil de la CEE, 10--11 May 1967.

52 Telegram 3660 from Roth to Bator, 14 May 1967, Roth papers box 3, LBJL; ANF 724.713, box 7, Ministère de l'Économie et des Finances, ‘Note’, 18 May 1967.

53 TNA PREM 13/1869 ‘Note, 16 May 1967; AECB BAC 122/1991–12 ‘Communication de la Commission au Conseil', 31 May 1967.