Some Reflections on the Preparation, Development and Repercussions of the Meetings between Heads of Government (1974–75)

Extract

THE MOMENT EUROPEAN POLICY BECAME AN ESSENTIAL ELEMENT IN the external and internal policies of our countries, it could not ignore the use of the ‘Summit’, which in itself was an outcome of technological advance and of the personalization of power. The first meeting between the heads of government of the Six took place in 1957, in order to speed up the conclusion of the Treaty of Rome. Later, it was France which was most insistent that these meetings should be repeated. The reason behind this insistence was, broadly speaking, the nature of the French constitutional system and the osition of the President of the Republic, whose task it is to take t e main res onsibility for foreign affairs.