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Intergovernmentalism in the European Communities in the 1970s: patterns and perspectives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 May 2009

Paul Taylor
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Extract

The direction of movement of integration between the member states of the European Communities was uncertain in the early 1970s. The increasingly intergovernmental style of decision making was then seen to have a potential for furthering integration, although a number of disintegrative pressures were noted. In 1973–1974, however, the teleological ambiguities were resolved, and in the late 1970s member states increasingly stressed autonomy rather than integration. Intergovernmental decision making then acquired a different character from that which it had shown in the early seventies. A shift in the center of gravity of the Communities' institutions, away from the Commission and in favor of the Presidency and the national foreign ministers and officials, both reflected and encouraged these developments.

Type
Articles
Information
International Organization , Volume 36 , Issue 4 , Autumn 1982 , pp. 741 - 766
Copyright
Copyright © The IO Foundation 1982

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References

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42 An article in the Financial Times, 17 January 1981, by Robert Mauthner reported that Gaston Thorn, new President of the Commission, would not take France to the European Court for its refusal to pay its share of an increase in the Budget pushed through by the Assembly. West Germany and Belgium had also refused to pay their share of the Budget. In February 1981 it was reported that the Commission would indeed bring all three before the Court.

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44 See Financial Times, 17 March 1980. The French Cabinet had warned the British that they would refuse to discuss the subject of the reduction of Britain's budgetary contribution unless other subjects were also linked and discussed, in particular a Community regime for sheep meat.

45 I am grateful for this point to Robert Jackson, M.E.P., made at a seminar at Oxford University, 21 November 1980.

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57 In 1980 a film starring Peter Sellers dealt with the advantages of simply “being there,” (i.e., in the right place at the right time) in acquiring power and status over those of having ability, capacity, and even mature judgment!

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