PERIODIC PROGRESS REPORT

Scientific overview

Summary of objectives

Between July 2003 and December 2003, the activities of the Thematic Network „European Integration History“ concentrated on the following objectives:

Completion of articles and monographs on British, Spanish, Danish, Dutch and German policies in European integration, on the relationship between the United States and the European Community, on European security, on the enlargement of the European Community, on the history of European institutions and on the development of European social policy
Preparation of the 18th issue of the Journal of European Integration History dealing with the Hague summit in 1969
Preparation of conference volumes
Organisation of international conferences on European governance and European security
Completion of an application for a Network of Excellence in the 6th Framework Program of
Research and Development.

Survey of the work carried out

Between July 2002 and December 2002 the Thematic Network “European Integration History” continued the research on the main aspects of the project, i.e. British, Spanish, Danish, Dutch and German policies in European integration, the relationship between the United States and the European Community, European security, the enlargement of the European Community, on the history of European institutions and the development of European social policy. In most of these fields research in the archives is now completed whereas the analysis of the collected materials still needs some time.

Among the conference volumes in preparation, two could be published during this period: the volume on “La Belgique, les petits États et la construction européenne”, edited by Michel Dumoulin in collaboration with Geneviève Duchenne and Arthe Van Laer (Actes de la Chaire Glaverbel des etudes européennes, n°3, P.I.E.-Peter Lang, Bruxelles 2003, 348pp.); and the volume on “Le fait regional et la construction européenne”, edited by Marie-Thérèse Bitsch (Organisation internationale et relations internationales, n°57, Bruylant, Bruxelles 2003, 457 pp.). The volume on “Europe, Cold War and Coexistence, 1953-1965”, edited by Wilfried Loth, is in print; the volume on “Actors and Policies in the European integration”, edited by Antonio Varsori, is still in preparation.

As scheduled, the Network published the Eighteenth issue of the Journal of European Integration History (volume 9, n° 2, second half of 2003) which is dealing with a crucial point in European Integration history of the 60’s and 70’s: the Hague Summit of December 1969. The issue was coordinated by Network member Jan van der Harst. Further contributions were delivered by Marie-Thérèse Bitsch and Alan Milward from the Network and Marie Eleonora Guasconi, Anjo G. Harryvan, Claudia Hiepel, N. Piers Ludlow, and Jerôme Wilson as guest authors. In the seven contributions of the issue the summit’s outcome is described as a package deal with gains and losses for all the partners involved. It seems as a precedent to further summits that there could be no talk of an evident, undisputed winner.

In preparation of deliverable n° 8, an international conference on “Supra-nationality, Citizenship and Political Life in Europe” in October, 2003 in Essen. Under the direction of Network chairman Wilfried Loth 20 historians and political scientists discussed papers on the roles of the different EU institutions, the development of the balance of political powers since the inception of the EU, the public perception of the function of the EU, the mechanisms by which and acceptable balance between national sovereignty and supranationalism might be maintained, and the means by which the institutional system of the EU may evolve. Special attention was given to the relationship between early institutional arrangements of the EEC/EC and the actual debate on a European constitution. The revised papers will appear in a conference volume.

Network member Anne Deigton participated in another international conference which contributed on deliverable n° 6. A conference on Europe and NATO, the enlargement process between 1952 and 1954, and comparisons with 2004, which was organized by the Centre des hautes études de l’Armament, l’Université de Paris III, l’Université de Paris I, and which was held at the Ecole Militaire, in Paris. The conference discussed political, planning, economic and strategic questions relating to the 1950s, when Greece, Turkey and West Germany joined NATO. The final panel looked at the contemporary process of enlargement in the light of the previous debates. It was very clear that in the cold war, NATO was, as well as its defence role, a crucial venue for debate between partners of the Alliance, and a framework in which the international politics between European powers was mediated. Given the current asymmetry of hard power on each side of the Atlantic, sometimes conflicting political priorities, and the unwieldy size of the Alliance, it was not clear how this would develop in the future. The conference had political significance, given the current international situation. It was also the first international conference of academics and policy makers hosted by the French on NATO for nearly ten years. The proceedings of the conference will be published in due course.

As an enlargement of projects nos. 1 and 4 in cooperation with project n° 8 several members of the Network were working on an integrated “History of the European Commission, 1958-1973”. Coordinated by Michel Dumoulin, Marie Thérèse Bitsch, Gérard Bossuat, Jan van der Harst, Wilfried Loth, and Antonio Varsori organized a first overview on the respective archival sources and held a first series of interview with former staff members of the Commission.

Network chairman Wilfried Loth prepared an application for a Network of Excellence in the field 1.1.7 “Citizenship, democracy and new forms of governance” of the 6th Framework Program of Research and Development. The Network of Excellence on “Europe as an emerging international actor in 20th century history” will integrate the research of 105 historians from 17 different countries and 36 institutions and thus considerably enlarge the performance of research on the history of European integration. The application was delivered on 10th December, 2003.

Special attention was given once again to the dissemination of results to the general public. As listed under 4. , members of the network published general volumes and survey articles. Furthermore they held conferences and participated in other dissemination events.

Planned activities

In the first half of 2004, the Thematic Network “European integration history” will reach his final stage. Research on the remaining topics of the agenda of deliverables shall be completed. The Network will edit the conference volumes on “Europe, Cold War and Co-existence, 1953-1965” as well on “Actors and Policies in the European integration”.

The Network will prepare the next two issues of the Journal of European Integration History. The topic of the 19th issue (2004/1) will be “Europe and the Crisis in Yugoslavia, 1989-1995”. Coordinator of this issue will be Klaus Schwabe. The 20th issue (2004/2) will be an open issue. Coordinator will be Anne Deighton.

To complete the research on the history of European integration in the 1960’s, the Network will organize as a final step a further international conference on “United Europe and Africa. From the idea of ‘Eurafrica’ to the Lomé I Agreements (1975)”. The conference will be organized by Marie-Thérèse Bitsch and Gérard Bossuat, to be held from 1th to 3th of April, 2004 in Paris.

The next meeting of the members of the Network will take place on 3th of April, 2004 also in Paris. Major items on the agenda will be further efforts in dissemination of the results of the research project and the planning of the next stage of research after the completion of current Network’s program.

List of Project Deliverables

2. Gérard Bossuat

« la Banque de France dans les relations monétaires internationales de la France, 1945-1960 » in Politiques et pratiques des banques d »émission en Europe (XVIIe-XXe siècle), le bicentenaire de la Banque de France dans la perspective de l’identité monétaire européenne, Bibliothèque Albin Michel, Histoire, 2003 , p. 696-722

8. Michel Dumoulin / Geneviève Duchenne / Arthe Van Laer (dir.), La Belgique, les petits États et la construction européenne, Bruxelles 2003, 348 pp.

(contribution on deliverable n° 8)

14. Alan S. Milward

The Hague Conference of 1969 and the United Kongdom’s Accession to the European Economic Community, in : Journal of European Integration History vol. 9 n° 2 (2003/2), pp. 116-126

(contribution on deliverable n° 14)

15. Klaus Schwabe

Die USA, der Völkerbund und der Frieden in Europa: 1932-1939, in: Sylvain Schirmann ( Hg.), Organisations internationales et architectures européennes, 1929-1939, Metz 2003, S.117 – 132.

The United States, Western Security and European Integration (1945-1963), in: Michel Dumoulin, Hg., L’Union européenne et les Ètats Unis( Actes VIIIe Chaire Glaverbel d’études européennes), Bruxelles 2003, S.27-64

(contributions on deliverable n° 15)

25. Journal of European Integration History

Eighteenth issue (second semester 2003): “The Hague summit of December 1969” (responsible: Jan van der Harst), with contributions by Marie-Thérèse Bitsch, Jan van der Harst, Alan S. Milward

(The planned topic on “Soviet attitudes towards European Integration” was delayed)

28. Anjo G. Harryvan and Jan van der Harst, 'Swan Song or Cock Crow? The Netherlands and The Hague Conference of December 1969', JEIH 9 (2003) 2, pp. 27-40

(contribution on deliverable n° 28)

29. Wilfried Loth

Der deutsch-französische Vertrag in der Praxis: Leistungen und Probleme, in: 40 Jahre deutsch-französische Zusammenarbeit (1963-2003), Nijmegen 2003, pp. 37-44

From the „Third Force“ to the Common Market: Discussions about Europe and the Future of the Nation-State in West Germany, 1945-57, in: Dominik Geppert (ed.), The Postwar Challenge: Cultural, Social, and Political Change in Western Europe, 1945-1958, Oxford 2003, pp. 191-209

L’Allemagne et les petits États dans la construction européenne, in : Michel Dumoulin / Geneviève Duchenne / Arthe Van Laer (dir.), La Belgique, les petits États et la construction européenne, Bruxelles 2003, pp. 247-258

(contributions on deliverable n° 29)

Exploitation and disssemination of results

Further to the publications listed under number 3 the participants of the Network published general volumes and survey articles. Also, they held conferences and participated on other dissemination events:

General volumes:

Marie-Thérèse Bitsch

(dir.), Le fait régional et la construction européenne, Bruxelles, Bruylant, 2003 (Actes du colloque de Strasbourg de mai 2002), 457 pages

Gérard Bossuat

(dir.), Dangers d’Europe, Europe en danger, Groupe de recherches sur l’histoire de l’Europe communautaire (GRHEC), série colloques et recherches de Sciences humaines Cahier du CICC, 2003, 124 pages

Wilfried Loth

Deutschland in der Weltpolitik 1945-1961. Studienbrief der FernUniversität Hagen, 3 vols, Hagen 2003

Gilbert Trausch

(dir.), Histoire du Luxembourg. Le destin européen d’un «petit pays», Toulouse 2003,

333 p.

Survey articles :

Gérard Bossuat

« Construire une Europe puissance, les responsabilités de la France », in sous la direction de Gérard Bossuat, Dangers d’Europe, Europe en danger, Groupe de recherches sur l’histoire de l’Europe communautaire (GRHEC), série colloques et recherches de Sciences humaines Cahier du CICC, 2003, p. 5- 18

Gérard Bossuat

« La France terre d’asile : l’avenir brouillé d’un grand destin », p. 107-134, Dans Antoine FLEURY, Carole FINK et Lubor JILEK (eds) Les droits de l’homme en Europe depuis 1945, Peter Lang, l’Europe et les Europes, 19e et 20 e siècle, Bern 2003

Gilbert Trausch

«L’idée des Etats-Unis d’Europe dans la construction européenne». In : Collegium (revue trimestrielle publiée par le Collège d’Europe à Bruges), No 28 (juin 2003) p. 71-84.

Lectures :

Marie-Thérèse Bitsch

« Le couple France-Allemagne et la construction européenne. 40 ans après le traité de l’Elysée », Université d’été de Fribourg (Allemagne), 5 septembre 2003

Marie-Thérèse Bitsch

« L’aventure de la CECA », Institut des hautes études internationales de Genève, 18 novembre 2003

Marie-Thérèse Bitsch

Presentation on the institutional development of the European Commission at a meeting with research assistants in the project 'The History of the European Commission, 1958-1973' in Louvain-la-Neuve , 15 September 2003

Gérard Bossuat

4 septembre 2003, 20h 00-22 h 00, Frankreich-Zentrum der Albert-Ludwig-Universität Freiburg, conférence sur : « existe-t-il une identité européenne ? », Cours d’été, 1- 5 septembre.

Gérard Bossuat

20-23 novembre 2003: meeting wth colleagues of the Instytucie Politologii, Universty of Stettin (Pologne), Prof dr. Andrzej Glowacki and Prof Dr. Janusz Ruszkowski on the possibility to apply to an Intensive programme (post graduate formation on European Integration), and lectures to students of the Institute, Saturday 22nd November, 9 h 00- 12h 15 : « Jean Monnet le père de l’Europe », « Les défis de l’Union européenne pour le XXIe siècle ».

Jan van der Harst

Presentation on Oral History at a meeting with research assistants in the project 'The History of the European Commission, 1958-1973' in Louvain-la-Neuve , 15 September 2003

Wilfried Loth

Conference on “The European Constitution in historical perspective”, Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, Brühl, 16 July 2003

Wilfried Loth

Presentation on Walter Hallstein at a meeting with research assistants in the project 'The History of the European Commission, 1958-1973' in Louvain-la-Neuve , 15 September 2003

Klaus Schwabe

Conference on „Versailles 1919 – eine neue Weltordnung ?“, 3.11. 2003 , Kiel,Verband der Geschichtslehrer von Schleswig-Holstein

Klaus Schwabe

Lecture on „ Die USA und die Europäische Integration 1945-1963“, 6.-10.1.2003 Seminar Europa-Studiengang RWTH Aachen

Gilbert Trausch

Enseignement au Collège d’Europe à Bruges: cours intitulé «Les grands courants de l’histoire de l’Europe», (la civilisation européenne).

Gilbert Trausch

Contribution d’histoire aux séminaires organisés à Bruges par le Collège et la Commission Européenne à l’intention des fonctionnaires des Communautés européennes.

Other events :

Gérard Bossuat

3-5 juillet 2003, participation aux 4e rencontres culturelles franco-allemandes de Fribourg en Brisgau : le projet Europe, constitution politique, contexte social, cadre de vie, Kaiserhaus Freiburg, participation à la table ronde « Cadre de vie »

Wilfried Loth

Seminar with Prof. Alfred Grosser (“Scientist in residence”) on “France, Germany, and Europe: What now?” at the University of Essen, 24-25 November 2003

Gilbert Trausch

Participation aux travaux de l’Université de l’Europe à Paris (Prof. Hélène Ahrweiler).

The Journal of European Integration History edited by the Network publishes conclusions of research in the different fields of the project after a process of peer reviewing. Each number includes reviews of important relevant publications as well as informations about the current activities of the Network.

Further information on the products of the Network can be found on the website of the group under www.etat.lu/CERE/. The website also regularly presents the next to last volume of Journal of European Integration History.