SEA to Maastricht: the CAP, the budget and Jacques Delors, 19871988

1
SEA to Maastricht the CAP, the budget and
Jacques Delors, 1987-1988

• Jacques Delors Head of the European Commission
• Ex-Finance Minister, European, French
• Budget, the CAP, England, enlargement
• 1984 compromise in Fontainebleau with England
• 1985 the Mediterranean enlargement
• 1987 crisis on the Budget
• Incapacity of the institutions and the states to
  decide on the 1988 EEC budget
• 1987 Jacques Delors and the commission propose a
  plan to save money on the CAP
• European Council of Brussels, February 1988
• The Delors package European Monetary System,
  political Europe, etc

2
Second round the Delors project of economic and
monetary union

• The European Council of Hanover, June 27th 1988
• Delorss project of European Economic and
  Monetary Union
• Reactions of the member-states remain cautious
• A committee set under Jacques Delors with "the
  task of studying and proposing concrete steps
  leading towards this union."

3
The Delors committee and report

• April 17th 1988, the Delors report
• Introduce a European Monetary Union in three
  steps, with complete Monetary union and a common
  currency as the last step
• A European level of economic leadership
• Mitigated reception
• A model inspired by the Bundesbank and supported
  by the German economic power and monetary
  stability
• Unifying Europe economically around Germany
  neutralizing an economically strong, reunified
  Germany?
• For France, caution and hopes at the same time
• Controlling Germany?
• Different economic philosophies
• A liberal and competition-oriented European
  economic organization

4
The European Summit of Madrid

• June 27th 1989, Summit of Madrid compromises are
  found
• The Delors report is adopted
• A deadline is fixed for the first stage (creation
  of common instruments and harmonization of
  policies), on July 1st 1990
• Fall of the Berlin Wall, November 1989
• Decision to wait for 1993 before accepting new
  members
• Mitterrand very cautious towards reunification
  and changes in Eastern Europe
• The confederation project and Yugoslavia
  Mitterrands fear of uncontrolled desagregation
• Caution towards a new Germany. Not hostility in
  principle, but fear and hopes for a peaceful
  progression
• Mitterrand a man of the 1930s? Relations with
  Kohl important here
• He is not the only one
• Le Figaro Magazine, September 29th 1990 Achtung!

5
The intergovernmental conference of Maastricht,
1991

• December 8th-9th 1989 the Strasbourg European
  Council decide to convene an Intergovernmental
  Conference to prepare changes to the Treaty of
  Rome for the development of EMU
• Maastricht European Council, December 1991 start
  of the intergovernmental conference
• February 7th 1992 signature of the treaty
• EMU, three pillars system (one communitarian and
  two intergovernmental pillars), the European
  Union, a European citizenship, etc

6
François Mitterrand and political union

• A political dimension for the European project
• Mitterrands conviction
• Europe as a tool for France, as a guardian of the
  states being a European and a French
• Several speeches by Mitterrand emphasize this
  symbolic aspect
• Behind the talks conviction? A will to control
  Germany? Merging common problems into a strong
  European organization? Taming the beast
• The French brake on several parts powers of the
  Parliament, economic harmonization, etc
• Typical two steps forward, one step backward
  French approach
• The weak one in the couple has become the strong
  one
• A strong Franco-German axis endangered only
  slightly in 1989 as a result of the Fall of the
  Berlin Wall and the Confederation project

7
Ratifying Maastricht

• Ratification before the end of 1992
• Italy, Germany and Belgium asked for the European
  Parliament to approve the treaty before they
  ratify
• April 1992, the Parliament asked the states to
  ratify, but drew a list of the treatys
  shortcomings
• UK and Denmark got derogations, so ratification
  does not seem to be too difficult
• But
• Denmark, June 1992, No 50.7  Ireland Yes
  vote 68.7 ...
• France
• June 1992, Mitterrand decided to hold a
  referendum
• September 1992, referendum.
• Not much debate on the treaty itself, mostly on
  Mitterrand and his policy
• End of the permissive consensus when the people
  seem to discover the extent of European
  cooperation

8
Campaig and vote

• No camp
• Communist Party National Front Gaullist
  opposition Socialist majority
• Economic problems, the rise in unemployment
• Yes camp
• Socialist Party minority UDF (Union for French
  Democracy) RPR (Rally for the Republic)
• Mitterrand campaigns for the yes
• 20 September 1992, Yes vote 51.04 
• One third for, one against and one consisting of
  abstentions and spoilt ballot papers.
• Not traditional Left-Right divide, rather
  Centre-Left and Centre-Right against both Left
  and Right extremes. Divisions in all parties.
• Socio-cultural split, depending on the voters
  educational background the Yes vote was
  generally supported by the most well-informed
  citizens, capable of understanding the benefits
  of the European Union.
• The Treaty of Maastricht was finally able to
  enter into force on 1 November 1993.

9
Enlargement 1995

• The end of the Cold War changes Swedens
  conceptions on its neutral status
• Real European integration will become an option
  for Sweden only as time goes by, and with the end
  of the Cold War (Michael af Malmborg, 1994)
• The domestic balance in the country evolves also
• Incentives
• Economy
• 1990 63 of Swedens trade is with
  member-states of the European Community
• Economic crisis in the 1980s questions the
  welfare-state
• Political political independence might become
  isolation
• The cons
• Welfare-state
• Neutrality
• In a finance bill presented to the Swedish
  Parliament in 1990, Social Democratic Prime
  Minister Ingvar Carlsson hints at membership
• Divisions, but a strong consensus amongst the
  political and economic leaders of Sweden
• July 1991 formal membership application

10
Enlargement

• Nordic negotiations with the EU
• Each country on its own
• Fast-track negociations in 1992-1994, at the same
  pace as Austria, Finland, and Norway
• No problem with the Copenhagen criteria (June
  1993)
• Sweden is a democracy, adopts free market, and is
  willing to embrace the whole body of community
  laws and regulations
• Technical problems find technical solutions
• Problems (fishery, CAP) and carrots (regional
  aids to arctic and sub-arctic regions,
  flexibility with the CAP, especially towards
  Finland, rebats to budget contributions,
  compromise on fishery with Norway, etc)
• France defends the CAP and debates on fishery
  rights
• Treaty signed with all the candidates in Corfu,
  June 24th 1994
• 1995 Finland, Austria, Sweden enter