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Reaching Out Beyond the Community: Enlargement and International Representation

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Roy Jenkins and the European Commission Presidency, 1976 –1980

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Abstract

This chapter considers Jenkins’ engagement with international partners beyond the European Community across all four years of his presidency. The opening section looks at Jenkins’ efforts to promote the enlargement of the EEC to Greece, Spain, and Portugal. Jenkins transformed the Commission’s approach to southern enlargement in a fashion that would be vital in helping the Greeks join in 1981. The Commission was powerless, however, to prevent the French from delaying Spanish and Portuguese membership. The enlargement story therefore illustrates both the extent and limits of what a Commission president can achieve. The chapter then looks at Jenkins’ travel patterns more generally, examining his interaction with the EEC’s principal economic partners, the United States and Japan, and his travels in Africa, China, and India.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Roy Jenkins, European Diary, 1977–1981 (London: Collins, 1989), 238.

  2. 2.

    Mario Del Pero, Victor Gavin, Fernando Guirao, and Antonio Varsori, Democrazie: l’Europa meridionale e la fine delle dittature (Florence: Le Monnier, 2010).

  3. 3.

    For a detailed and archivally based study of the Greek application, see Eirini Karamouzi, Greece, the EEC and the Cold War, 1974–79 (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014); the Iberian case is less well studied but see Matthieu Trouvé, L’Espagne et l’Europe: De la dictature de Franco à l’Union Européenne, Euroclio. Etudes et Documents (Brussels: Peter Lang, 2008); Raimundo Bassols, España en Europa: historia de la adhesión a la CE 1957–85 (Madrid: Política Exterior, 1995); Vanessa Núñez Peña, ‘Entre la Reforma y la Ampliación (1976–1986): Las Negociaciones Hispano-Comunitarias en Tiempos de Transición y Approfondissement’ (PhD dissertation, Universidad Complutense, 2013).

  4. 4.

    N. Piers Ludlow, Dealing with Britain: The Six and the First UK Application to the EEC (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997); N. Piers Ludlow, The European Community and the Crises of the 1960s: Negotiating the Gaullist Challenge (London: Routledge, 2006), 125ff.

  5. 5.

    Karamouzi, Greece, the EEC and the Cold War, 1974–79, pp. 45–49.

  6. 6.

    A fact acknowledged by the leader of the British negotiations in 1970–2: Con O’Neill, Britain’s Entry into the European Community: Report by Sir Con O’Neill on the Negotiations of 1970–1972, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) Publications (London: Whitehall History Publishing in association with Frank Cass, 2000), 305–10.

  7. 7.

    ECHA, COM (77) PV 433, 2ème partie, 8 June 1977; and COM (77) PV 444, 2ème partie, 28 September 1977.

  8. 8.

    TP, File 6, ‘Float, June–October 1977’, Tickell to Phillips, ‘Organisation of work on enlargement’, 6 October 1977; File 7, ‘Float, October 1977 to February 1978’, Tickell to Jenkins, 18 October 1977.

  9. 9.

    ECHA, COM(77), PV 434, 2ème partie, 15 July 1977.

  10. 10.

    ECHA, COM (77) PV 444, 2ème partie, 28 September 1977.

  11. 11.

    ECHA, COM (77) PV 442, 23ème partie, 17–18 September 1977; see also Jenkins, European Diary, 1977–1981, 142–3.

  12. 12.

    The decision to convene this group was taken in late September—see COM (77) PV 444, 2ème partie, 28 September 1977; for a report on the outcomes of these discussions, see COM (77) PV 447, 2ème partie, 11 October 1977.

  13. 13.

    East Hendred papers, unpublished manuscript of the diary, entry for 2 December 1977.

  14. 14.

    ECHA, COM (77) PV 446, 2ème partie, 11–12 October 1977.

  15. 15.

    Jenkins, European Diary, 1977–1981, 160.

  16. 16.

    Ibid.

  17. 17.

    TP, File 7, ‘Float, October 1977 to February 1978’, statement by Mr Jenkins at the Council of 18 October 1977.

  18. 18.

    Jenkins, European Diary, 1977–1981, 161.

  19. 19.

    Ibid.

  20. 20.

    TP, File 15, ‘European Councils’, Jenkins’ ‘Memorandum for the European Council, Copenhagen April 7/8 1978’, 3 April 1978.

  21. 21.

    COM (78) 120 final, General Considerations on the Problems of Enlargement. Communication sent by the Commission to the Council on 20 April 1978. Bulletin of the European Communities, Supplement 1/78, available at http://aei.pitt.edu/958/

  22. 22.

    Interview with David Hannay, 14 July 2011, available at http://archives.eui.eu/en/oral_history/INT172

  23. 23.

    Jenkins, European Diary, 1977–1981, 170–3 and 576–9.

  24. 24.

    Ibid., 212 and 316–20.

  25. 25.

    Ibid., 452–3.

  26. 26.

    Ibid., 255–8.

  27. 27.

    Ibid., 633–5.

  28. 28.

    Interestingly the frequency of such meetings is rather understated in The European Diary with a large number that were mentioned in the original text omitted from the published version. Examples include a meeting with the Portuguese Foreign Minister on 2 July 1980 and the first post-Giscardazo conversation with Calvo Sotelo on 7 July 1980. JP, Box 379.

  29. 29.

    TP, File 16, ‘Records of Meetings and Conversations, September 1976 to 1977’, call of the Greek Minister for Co-ordination on the President of the European Commission, Berlaymont, 25 July 1977.

  30. 30.

    TP, File 17, ‘Records of Meetings and Conversations, 1978 to March 1979’, meeting between the President of the European Commission and the Prime Minister of Greece, Athens, 28 September 1978.

  31. 31.

    Ibid., visit of the Greek Prime Minister to the European Commission, Brussels, 27 January 1978 and record of meeting between the President of the European Commission and the Spanish President of the Government, Palacio de la Moncloa, Madrid, 27 April 1978.

  32. 32.

    Ibid., visit of the Greek Prime Minister to the European Commission, Brussels, 27 January 1978; for the over-optimistic timetable on Iberian membership, see Jenkins, European Diary, 1977–1981, 539.

  33. 33.

    Karamouzi, Greece, the EEC and the Cold War, 1974–79, 167–8.

  34. 34.

    Ibid., 187–8.

  35. 35.

    TP, File 18, ‘Records of Meetings and Conversations, April 1979 to December 1980’, note of a meeting between the President of the European Commission and the Spanish Minister for relations with the Community, 16 July 1980.

  36. 36.

    Jenkins, European Diary, 1977–1981, 634–5.

  37. 37.

    TP, File 7, ‘Float, October 1977 to February 1978’, statement by Mr Jenkins at the Council of 18 October 1977.

  38. 38.

    Most analysts concur that the Kennedy Round, in the mid-1960s, was dominated by the United States and the EC. See Thomas W. Zeiler, American Trade and Power in the 1960s (New York: Columbia University Press, 1992); Lucia Coppolaro, The Making of a World Trading Power: The European Economic Community (EEC) in the GATT Kennedy Round Negotiations (1963–67) (Farnham: Ashgate, 2013).

  39. 39.

    TP, File 18, ‘Records of Meetings and Conversations, April 1979 to December 1980’, call by the President of the European Commission on the President of the United States, White House, Washington, 22 January 1980.

  40. 40.

    TP, File 9, ‘Float, September 1978 to January 1979’, Speaking Note, ‘Your Visit to the US’, undated but clearly prepared for the Commission meeting of 20 December 1978.

  41. 41.

    TP, File 17, ‘Records of Meetings and Conversations, 1978 to March 1979’, note of a discussion between the President of the United States and the President of the European Commission during the official visit of President Carter on 6 January 1978.

  42. 42.

    Ibid., Tickell to Jenkins, ‘Your conversation with President Carter’, 19 December 1978.

  43. 43.

    Ibid., record of a conversation between [the President of the United States and] the President of the European Commission: Cabinet Office, White House, Washington, 14 December 1978.

  44. 44.

    TP, File 18, ‘Records of Meetings and Conversations, April 1979 to December 1980’, call by the President of the European Commission on the President of the United States, White House, Washington, 22 January 1980.

  45. 45.

    TP, File 17, ‘Records of Meetings and Conversations, 1978 to March 1979’, Tickell to Jenkins, ‘Your conversation with President Carter’, 19 December 1978.

  46. 46.

    Eirini Karamouzi, ‘Telling the Whole Story: America, the EEC and Greece, 1974–1976’, in Europe in the International Arena during the 1970s, ed. Antonio Varsori and Guia Migani (Brussels: Peter Lang, 2011), 355–74.

  47. 47.

    TP, File 16, ‘Records of Meetings and Conversations, September 1976 to 1977’, record of a call of the President of the European Commission on the Japanese Prime Minister, Prime Minister’s Official Residence, Tokyo, 12 October 1977.

  48. 48.

    TP, File 10, ‘Float, February 1979 to June 1979’, Tickell to Jenkins, ‘Relations with Japan’, 24 May 1979.

  49. 49.

    Jenkins, European Diary, 1977–1981, 336–8, 506–8, 573–5, 614–16, 646–7.

  50. 50.

    For a detailed discussion of the context see Benedetto Zaccaria, ‘For the Sake of Yugoslavia: The EEC’s Yugoslav Policy in Cold War Europe, 1968–1980’ (PhD, dissertation, IMT Institute for Advanced Studies, 2014), 149–201.

  51. 51.

    TP, File 12, ‘Float, February to July 1980’, Speaking Note: ‘Your Visit to Yugoslavia’, 5 March 1980.

  52. 52.

    Zaccaria, ‘For the Sake of Yugoslavia’, 194–9.

  53. 53.

    Jenkins, European Diary, 1977–1981, 373–4.

  54. 54.

    For the start of the storm, see The Economist, 27 January 1979.

  55. 55.

    Marie-Thérèse Bitsch and Gérard Bossuat (eds.), L’Europe unie et l’Afrique: de l’idée d’Eurafrique à la Convention de Lomé I (Brussels: Bruylant, 2005).

  56. 56.

    Guia Migani, La France et l’Afrique sub-saharienne, 1957–1963: histoire d’une décolonisation entre idéaux eurafricains et politique de puissance (Bruxelles: Peter Lang, 2008).

  57. 57.

    René Girault, ‘La France entre l’Europe et l’Afrique’, in Il Rilancio dell’Europa e i trattati di Roma, by Enrico Serra (Brussels: Bruylant, 1989), 351–78.

  58. 58.

    Robert Lemaignen held the post from 1958 to 62; Henri Rochereau from 1962 to 70; Jean-François Deniau from 1970 to 73; and then Cheysson from 1973 onwards.

  59. 59.

    Véronique Dimier, The Invention of a European Development Aid Bureaucracy: Recycling Empire (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).

  60. 60.

    The records of Jenkins’ discussions in Sudan are in File 16 of the Tickell collection; those of his West African trip in File 17.

  61. 61.

    Jenkins, European Diary, 1977–1981, 379–86.

  62. 62.

    TP, File 16, ‘Records of Meetings and Conversations, September 1976 to 1977’, note of meeting between the President of the European Commission and the Danish Foreign Minister, Christianborg Palace, Copenhagen, 1115 Hours, Friday, 10 June 1977.

  63. 63.

    TP, File 7, ‘Float, October 1977 to February 1978’, Tickell to Jenkins, ‘Visit to Greenland’, 21 October 1977.

  64. 64.

    Jenkins, European Diary, 1977–1981, 266–9.

  65. 65.

    For a flavour of Jenkins’ speech-making, see the online collection at http://aei.pitt.edu/view/eusries/GENERAL=3ASpeeches.html. More comprehensive collections can be found in both the Commission archives and amongst Jenkins’ personal papers now in the Bodleian Library, Oxford.

  66. 66.

    Jenkins, European Diary, 1977–1981, 156, 362, 596–7. The reference to the interview in Ghana, omitted from the published version of the diary, is in the unpublished diary entry for Friday, 12 January. JP, Bodleian Library, Box 386, p. 560.

  67. 67.

    A detailed study of the Brussels press corps during this period is under preparation by Martin Herzer at the European University Institute, Florence.

  68. 68.

    The best historical account of its creation is Daniel Möckli, European Foreign Policy during the Cold War: Heath, Brandt, Pompidou and the Dream of Political Unity (London: I. B. Tauris, 2009).

  69. 69.

    For the former see Angela Romano, From Détente in Europe to European Détente: How the West Shaped the Helsinki CSCE (Brussels: Peter Lang, 2009). For a nuanced account of the latter see Aurélie Elisa Gfeller, Building a European Identity: France, the United States, and the Oil Shock, 1973–1974 (New York: Berghahn, 2012); Möckli is rather more critical.

  70. 70.

    Christopher Audland, Right Place, Right Time (Stanhope: Memoir Club, 2004).

  71. 71.

    For details see Marie Julie Chenard, ‘The European Community’s Opening to the People’s Republic of China, 1969–1979: Internal Decision-Making on External Relations’ (PhD, London School of Economics, 2012).

  72. 72.

    TP, File 17, ‘Records of Meetings and Conversations, 1978 to March 1979’, record of a conversation between the President of the European Commission and Vice-President Deng Xiaoping, Great Hall of the People, Peking, 23 February 1979.

  73. 73.

    Ibid., record of a Conversation between the President of the European Commission and the Minister of Foreign Trade of China, Peking, 23 February 1979.

  74. 74.

    Ibid., record of a conversation between the President of the European Commission and Chairman Hua Guofeng, Great Hall of the People, Peking, 24 February 1979; for details of Hua’s eventual European itinerary, see Financial Times, 13 and 15 October 1979.

  75. 75.

    TP, File 16, ‘Records of Meetings and Conversations, September 1976 to 1977’, record of a call of the President of the European Commission on the Japanese Prime Minister, Prime Minister’s Official Residence, Tokyo, 12 October 1977.

  76. 76.

    For a discussion of the tight links developed in the mid-1970s see N. Piers Ludlow, ‘The Real Years of Europe? U.S.–West European Relations during the Ford Administration’, Journal of Cold War Studies 15, no. 3 (2013): 136–61.

  77. 77.

    See his evidence to the House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee, 8 December 2010. The name derives from the type of aircraft used by British prime ministers between the 1960s and the 1990s.

  78. 78.

    Jenkins could be very candid about this: Jenkins, European Diary, 1977–1981, 594.

  79. 79.

    For a relatively trivial example, see ibid., 477–8.

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  1. London School of Economics, London, UK

    N. Piers Ludlow

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Ludlow, N.P. (2016). Reaching Out Beyond the Community: Enlargement and International Representation. In: Roy Jenkins and the European Commission Presidency, 1976 –1980. Security, Conflict and Cooperation in the Contemporary World. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51530-8_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-51530-8_6

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