The Evolution of European Integration

The Evolution of European Integration: From the Pleven Plan to the Rome Treaties

• The Pleven Plan aimed to create a European Defence Community (EDC) with a European Army led by a European Defence ministry.
• The EDC faced objections due to the lack of a framework for defining a European defence policy and weak democratic accountability structures.
• Work started on developing a plan for a European Political Community (EPC) to accompany the EDC.
• The French Parliament adjourned debates on the EDC, and the Western European Union (WEU) was created instead, with a mutual defence provision.
• NATO largely undertook the role of defence for WEU, and the WEU became an operational arm for the EU’s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP).
• WEU functions were transferred to the EU, and the WEU was dissolved in 2011.
• The failure of the EDC and EPC did not halt the movement towards European integration.
• The Beyen plan aimed to re-center the debate on economic matters as a prelude to greater political integration.
• The Beyen plan proposed the integration of transport infrastructure, energy policies, the development of peaceful use of atomic energy, and the creation of a common market.
• The idea behind the Beyen plan was approved by the foreign ministers of the 6 ECSC countries, and a Committee was entrusted with fleshing out the details.
• The UK initially took part in the Committee but withdrew due to a preference for a more traditional form of inter-governmental cooperation.
• The Beyen plan was more ambitious in its economic aims than the Monnet strategy of step-by-step integration based on concrete, economic cooperation.