Press and Referenda: The Case of the British Referendum of 1975

1978 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 601-616
Author(s):  
Colin Seymour-Ure
Keyword(s):  
European Economic Community ◽  
Election Campaigns ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
European Economic ◽  
The Press ◽  
British Press

What might be expected of the Canadian press, and of comment about the Canadian press, in a referendum on Quebec independence? This article does not seek directly to confront that question: it is exclusively about the contribution of the British press to Britain's referendum in June 1975 on her membership in the European Economic Community. Obviously the circumstances of that referendum were quite different from one about Quebec: unlike Premier Lévesque's proposal, for example, it was held across the whole nation, and opinions differed as widely within the parties and their leaderships as between them. But the article's contention—that referenda tend to put in doubt the legitimacy of the press at the same time as giving them an even more central role than in election campaigns—seems applicable to the Canadian situation and perhaps to referenda in general. To draw out the comparison fully, however, would require a familiarity with Quebec politics (and with the precedent of the 1942 conscription plebiscite) that is far beyond this author's competence. This note attempts simply to argue the case by illustration from the isolated British example.

General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

1958 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 261-263 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
European Economic Community ◽  
Free Trade Area ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
European Economic ◽  
Trade Area ◽  
Preliminary Examination ◽  
The Press ◽  
Treaty Of Rome ◽  
October 17 ◽  
Energy Community

The twelfth session of the Contracting Parties to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) was held in Geneva, October 17-November 30, 1957, under the chairmanshipof Shri L. K. Jha (India). According to the press, one of the most important aspects of the meeting was the discussion of the Treaty of Rome establishing the European Economic Community. A committee which had been created by a GATT ministerial meeting, October 28–30, 1957, to examine the relevant provisions of the treaty and of GATT and to consider methods of implementing the interrelated obligations which governments had assumed in the two instruments reported to the Contracting Parties that its four subgroups had examined the treaty with respect to tariffs, the use of quantitative restrictions for balance-of-payments reasons, trade in agricultural products, and the association of certain overseas countries and territories with the Community. Agreeing that the preliminary examination had been useful but that a number of important questions remained unsolved, the Contracting Parties decided that the Intersessional Committee, with representation from all contracting parties, should continue the work begun at the session. Following its discussion of the trade aspects of the treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) the Contracting Parties decided that further consideration could take place together with examination of the European Economic Community treaty. On another aspect of European economic integration, the Contracting Parties agreed that the Intersessional Committee should follow developments concerning the proposed European free trade area being negotiated in Paris.

International Wheat Council

1960 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 492-493
Keyword(s):  
European Economic Community ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
European Economic ◽  
The Past ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
The Press ◽  
Wheat Market ◽  
The World

The International Wheat Council held its twenty-ninth session in London, April 5–12, 1960, under the chairmanship of Sir Edwin McCarthy (Australia), for the purpose of reviewing the world wheat situation in accordance with Article 21 of the 1959 International Wheat Agreement. Representatives of 30 countries or territories attended the meeting, along with observers from the UN, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, and the European Economic Community. According to the press, the results of the first annual review of the world wheat situation, published on May 25, 1960, confirmed that the national wheat policies of the majority of exporting and importing countries were in open conflict with international realities, inasmuch as the world wheat market had been overshadowed for the past five years by burdensome surpluses and, despite government-assisted programs which had raised the volume of world wheat and flour exports to over 30 million metric tons a season, there was no prospect that the imbalance between supplies and demand would disappear during the next five years.

Programming the Common Market: The Making and Failure of a ‘Dirigiste’ Europe, 1957–1967

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-15
Author(s):  
Hugo Canihac
Keyword(s):  
European Integration ◽  
European Economic Community ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Practical Reasons ◽  
Economic Governance ◽  
Economic Community ◽  
European Economic ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Common

This article contributes to the debate about the history of the political economy of the European Economic Community (EEC). It retraces the efforts during the early years of the EEC to implement a form of ‘European economic programming’, that is, a more ‘dirigiste’ type of economic governance than is usually associated with European integration. Based on a variety of archives, it offers a new account of the making and failure of this project. It argues that, at the time, the idea of economic programming found many supporters, but its implementation largely failed for political as well as practical reasons. In so doing, it also brings to light the role of economists during the early years of European integration.

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