Sterling, International Monetary Reform and Britain's Applications to Join the European Economic Community in the 1960s

2002 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 345-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine Schenk

Throughout the 1960s the international monetary system crumbled in a gradual process which was punctuated by a series of crises. The international community proposed, debated and ultimately procrastinated over major reforms, and opted instead for ad hoc ‘plumbing’ solutions such as the Gold Pool and bilateral currency swaps. While this turmoil unfolded, Britain made repeated attempts to join the European Economic Community. This article shows that while monetary issues were not as often publicly discussed, they were a crucial factor in the negotiations for British membership. It also aims to bring together the discussions on the reform of the international monetary system in the 1960s with those on the enlargement of the EC.

Author(s):  
Simon Bulmer ◽  
Owen Parker ◽  
Ian Bache ◽  
Stephen George ◽  
Charlotte Burns

This chapter focuses on the ‘other’ European communities and the origins of the European Economic Community (EEC). Negotiations over a plan for a European Defence Community (EDC) ran parallel to those over the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). Connected with the EDC was a proposal to create a European Political Community (EPC) to provide democratic European structures for co-ordinating foreign policies. This chapter first considers the Pleven Plan for an EDC, before discussing the development of the EDC/EPC plan and the ultimate failure to reach agreement in 1954. It also analyses the Messina negotiations and the road to the Treaties of Rome. Finally, it looks at the experience of the other organization that was created at the same time as the EEC, the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), which, like the ECSC, was institutionally merged with the EEC in 1967.


Author(s):  
John W. Young ◽  
John Kent

This chapter provides an overview of the Eastern and Western blocs in the 1960s. It first considers US–Soviet relations from the Cuban missile crisis to détente spanning the period 1963–1971, focusing on the talks between Nikita Khrushchev and John F. Kennedy regarding the Test Ban Treaty, before discussing the superpowers’ relations with China. It then explores unity and division in Eastern Europe and in the Western bloc, taking into account the European Economic Community, NATO, and the Western economies in the 1960s. It also analyses the rise of European détente, covering topics such as progress on pan-European contacts and the emergence of Ostpolitik.


2021 ◽  
pp. 137-158
Author(s):  
Daniel C. Thomas

This chapter uses extensive archival evidence to demonstrate how the membership norm adopted by the community in early 1962—that only parliamentary democracies are eligible for membership—shaped European Economic Community decisions on Spain, Turkey, and Greece in the 1960s. Despite its prior openness to Madrid, the EEC rejected Spain’s quest for association in 1962 after trade union activists and members of the European parliament highlighted the gap between the new norm and the repressiveness of the Spanish regime. Despite deep concerns about the under-developed state of the Turkish economy, the EEC approved an association agreement in 1963 that recognized Turkey’s membership eligibility after the country re-established its democratic institutions. And despite the advanced state of the association agreement with Greece, the EEC froze further developments following that country’s military coup in 1967 and linked further progress to a restoration of democracy in Athens.


Author(s):  
Simon Bulmer ◽  
Owen Parker ◽  
Ian Bache ◽  
Stephen George ◽  
Charlotte Burns

This chapter focuses on the first years of the European Economic Community (EEC). It describes the early 1960s as a period of apparent success for the supranational elements within the EEC, noting the rapid progress made towards the creation of both a common market and a common agricultural policy. The chapter also examines the crisis sparked by France’s decision to boycott meetings of the Council of Ministers in response to proposals for a more supranational method of funding the EEC budget; the impact of this crisis on the process of European integration; the so-called Luxembourg Compromise; and the Hague Summit. It concludes by discussing the EEC’s expansion of its membership at the start of the 1970s, as well as its first moves towards an Economic and Monetary Union and a Common Foreign and Security Policy.


Author(s):  
José Antonio Ocampo

The 1944 Bretton Woods Conference, which created the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, was a major landmark in international cooperation. However, the Bretton Woods system came under increasing pressure in the 1960s due to the lack of a reliable adjustment mechanism to manage payment imbalances as well as the persistent asymmetries in the balance-of-payments pressures faced by surplus and deficit countries. In 1971 the system effectively collapsed when the US government suspended convertibility of dollars into gold for other central banks—a decision that would prove to be permanent. The system that evolved to replace it can be viewed as a ‘non-system’ with diverse ad hoc arrangements. Viewed overall this non-system has proved to be fairly resilient, but some of its major gaps continue to have negative effects on the global economy.


Author(s):  
Ian Bache ◽  
Simon Bulmer ◽  
Stephen George ◽  
Owen Parker

This chapter focuses on the first years of the European Economic Community (EEC). It describes the early 1960s as a period of apparent success for the supranational elements within the EEC, noting the rapid progress made towards the creation of both a common market and a common agricultural policy. The chapter also examines the crisis sparked by France’s decision to boycott meetings of the Council of Ministers in response to proposals for a more supranational method of funding the EEC budget; the impact of this crisis on the process of European integration; the so-called Luxembourg Compromise; and the Hague Summit. It concludes by discussing the EEC’s expansion of its membership at the start of the 1970s, as well as its first moves towards an Economic and Monetary Union and a Common Foreign and Security Policy.


Author(s):  
Ian Bache ◽  
Simon Bulmer ◽  
Stephen George ◽  
Owen Parker

This chapter focuses on the ‘other’ European communities and the origins of the European Economic Community (EEC). Negotiations over a plan for a European Defence Community (EDC) ran parallel to those over the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). Connected with the EDC was a proposal to create a European Political Community (EPC) to provide democratic European structures for co-ordinating foreign policies. This chapter first considers the Pleven Plan for a EDC before discussing the development of the EDC/EPC plan and the ultimate failure to reach agreement in 1954. It also analyses the Messina negotiations and the road to the Treaties of Rome. Finally, it looks at the experience of the other organization that was created at the same time as the EEC, the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), which, like the ECSC, was institutionally merged with the EEC in 1967.


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