Belgian Foreign Policy and the Cold War: The Impact of European Political Co-operation in the 1970s

Abstract

This paper discusses the interrelation between the European Political Co-operation (EPC) and the Cold War, the Belgian role within the EPC, and its impact on Belgian foreign policy-making. The EPC was a response of the European Communities member states to global and Cold War challenges occurring at the end of the 1960s, such as decolonization and détente. It aimed for mutual consultation, coordination and harmonization of member state foreign policies. Belgian foreign policy actors were central in developing the political co-operation. For subsequent Belgian governments, political co-operation was seen as an important step towards political union. A relevant factor for the development of the EPC along the lines of Belgian foreign policy preferences were processes of international socialization and/or Europeanization which gradually changed foreign policy-making in the member states. The significantly intensified and accelerated information flow between the foreign ministries, as well as frequent personal encounters on various levels within EPC, were catalysts for this. Apart from clear indications of Europeanization processes, the EPC partners were not always willing or able to find common responses to political challenges in the context of the Cold War. Belgian foreign policy-making was no exception to this rule.