The European Commission facing crisis: social, neo-mercantilist and market-oriented approaches (1967–85)

Abstract

ABSTRACTThe European Commission of the European Economic Community (EEC) has occupied a major role in the organization of European economic cooperation, but it has often been overlooked by historians. Drawing on recent literature as well as on an exploration of the Commission’s archives (and the national archives of the three largest member-states), this contribution aims to examine the three visions developed by this institution to tackle the crisis of capitalism between 1967 and 1985. Some commissioners, such as the Dutchman Hendrikus (Henk) Vredeling, fostered a social agenda, aimed at favouring the redistribution of wealth in Europe, and the protection of the weakest. Others, such as the Belgian Etienne Davignon, defended a neo-mercantilist approach in order to maximize European industrial output. And still others, such as the Frenchman Raymond Barre, defended market-based solutions. In 1985, Delors became President of the Commission and put forward a new synthesis of those three approaches. With this threefold structure (social, neo-mercantilist and market-oriented), this article advances three claims. First, it will demonstrate that the Commission was not a monolithic actor, but rather divided along many competing lines. Second, it will show that some prominent commissioners developed their own economic agenda, which was sometimes separate from that of their country’s governments. Third, this article will circumvent the current dominant teleological narrative, which ascribes a neoliberal streak to the entire history of European integration, and accomplish this by showing that the Treaty of Rome may be interpreted in varied ways. The neo-mercantilist category is useful to show that many actors were unconvinced by market-based regulations, without being socialists or social democrats. In sum, this contribution aims to explore the full range of economic solutions envisioned to overcome economic crises.