History of the European Communities (1973–1993)

Politics

Commission

Ortoli Commission

The Ortoli Commission under François-Xavier Ortoli assumed its office in the newly enlarged European Communities on 5 January 1973.

Jenkins Commission

The first Commission to be led by a member from the new states was the Jenkins Commission, of the UK's Roy Jenkins who held office between 1977 and 1981. Following on was the Thorn Commission, which oversaw the completion of the customs union and then 1985 saw the first Delors Commission.

Delors era

Jacques Delors' Commission, serving from 1985 to 1994, is regarded as the most successful in history, becoming a frequent source of comparison to his successors.

Delors presided over accession of Spain and Portugal, the fall of Communism with the reunification of Germany in 1990, the adoption of the European flag, the Single European Act, the Maastricht Treaty, the beginnings of EMU, the signing of the Schengen Agreement (19 June 1990) and the completion of the single market.

Parliament

The Treaties of Rome had stated that the European Parliament must be directly elected, however this required the Council to agree on a common voting system first. The Council procrastinated on the issue and the Parliament remained appointed, French President Charles de Gaulle was particularly active in blocking the development of the Parliament, preventing it from acquiring budgetary powers until his departure from office.

Parliament pressured for agreement and on 20 September 1976 the Council agreed part of the necessary instruments for election, deferring details on electoral systems which remain varied to this day. During the tenure of President Jenkins, in June 1979, the elections were held in all the then-members. 410 MEPs were elected and at their first meeting they elected a new President of the European Parliament; Simone Veil, a French liberal who was the first woman to be elected to the post.

The new Parliament, galvanised by direct election and new powers, started working full-time and became more active than the previous assemblies. The elections also helped cement the political groups and, despite attempts by the larger groups to consolidate their position, smaller parties began to co-operate and form alliances. In the subsequent elections (1984 and 1989) the electorate expanded to include new member states and the left wing parties saw increasing electoral gains. However, turnout began to drop from 63% in 1979 to 58% in 1989.

Intergovernmental

The Single European Act was signed by the foreign ministers on 17 and 28 February 1986 in Luxembourg and The Hague respectively. In a single document it dealt with reform of institutions, extension of powers, foreign policy cooperation and the single market. It came into force on 1 July 1987.

The act was influenced by work on what would be the Maastricht Treaty, the Treaty establishing the European Union. There had previously been plans to create a more integrated body and, spurred on by enlargement, various groups put forward plans. Building on the legitimacy of its elections, in 1984 the Parliament produced the Spinelli plan. The draft treaty establishing a European Union, which was inspired by the failed European Political Community, was adopted by the Parliament 237 votes to 31 (43 abstentions). It would have given a more federal structure using the community method and codecision with the parliament, however it failed to win the support of the member states. (See also: Crocodile Club)

Similar proposals from the Commission collapsed due to arguments over the UK rebate (secured by British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in 1984) and a German-Italian proposal resulted in the Solemn Declaration on European Union of 19 June 1983 as a political impetus towards a Union but not itself a binding treaty. A treaty establishing the European Union was eventually agreed on 10 December 1991 and signed on 7 February of the following year. Denmark lost a referendum on ratification but succeeded in a second attempt after securing four opt-outs. The Treaty came into force on 1 November 1993.