European History: Failure of the Edc and the Success of Cfsp and Pjc

First it is important to know why intergovernmental approach is the main approach in the field of terrorism. The reason is quite simple: European history. Indeed the first supranational try called EDC was a failure. That event prevented Member States from sharing their authority in matter of security and defense for years.

The supranational failure is the European Community of defense (EDC). This embryo of institution was launched in 1950 and made concrete by a treaty signed on May 26th, 1952.

The idea was that EDC would have established a pan-European military, divided into national components.

Besides EDC would have had a common budget, arms and institutions. The EDC just like the ECSC was supposed to be absorbed by a European political community having a general competence in economic policy, foreign policy, security and defense.

Plan answered to an American request expressed in the context of the war of Korea. According to USA, Germany had to reconstruct its army in order to face Soviet Union threat. EDC would have been subordinated to NATO, at the strategy level and the commitment of troops.

The EDC looked like a good compromise because it gives to Western Germany some credibility and it created a European defense under NATO. That’s why between 1952 and 1953, Western Germany, Belgium, Luxemburg ratified the treaty.

However in front of the perspective of a German rearmament (we are 8 years after the end of the WW2) and an incorporation of armed forces in a supranational organization the French National Assembly refused in 1954, to ratify the treaty.

German rearmament is decided few months later, as part of the Western European Union, by the agreements of Paris.

As we see the first and last attempt of a supranational defense resulted in a failure. At the opposite, the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the PJC are two successes. Indeed their actions are quite different but they remain stable, moreover they showed the path to Europe....