Journal of European Integration History – Revue d'histoire de l'
Journal of European Integration History – Revue d'histoire de l'
Journal of European Integration History – Revue d'histoire de l'
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Challenge to the Community 13wi<strong>de</strong>spread scepticism among the political <strong>de</strong>cision-makers during 1958-9 <strong>–</strong> especiallyin Britain, Denmark and Austria <strong>–</strong> as to the economic viability and the diplomaticusefulness <strong>of</strong> a small FTA. When this option <strong>–</strong> in the form <strong>of</strong> a Uniscan FTA 23 <strong>–</strong>was first mentioned at ministerial level in Britain in July 1958, for example, thePresi<strong>de</strong>nt <strong>of</strong> the Board <strong>of</strong> Tra<strong>de</strong>, David Eccles, complained:“I do not like this. It would be a climb-down <strong>–</strong> the engineer's daughter when the general-manager'ssaid no. Would we be trying to make the Six jealous and take us back,or would we seriously contemplate life in a Scandinavian group over against theSix?” 24At that stage the most appropriate reaction to <strong>de</strong> Gaulle's veto was still largelyseen as a matter <strong>of</strong> tra<strong>de</strong> policy, and the issue was thus not yet as politicized as itwould be in the early 1960s. With little domestic or party political interest involvedin the EFTA option, the resulting lack <strong>of</strong> strong lea<strong>de</strong>rship allowed a political vacuumto <strong>de</strong>velop over <strong>European</strong> policy in the absence <strong>of</strong> a wi<strong>de</strong>r settlement with theEEC. This vacuum was filled during 1958-9 by the industrial fe<strong>de</strong>rations, especiallythose <strong>of</strong> Swe<strong>de</strong>n, Norway and Britain, and by those <strong>of</strong>ficials who had beenintimately involved in the FTA negotiations and who had established close and regularcontacts during 1958. They strongly pressed for the adoption <strong>of</strong> the EFTAoption <strong>–</strong> not, as one British <strong>of</strong>ficial report on the Uniscan FTA put it in December1958, “because <strong>of</strong> its intrinsic merits but because there is no alternative”. 25Representatives <strong>of</strong> the industrial fe<strong>de</strong>rations <strong>of</strong> the <strong>de</strong>veloped non-Six OEECstates had forged closer contacts since January 1958, when Swedish industrialistsinitiated regular consultations during talks in London with two representatives <strong>of</strong>the Fe<strong>de</strong>ration <strong>of</strong> British Industries (FBI), Director General Norman Kipping andOverseas Director Peter Tennant. 26 This bilateral meeting was followed by a summit<strong>of</strong> British, Norwegian, Swedish, Danish, Swiss and Austrian representatives inParis on 13/14 April 1958, 27 and another summit in autumn 1958, which took placeat the suggestion <strong>of</strong> British <strong>of</strong>ficials. 28 After the breakdown <strong>of</strong> the FTA negotiationsthe industrial fe<strong>de</strong>rations opted for EFTA primarily as a means <strong>of</strong> putting politicalpressure on the EEC in or<strong>de</strong>r to reach a wi<strong>de</strong>r tra<strong>de</strong> settlement between the twoblocs. On 17 December 1958, the FBI Presi<strong>de</strong>nt, Hugh Beaver, <strong>de</strong>man<strong>de</strong>d at a23. In 1950, Britain, Norway, Swe<strong>de</strong>n and Denmark had established Uniscan which merely provi<strong>de</strong>dfor consultative meetings on the level <strong>of</strong> <strong>of</strong>ficials and, when necessary, between ministers on economicand financial questions.24. Eccles to Macmillan: PRO PREM 11/2531 (14 July 1958).25. PRO PREM 11/2532 (3 December 1958).26. Cf. W. PAUES, “Die Industrie und die EFTA. Wenig Bekanntes aus <strong>de</strong>r Vorgeschichte <strong>de</strong>r EFTA”,in: EFTA Bulletin 16/4 (1975), pp.13-16 (13-14). On the <strong>European</strong> policies <strong>of</strong> the Scandinavian fe<strong>de</strong>rationsuntil the creation <strong>of</strong> EFTA see also B. STRÅTH, Nordic Industry and Nordic EconomicCooperation. The Nordic Industrial Fe<strong>de</strong>rations and the Nordic Customs Union Negotiations 1947-1959, Stockholm 1978.27. Cf. Free Tra<strong>de</strong> in Western Europe. A joint statement by the Industrial Fe<strong>de</strong>rations and Employers'Organisations <strong>of</strong> Austria, Denmark, Norway, Swe<strong>de</strong>n, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Paris14.4.1958.28. On FBI policy see also N. KIPPING, Summing up, London 1972.