Journal of European Integration History – Revue d'histoire de l'

Challenge to the Community 29With respect to Austria, in contrast,”Couve took a much more moderate line, saying that it was recognized that Austria'sneutrality was not her fault, and that the Community would no doubt be disposed todo what they could for Austria. But she on her side must be “sage” and in particularshould not spoil her better case by aligning her policy with that of Switzerland andSweden.” 85The three EFTA neutrals had jointly prepared their applications for EEC associationaccording to Article 238 and had submitted them in Brussels on 15 December1961. At that stage, the Community had in fact debated for some time – not least inconnection with the Greek application – how to use the instrument of Article 238.After a conference on association in spring 1960 representatives of the EEC governmentshad declared that association agreements should only be concluded withthe perspective of full membership and should be in the form of a customs unionwith special provisions for agriculture. 86 The report on association by the PoliticalCommittee of the European Parliament, which the rapporteur, the German SocialDemocrat Willy Birkelbach, submitted in 1961, confirmed the key demand thatassociation agreements should be exclusively reserved for countries whichintended to join the EEC, but did not yet fulfil the economic conditions of membership.87Of course the conclusions of the Birkelbach report were in no way binding onthe EEC governments. Yet, they reflected widespread doubts among the Six as towhether they should negotiate association agreements with the industrializedEFTA neutrals. The Belgian Foreign Minister Paul-Henri Spaak, who had presidedover the Spaak Committee's deliberations in 1955, explained general keyconditions which in his view were absolutely indispensable in any agreement withthe EFTA neutrals when talking to British negotiators in Brussels in January 1962.Spaak said that“he did not see how the Six could possibly agree to make association agreementswith the neutrals. In the first place he himself thought that Article 238 was intendedonly to cover the cases of countries which would have liked to become full membersbut were for the time being at least, too vulnerable economically to do so. In the secondplace, he thought that the economic advantages of both membership and associationshould be reserved exclusively for those countries which were prepared toaccept what he called the “servitudes politiques”. Broadly speaking, the associationof the three neutrals would bring no political and very little economic advantages tothe Six, whereas the benefits which the three neutrals themselves would obtainwould be disproportionately great. [In any case,] association must not be moreadvantageous than membership and, secondly, the admission of neutrals as associ-85. Roll (Brussels) to France: PRO FO 371/164767/11 (24 February 1962).86. “Erwägungen über die Grundsätze einer Assoziierungspolitik der Gemeinschaft”, Brussels19.4.1960: PA AA/520/Ref. 200-I A2.87. “Politische und institutionelle Probleme der Assoziierung. Teil V des Berichts über die politischenund institutionellen Aspekte des Beitritts in die Gemeinschaft oder Assoziierung mit ihr”, Dok. APE6687 (1961): PA AA/520/Ref. 200-I A2.