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"Relying on internal sources, Wilfried Loth analyses the birth and subsequent development of the European Union, from the launch of the Council of Europe and the Schuman Declaration until the Euro crisis and the contested European presidential election of Jean-Claude Juncker. This book shines a light on the crises of the European integration, such as the failure of the European Defence Community, De Gaulle's empty chair policy, or the rejection of the European Constitution in France and the Netherlands, but also highlights the indubitable successes that are the Franco-German reconciliation, the establishment of the European common market, and the establishment of an expanding common currency. What this study accomplishes, for the first time, is to illuminate the driving forces behind the European integration process and how it changed European politics and society."-- Prologue: Churchill's Congress: Four Driving Forces ; The Struggle for the Congress ; Negotiations and Decisions ; A Milestone -- 1. Foundation Years, 1948-1957:- The Struggle over the Council of Europe ; The Emergence of the Coal and Steel Community ; The Drama of the EDC ; The Difficult "Relance" ; The Negotiations on Euratom and the European Economic Community -- 2. Formative Years, 1958-1963: The European Commission ; The Struggle over the Free-Trade Area ; The Construction of the Common Market ; Fouchet Plans and British Membership Application ; Accession Negotiations and Franco-German Treaty ; The Success of the Economic Community -- 3. Crises of the Community of the Six, 1963-1969: Erhard's Relaunch ; Hallstein's Offensive ; The Crisis of the "Empty Chair" ; The Time of the Arrangements ; The Return of the British Question ; France on the Way to Turning -- 4. Expansion and New Perspectives, 1969-1975: Turning Point: The Summit in The Hague ; The Completion of the Common Market ; The First Enlargement ; The Project of Monetary Union ; Political Cooperation ; Crisis and New Beginning -- 5. Consolidation, 1976-1984: The Path to Direct Elections ; The European Monetary System ; Expansion to the South ; The Defense of Detente ; Thatcher, Genscher, and Colombo -- 6. The Era of Development, 1984-1992: The Single European Act ; The Internal-Market Project ; The Project for an Economic and Monetary Union ; European Security and German Unity ; The Path to Maastricht -- 7. From Maastricht to Nice, 1992-2001: Implementing the Monetary Union ; The Northern Expansion ; The Way to Amsterdam ; Security and Eastern Policy ; The Nice Complex -- 8. Constitutional Struggle and Euro Crisis, 2001-2012: The Eastward Enlargement ; The Constitutional Treaty ; From Prodi to Barroso ; The Constitutional Crisis ; The Euro Crisis -- Conclusion: The Future of the Union
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