In this new episode of EU History Explained, Giulia Bonacquisti, Programme Manager at the Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA), takes a look at the history of a difficult policy area for Europe: foreign policy. A sensitive subject for European countries in the wake of World War II, foreign policy integration has a storied history and remains a key area of discussion in the modern European Union.
In this video, we take a look back to the early days of the European project, mapping proposals and developments, both failed and successful, to further integrate European states in the foreign policy field. In a context of a war-weary post-war European continent, a new geopolitical factor in NATO, and rising Cold War tensions, European leaders’ efforts to integrate their countries’ foreign policy was no less complex. This video, the first in a two-part series on the history of European foreign policy, deals with the initial steps on the way to a European foreign policy, and a series of unsuccessful attempts in the early years to development in the 1970s of certain informal cooperation practices – the so-called European Political cooperation. Watch part 2 here.
EU History Explained is TEPSA’s video series exploring the origins of the modern EU. If you have ever wondered how the European Union of today came to be, or what lies behind the talk of politics being shaped in ‘Brussels’, then this is the series for you!
We would like to thank the Historical Archives of the European Union at the European University Institute for their contribution.
