Plans for a free-trade area and the birth of EFTA
Plans for a free-trade area and the birth of EFTA
The European Free Trade Area
Report by Peter Thorneycroft on the establishment of a free-trade area in Europe (19 July 1957)
TextOn 19 July 1957, Peter Thorneycroft, British Chancellor of the Exchequer, presents to the Council of the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) a report in which he lists the various obstacles to the establishment of a free-trade area in Europe.
‘Great Britain and European integration’ from Economische Voorlichting (12 October 1956)
TextOn 12 October 1956, the Dutch magazine Economische Voorlichting publishes an article on the British plan for a European free-trade area.
Report by Working Party No 21 of the OEEC Council (11 July 1957)
TextOn 11 July 1957, Working Party No 21 of the Council of the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) presents its report on the establishment of a free-trade area in Europe.
Letter from Christian Calmes to René Sergent (16 October 1957)
TextOn 16 October 1957, Christian Calmes, Secretary-General of the Interim Committee for the Common Market and Euratom, writes a letter to René Sergent, Secretary-General of the OEEC, in which he sets out the position of the Six on the negotiations under way for the implementation of a free trade area in Europe.
Report by the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe on the political problem of the free-trade area and the EEC (11 April 1958)
TextOn 11 April 1958, the Netherlands delegate, Marinus van der Goes van Naters, presents to his colleagues in the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe the main points of his report on the harmonisation of the planned free-trade area developed by the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) together with the European Economic Community (EEC).
‘The labour pains of the European market’ from Die Zeit (24 April 1958)
TextOn 24 April 1958, the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit outlines the difficulties involved in the implementation of the Common Market resulting from, in particular, France’s monetary policy.
‘Minister Maudling remains optimistic regarding the free trade area’ from the Nieuwe Rotterdamse Courant (17 May 1958)
TextOn 17 May 1958, the Netherlands daily newspaper Nieuwe Rotterdamse Courant comments on the words of Reginald Maudling, Paymaster General of the United Kingdom, regarding the plan to create a large free trade area.
'Six or Seventeen' from The Manchester Guardian (24 July 1958)
TextOn 24 July 1958, the daily newspaper The Manchester Guardian reports on the difficult negotiations for the establishment of a free-trade area in Europe.
Report by the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe on the free-trade area (October 1958)
TextOn 10 October 1958, delegate John Hay presents to his colleagues in the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe his report on the debates relating to the establishment, in Europe, of a free-trade area and on the complementarity of such an area with the European Common Market.
Memorandum from the European Economic Community (17 October 1958)
TextOn 17 October 1958, the Council of Ministers of the EEC forwards to the Intergovernmental Committee for the establishment of a free-trade area in Europe a memorandum which analyses the provisions relating to the establishment thereof.
Letter from Harold Macmillan to Charles de Gaulle (London, 7 November 1958)
TextOn 7 November 1958, the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, asks the French President, Charles de Gaulle, to reconsider once again France’s position regarding the creation of a single industrial free-trade area in Europe.
Cartoon by Low on the question of the United Kingdom’s links with continental Europe (1 April 1958)
ImageOn 1 April 1958, in connection with the debates on the establishment of a single free trade area in Europe, British cartoonist David Low illustrates the dilemma facing the United Kingdom: to remain loyal to the Commonwealth or to establish closer relations with continental Europe. The leading figures from each camp try to promote their ideas: Reginald Maudling, HM Paymaster General, and David Eccles, President of the Board of Trade, are in favour of a rapprochement with continental Europe, while Robert Menzies, Australian Prime Minister, John George Diefenbaker, Canadian Prime Minister, and Harold Macmillan, British Prime Minister, emphasise the deep links between Britain and the Commonwealth.
Note from the Action Committee for a United States of Europe (October 1958)
TextIn October 1958, the Action Committee for a United States of Europe drafts a note on future relations between the European Economic Community (EEC) and third countries, in particular the United Kingdom, with a view to the establishment of a free-trade area.
'Rocks loom for European trade' from the Süddeutsche Zeitung (7 November 1958)
TextOn 7 November 1958, the German daily newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung analyses the reasons underlying the failure to create a free-trade area in Western Europe.
Letter from Charles de Gaulle to Harold Macmillan (Paris, 15 November 1958)
TextOn 15 November 1958, the French President, Charles de Gaulle, explains to the British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, why he considers the existence of the Common Market and the obligations that it entails for its Member States to be incompatible with plans for a single industrial free-trade area in Europe.
Cartoon by Mansbridge on France’s opposition to the free trade area (26 November 1958)
ImageOn 26 November 1958, British cartoonist Norman Mansbridge illustrates France’s role in the failure of the British plan for a free trade area in Western Europe.
‘Is this failure?’ from L’Écho de l’Industrie (29 November 1958)
TextOn 29 November 1958, L’Écho de l’Industrie, the official publication of the Federation of Luxembourg Industrialists (Fedil), speculates on the future of the British proposal for a free trade area in Western Europe.
Report on the negotiations concerning the establishment of a Free Trade Area (14 December 1958)
TextOn 14 December 1958, the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) publishes a detailed report on progress in the negotiations for the establishment of a free-trade area in Europe.
Consideration by the Council of Ministers of the OEEC of the Maudling report (17ºDecember 1958)
TextOn 17 December 1958, Maurice Couve de Murville, French Foreign Minister, sends a circular note to French diplomatic posts abroad, regarding the examination, by the OEEC Council of Ministers, of the Maudling Report on the provisional trade regime that the Six envisage applying to third countries.