Table Of ContentTHE EUROPEAN HOUSE OF CARDS
Also byLouiseB. van Tartwijk-Novey
THE UNITED STATESAND THEEUROPEAN COMMUNITY
Europe inthe 1990s:On the Road to Unity
The European House
of Cards
Towards a United States ofEurope?
Louise B. van Tartwijk-Novey
M
St. Martin's Press
©LouiseB.vanTartwijk-Novey1995
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ISBN978-0-333-62125-7 ISBN978-1-349-23956-6(eBook)
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
vanTartwijk-Novey,LouiseB.
TheEuropeanhouse ofcards/LouiseB.vanTartwijk-Novey.
p. em.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-312-12576-3(cloth)
1.Europeanfederation. 2.Post-communism-Europe. 3.European
cooperation. 4.CounciloftheEuropeanUnion. 5.Treatyon
EuropeanUnion (1992) I.Title.
JN15.V36 1995
320.94'09'049-dc20 94--43718
CIP
To Hans & Cine1le
with love
Contents
Preface IX
Introduction xiii
Part I A Critical Juncture
1 The Maastricht Backlash 3
2 The Temptation to Protect 23
3 An Unstable Continent, an Uncertain Union 37
4 The German Problem 55
5 A Defenceless Union 73
Part II: The Post-Soviet Era
6 The Age of Maastricht 89
7 Resisting the Temptation 101
8 From Fragmentation to Integration 115
9 A European Germany 125
10 A European Security Union 135
Conclusion 147
Notes 151
Select BibliofSYaphy 152
Index 163
vii
Preface
Much has been written about the topic ofModern Europe.
But unlike many other books on the subject, this book is
not a narrative account of the history of Western Euro
pean integration. Instead, The European House of Cards
examines the impact that the fall of communism in East
ern Europe has had on both the European Union and
the integration process.
There have been three pivotal periods in Europe's his
tory this century: the end of the First World War, the
end of the Second World War and, more recently, the
end of the Cold War. Each of these periods has marked
the closing of an era and the dawn of a new age. Each of
these new beginnings has required that decisions be taken
swiftly and often without precedent to shape an uncer
tain future.
With the benefit of hindsight it is apparent that some
of these decisions have had better results than others.
The decisions taken at the end of the First World War
for example, the ostracism of Germany, the continuation
of the continent's arms race and balance of power strug
gles, together with America's later isolation from Europe
in both military and economic terms, largely set the scene
for the great depression and the Second World War.
However, the Europeans and the Americans learned from
their mistakes and the decisions taken only a few years
later at the conclusion of the Second World War led to
the longest period of peace and economic growth in
Europe's history. Today, Europe is in the midst ofanother
period of profound change. The decisions being taken at
this moment are critical for Europe's future, and are equally
as important as, if not more important than those taken
at any other junction in Europe's recent history. This is
because the transformation ofEurope is taking place at a
truly breathtaking pace and is affecting more countries
ix
x Preface
than ever before. This is making the search for a new
post-Cold War European identity all the more crucial.
TheEuropean House Cards looks at the European Union
in direct relation to the end of the Cold War (1989) and
the signing of the Maastricht Treaty (1991). The end of
the Cold War marked the end of the post-Second World
War era. All the characteristics of this period of East
West stand-offand superpower tensions have vanished. The
Soviet Union, communism, Comecon, the Warsaw Pact, a
divided Germany, a strong US military and political pres
ence in Europe have disappeared. But while one era was
dying, another was quickly springing to life: this is the
post-Soviet Union era, which I call the Age of Maastricht.
This new period in Europe's history began with the sign
ing of the Maastricht Treaty. The treaty was architected
as a direct response to the end of the Cold War. The
treaty offers the Europeans a blueprint for their survival
in the so-called new world order. But it is creating a con
troversial future. The collapse ofcommunism has removed
the old discussion of European unity from the realm of
grand ideas to a direct necessity. The adoption of the
Maastricht Treaty marked the beginning of the period
within which Europe will move from the nation-states to
a centralised union.
The European House of Cards is divided into two comp
lementary parts. Part I, 'A CriticalJuncture', takes a look
at the four challenges that made the Maastricht treaty
necessary:
1. The need to assure the security of its citizens.
2. The need to continue to prosper economically.
3. The need and the responsibility to stabilise the continent.
4. The need to find a way to live together with Germany.
Not surprisingly, these are variations of the same four
challenges that made the original six members states band
together to begin the European integration process in
the early 1950s.
However, as Part I explains,while the Treaty of Maastricht
was supposed to set the groundwork for greater levels of
Preface xi
member-state cooperation so as to tackle these challenges,
the treaty encountered two heavy setbacks. The first was
a reactionary public backlash against the treaty and the
integration process. The other was heightened inter-Union
nation-state-first bickering and divisions.
Part II. 'The Post-Soviet Era', regards these same four
challenges from the position that no sovereign Western
European nation-state alone can tackle the myriad of
daunting external and internal challenges that the Union
now faces. And in spite of the European Union's post
Cold War crisis ofconfidence, the member states will con
tinue to move toward greater levels ofnational cooperation
at an even faster rate than most would imagine. They have
no choice.
Ijsselstein, The Netherlands
