Foreign Policy Coordination in the European Community

One of the corner stones of the European Economic Community since its inception in 1958 has been the concept of political cooperation among the member states. Despite its economic character the founding fathers envisaged an essentially political community to be brought about by greater functional cooperation through Community organs such as the Commission, the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. 1 Greater harmony was also to be brought about in the conduct of Member States' foreign relations and the Community was increasingly to speak with one voice in international affairs. 2 Although the necessity to impart a more formal character to the process of consultations on foreign policy issues was felt during the decade following the establishment of the Community the first concrete steps in this regard were initiated only in 1969 which resulted in the so-called ‘Davignon Report’ in 1970. 3 Following its recommendation for a common European diplomatic effort European Political Cooperation (EPC) was set up in 1970. The process which was to consist of foreign policy coordination among the Member States of the European Community was to be conducted outside the framework of the treaties establishing the Community and thus not to be governed by the decision-making rules that applied to the meetings of the EEC Council of Ministers. 4