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Cini: European Union Politics 2e

Chapter 02

The 'empty chair' crisis and Luxembourg compromise

The Treaty of Rome, agreed in 1958, provided that unanimous voting in the Council of Ministers would gradually be replaced by qualified-majority voting (QMV) from 1 January 1966. It is also envisaged that the Commission would become more independent, with the budgetary support from the revenue of custom duties. The European Parliament would have the power over the approval of such a budget. All these institutional reforms pointed to a single direction – more supranational elements – in the integration process.

The supranational trend of European integration worried France and particularly her President Charles de Gaulle. In March 1965 the Commission presented a budgetary proposal to the Council of Ministers. It dealt with the financing of the Common Agricultural Policy, the creation of independent revenue for the Community, and the strengthening of the European Parliament. The proposal, however, failed to get unanimous support in the Council on 1 July. The French Minster of Information claimed on the following day that France's partners in the Community had set new political and economic conditions which had prevented agreement on common financial responsibility. From 6 July onwards, France withdrew all its participation in Council proceedings, provoking the so-called 'empty chair' crisis.

A solution was found during the extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers held in Luxembourg. On 30 January 1966 the member states reached an agreement on the Luxembourg compromise. The agreement stated that the Treaty of Rome would be applied without change, but 'where, in the case of decisions which may be taken by majority vote on a proposal of the Commission, very important interests of one or more partners are at stake, the Members of the Council will endeavour, within a reasonable time, to reach solution which can be adopted by all the Members of the Council which respecting their mutual interests and those of the Community.' In other words, unanimous decisions should always be sought in the Council despite the provisions of QMV.

It is worth noting that the Luxembourg compromise has no legal status and has seldom been invoked. Nevertheless, over the years it has obliged the Commission to consider the vital interests of the member states in drafting its proposals and, perhaps unintentionally, led to a consensual culture in the Council.

Web Links

The history of European integration: Key events
europa.eu.int/abc/history/index_en.htm

EU history: history of European integration, University of Leiden
www.eu-history.leidenuniv.nl/

European Integration History Index, a joint project of the European University Institutes Library, the Historical Archives of the European Union and the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l'Europe
vlib.iue.it/hist-eur-integration/Index.html

Further Learning Resources

Milward, Alan S. (1992), The European Rescue of the Nation-State, London: Routledge.

Moravcsik, Andrew (1998), The Choice for Europe: Social Purpose and State Power from Messina to Maastricht, London: UCL Press.

Nugent, Neil (2003), The Government and Politics of the European Union, 5th edition, Basingstoke: Palgrave.