The New Belle Époque: Democracy and Prosperity Since 1975 639pand the EC revived in the 1970s, and plans were
drafted for adding Britain, Ireland, Denmark, and Nor-
way as the first step toward the economic union of all
of non-Communist Europe (see chronology 32.1). The
most important (and sometimes the most troublesome)
of these states, Britain, finally joined the EC in 1973. In
several cases, membership treaties were submitted for
public approval in a referendum. A negative vote in
Norway kept that country out of the European Com-
munity, but British membership was reaffirmed in a
public vote in 1975, encouraging a generation of EC
growth (see map 32.1). The death of General Franco
(1975) and the subsequent election of a democratic
government in Spain (1977), plus free elections in Por-
tugal (1975) that freed Iberia from the authoritarian
governments of the 1930s, allowed the EC to accept
both Iberian states, bringing membership to twelve.
Under the leadership of Jacques Delors, who presided
over the European Commission in Brussels for ten years
(1985–95), and Helmut Kohl, who strongly supported
closer unity, Europe moved toward a federal unity and
oversaw the transformation of the European Commu-
nity EC into the European Union (EU) in 1991, when
the Maastricht summit outlined a treaty to open Euro-
pean frontiers and establish a single market. By the
mid-1990s, the European Union had grown to fifteen
members with the addition of Sweden, Finland, and
Austria. The fall of the Communist bloc led to a wave
of applications from Eastern Europe, and in 1997 plans
were adopted for the eventual membership of Estonia,
Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Slovenia;
other Eastern European applications (plus one from
Turkey) have been put on a slower track.
As the European Union grew, so did its institutions.
The first direct elections for the European Parliament in
Strasbourg were held in 1979, and a woman, Simone
Veil of France, was chosen as its first president. An
agreement signed that same year created an integrated
monetary system to control exchange rates, the first
step toward a common European currency known as
the Euro, launched for banks in 1999 and scheduled to
replace European currencies such as the German mark
and the French franc (but not the British pound) in
2001.
The Maastricht Treaty of 1991 created a closer
union by opening national frontiers (in 1992) for the
free movement of goods, workers, students, or invest-
ments. The European Convention on Human Rights
quickly became another important part of the European
Union because all potential members were required to
subscribe to it and accept the jurisdiction of the Euro-
pean Court of Human Rights. The strict human rights
standards for membership create an obstacle to joining
the EU for several countries—laws allowing capital
punishment or evidence of the use of torture can ex-
clude a country.
The closer federation planned at Maastricht was so
controversial that many governments held referenda to
gain public approval of the treaty. In France, long a
leader in the drive toward greater unity, a referendum
of September 1992 only approved of the Maastricht
Treaty by the narrow margin of 51–49 percent. Prime
Minister Thatcher of Britain was the leading critic of
the European Union. She attacked the Brussels bureau-
cracy of “Eurocrats,” the plans for a common currency,
the Union’s common social policy (which she de-DOCUMENT 32.1
The Helsinki Accord, 1975
The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe pro-
duced the most idealistic international agreement of the cold
war. Thirty-five countries signed the Final Act of this confer-
ence, which became known as the Helsinki Accord.The participating states will respect human rights
and fundamental freedoms, including the freedom
of thought, conscience, religion or belief, for all
without distinction as to race, sex, language or
religion.
They will promote and encourage the effec-
tive exercise of civil, political, economic, social,
cultural, and other rights and freedoms all of
which derive from the inherent dignity of the
human person and are essential for his free and full
development.
Within this framework the participating states
will recognize and respect the freedom of the
individual to profess and practice, alone or in com-
munity with others, religion or belief acting in ac-
cordance with the dictates of his own conscience.
The participating states on whose territory na-
tional minorities exist will respect the rights of
persons belonging to such minorities to equality
before the law, will afford them the full opportu-
nity for the actual enjoyment of human rights and
fundamental freedoms and will, in this manner,
protect their legitimate interests in this sphere.
Helsinki Accord. New York Times,August 2, 1975.