sought some mechanism beyond simple treaties to ensure a lasting peace on the
continent and to avoid a repetition of the massive destruction of the first half of
the 20th century. Economic integration was viewed as such a mechanism, because
by tightening economic (and ultimately, political) ties, the basis for conflict would
be undermined, a notion that is the foundation ofeconomic peace theoryin the field
of international relations. This is made quite clear in the famous statement by the
French politician Robert Schuman, in which he held that economic integration
would make war “materially impossible” in Europe. In addition, some of the
smaller European countries were at a disadvantage in competing against the larger
economies and sought to cooperate as a larger, single economic space to be more
competitive. This was the case with the Benelux customs union, formed in 1948
between Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The reduction of customs
duties and other impediments to trade between the Benelux countries led to rapid
economic growth and other benefits, and the Benelux union along with the ECSC
provided the basis for further integration. The three Benelux states then joined with
the larger economies of West Germany, Italy, and France in forming the EEC. The
EEC was much more than a simple customs union, because from an early point it
attempted to coordinate economic policy among its members, some of whom ini-
tially resisted what they viewed as efforts to erode their national sovereignty.
The EEC, or Common Market as it was labeled in the British media, had as its
central goals economic advancement, but it also acquired political dimensions
early in its development. For example, the Treaty of Rome, which formed the
EEC, allowed for additional members to join the organization, but no new mem-
bers were accepted until the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Ireland were added
in 1973. The United Kingdom had applied for membership as early as 1960, but
the French government under Charles de Gaulle had consistently blocked British
membership, fearing that granting the British a place in the organization would
allow for too much Anglo-American influence in formulating EEC policies. It
was also the case that only those states that were governed according to
democratic principles such as universal suffrage, free media, and other democratic
institutions were welcomed into the EEC. In the 1980s European countries that
had suffered under dictatorships, some for decades, were allowed to join the
EEC because the dictatorships had collapsed and been replaced by representative
democracies—these included Greece, Spain, and Portugal. Moreover, the Single
European Act promulgated in 1986 set the stage for the most significant advance-
ment in cooperation among the EEC’s economies in decades—the creation of a
single European currency backed by a central banking system. For the British
and Danes, this step represented too great a loss of national identity and sover-
eignty, and those governments opted out of the monetary union, and to date retain
the use of their national currencies.330 Supranationalism