A History of Modern Europe - From the Renaissance to the Present

Economic Recovery and Prosperity 1123

energy. This monopoly did not seem to slow the development of the Belgian
economy, which expanded rapidly.
With the rapid development of the service sector of Western economies,
the proliferation of white-collar jobs lifted the expectations, status, and
income of hundreds of thousands of families. A more equitable distribu­
tion in taxation helped remove some of the tax burden from ordinary peo­
ple. Still, in 1960, 5 percent of the British population owned about 75
percent of the nation’s wealth.
Great economic disparities also remained between European nations.
By the end of the 1960s, the German Federal Republic, Switzerland, and
Sweden were the most prosperous European countries; Ireland, Portugal,
Greece, and Spain were the poorest in Western Europe; and Romania and
Albania were the poorest Communist states. In Table 27.2, Britain’s rela­
tive decline clearly stands out.

Economic Cooperation

The post-war era also brought international economic cooperation among

Western states. The Organization for European Economic Cooperation

(OEEC) was founded in 1948 with seventeen member states, which the

United States later joined. It was succeeded in 1961 by the Organization for

Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which was expanded to

include Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. The OEEC helped plan Euro­

pean economic reconstruction after World War II. Cooperation among the

Western states also led to the creation in 1952 of the European Coal and

Steel Community (ECSC). The inspiration of the French statesman Robert

Schuman (1886-1963), the ECSC also reflected the influence of U.S. Sec­

retary of State Dean Acheson and of French economist Jean Monnet. The

ECSC, which overcame strenuous British opposition, coordinated produc­

tion of French and German coal and steel in the interest of efficiency, but it

also was intent on forging a new relationship that ultimately would place

France and West Germany at the center of the new Europe. Despite inevitable

problems stemming from sometimes competing interests, the ECSC first

raised the possibility of serious European economic integration. Such eco­

nomic cooperation between countries also contributed to economic growth

in Western Europe.

The Treaty of Rome (1957) laid the groundwork for the European Atomic

Energy Community and the European Economic Community (EEC, the

European Common Market). The EEC began in 1958 with six member

nations—France, Italy, the German Federal Republic, Belgium, Luxembourg,

and the Netherlands. The EEC gradually eliminated trade barriers between

member states in Western Europe, established common customs tariffs—

thus reducing trade barriers and increasing trade between member states—

and worked toward equalizing wages and social security arrangements among

the member countries.