journal of european integration history revue d'histoire de l ...

42
Birgit Aschmann
ported on the part of Germany, as it had been promised again and again. In concrete
terms, they had to succeed in reaching agreement on a reply to the Spanish application
that would leave open as large a room for negotiations as possible. Even if association
could not be guaranteed, it should at least not be excluded from the beginning,
as Belgium or the Netherlands had been asking for. In order to reach
agreement on a draft written on German initiative, which kept the possibility open
for Spain to associate with the Community, German diplomats contacted the governments
of the Six in the forerun to the talks of the Commission scheduled for 25
March 1964. 20 Whereas the Italian ministry of Foreign affairs reacted sceptically
with reference to the socialist coalition partner who rejected any form of Spanish
participation in EEC business, the officials in the Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg
ministries promised to support the German proposal. How worthless these promises
were turned out when at the Council meeting neither the Dutch nor the Belgian
delegate could remember their pledge and asked instead, against all prior arrangement,
for a clarification to be put into the reply, which from the start would exclude
association with the EEC. 21 At the end of the debate the president of the Council
Paul-Henri Spaak promised to formulate a reply on his part, which could serve as a
basis for further discussion. For the Federal Government this result was a bitter
setback. They let the ministries of Foreign affairs in The Hague and Brussels know
their disappointment, as they had relied on their support. 22 The gratitude of the
Spanish government that had appreciated “how warmly” especially the German
delegate had supported the Spanish request was the only comfort for the Federal
Government’s fruitless efforts. 23
As Spaak fell ill, he needed more time than planned for drafting a reply to the
Spanish government. Only in the beginning of June, the affair was put on the agenda
of the Council of Ministers again. In the meantime there were frequent contacts
between the Federal Government and the Spanish embassy in Bonn, which kept the
Germans precisely informed of the Spanish views. Via the representation in the
Committee of permanent representatives in Brussels, which was responsible for
preparing the discussion about the drafts finally presented by Spaak, the Federal
Government acted as a spokesman for Spanish interests. 24 This effort was success-
20. The draft of a reply worked out by the Federal ministry of Foreign affairs read: “I have the honour
of informing you that the Council of Ministers of the EEC has invited the Commission to start exploratory
talks with the Spanish government on the organisation of economic relations between
Spain and the EEC, in particular on the economic difficulties resulting from the existence of the
EEC”. PAAA I A 4/283: Jansen to the EEC representation of the Federal Republic in Brussels, 17
March 1964. According to Jansen’s instructions, the French ambassador was to give his opinion
on the proposal beforehand.
21. PAAA IA 4/283: Report on the EEC Council session of 25 March 1964 by ambassador Peter Günther
Harkort, head of the permanent representation of the Federal Republic to the EEC, Brussels.
22. PAAA I A 4/283: Instructions by Jansen to inform the ministries of Foreign affairs in The Hague
and Brussels of the Federal Government’s disappointment, 1 April 1964.
23. PAAA I A 4/283: Statement of the director-general for European affairs at the Spanish ministry of
Foreign affairs, Fernando Olivié, telex of 26 March 1964.
24. PAAA I A 4/283: Heinz Voigt, from the department of Spanish affairs at the Federal ministry of
Foreign affairs, to the German embassy in Madrid, telex of 27 May 1964.