Quelle Europe pour la France ? Les diplomates de la DAEF et le CNPF entre petite et grande Europe (1957-1958)

摘要

What is the best economic European project for France’s industry and for France’s foreign policy? To answer this question, the diplomats used industrialists’ thinking, particularly to understand the consequences of the global European economic projects of the fifties. This question had to be resolved in a very short time, between the beginning of 1957 and the end of 1958, when France had to make a choice between the regulated liberalism of the EEC, and the British project of EFTA (European Free Trade Area), which is larger and more liberal. Although the industrialists and the diplomats were sceptics of both the EEC and the EFTA at the beginning of 1957, the industrialists became gradually more favourable of the EEC. They influenced a few of the diplomats who were most aware of European economic topics. They accepted progressively the EEC, against the English model of the EFTA. The EEC represents a regulated liberalism which would enable French industry to gradually adapt to international competition. But, even if the EEC has been chosen instead of the EFTA, the model of the free-trade area still remains an alternative at the most integrated model of the EEC.