What Is The Influence Of De Gaulle On American Integration

To protest against Hallstein, de Gaulle recalled all the French ministers from Brussels which resulted in the renowned Empty Chair Crisis. It started from the mid 1965 to January 1966 when European partners came together in Luxembourg. As the Empty Chair Crisis must not continue as without the unanimous support from all six Member States, the EEC could not pass any proposal and was practically in stagnant. Thus, the Member States came into agreement on the summit in Luxembourg which stated that “Where, in the case of decisions which may be taken by majority vote on a proposal of the Commission, very important interests of one or more partners are at stake, the Members of the Council will endeavour, within a reasonable time, to reach solutions which can be adopted by all the Members of the Council while respecting their mutual interests and those of the …show more content…
However, it must be taken into consideration that the United States and Soviets Union also greatly influenced De Gaulle’s course of actions. Through de Gaulle’s time in office, he tried to maintain a policy of independence from foreign powers as de Gaulle was wary of American influence but at the same time he knew that if Western Europe is not in collaboration with the United States, it will not be able to defend itself from the socialist camp of the Soviets. Thus in order to ensure France’s sovereignty and independence, de Gaulle was both anti-America and cooperating with America, wary of the Soviets Union but developing foreign relation with it. And how de Gaulle decided to react towards the two nations influenced his political decisions within the community. So in a way, the shadow of U.S. and the Soviets hovered above De Gaulle’s policy and influenced European Integration indirectly to some