Michel Debré and Europe. Thinking and Acting for a French European policy (1943-1962)

A b st r a c t This study deals with ideas and activities of the French politician Michel Debré in the area of the European integration. Analyzing the evolution of Debre's stance in a period of almost twenty years (1943-1962), the study aims to show that Debré was neither a pure "French nationalist" following obediently the wishes of General de Gaulle, neither a man who denied his own projects after a sudden U-turn in his opinion. We rather argue that Debré had remained true to three basic axes of his action since the Second World War: fidelity to General de Gaulle, readiness to reform French institutions together with a wish to assure to his country a privileged position in the system of international relations and, finally, vision of a huge community of countries bordering the Atlantic Ocean. In the late 1940's, Debré joined the European Movement and became one of the leading figures of its French branch. Promoting a union of European states, Debré was ready to accept a concession of some national prerogatives to "supra political" institutions but only if there had been a supreme European political authority composed of democratically elected representatives. On this basis he refused the Jean Monneťs sectoral method of integration and its accomplishments from the ECSC to the Treaties of Rome...