Benelux Reaction To The Fouchet Plan
Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg, collectively known as Benelux, were against the Fouchet Plan. They were afraid that the proposal removed too much power from the Commission, the supranational governing body, and would rely heavily on intergovernmentalism. They worried that the Fouchet Plan would weaken the Treaty of Rome and would be a step away from integration. The downgrade in power would have afforded France more opportunity to influence the other nations. Benelux feared that this would allow de Gaulle and France to dominate the EEC and push issues important to their own national interests. A second main issue was the speed with which France was trying to force the plan through. The Benelux countries thought that a decision of this magnitude should be deferred until after Britain’s accession talks, which started in 1961, were completed. De Gaulle had been speaking closely with German Chancellor Adenauer at this time and Benelux worried that the collaboration of the two countries would shift the power of an intergovernmental organization towards France and West Germany. British accession would have balanced the power structure within the EEC more equally and would not have allowed France to dominate the talks. The Netherlands in particular thought that the Fouchet Plan was an attempt to subvert the power of NATO. The Plan’s common defense policy would have directly conflicted with NATO’s mission and directives, so the Netherlands worried that the plan was an attempt to weaken NATO’s influence and to reassert France as a military power.
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