More than forty years ago the European Commission’s first President, Walter Hallstein, wanted to formalise the European Commission’s relations with the representatives of third countries in Brussels.
President de Gaulle slapped him down, pooh-poohing this ‘artificial country springing from the brow of a technocrat’.
Foreign policy goes to the heart of what it means to be a nation. And the Commission’s role is still disputed. When it comes to trade policy or agriculture, we know where we stand. The Commission acts – more or less – according to Jean Monnet’s brilliant vision of Europe. But what exactly is the Common Foreign and Security Policy? Should the member states be willing to curb their national instincts for the sake of it?
