The 1991 Intergovernmental Conference on Political Union

Abstract

This chapter investigates a crucial case of Jacques Delors’s performance in the 1991 Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) on political union.¹ It excludes from its scope another parallel IGC on Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). Yet, the focus should be further narrowed, because the terms ‘political union’ are vague enough to encompass almost anything — except EMU — from the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) through the social dialogue to trans-European networks of telecommunication. For this reason, the present study chooses as the main subject the issue of the Treaty’s structure, i.e. which of the so-called three pillar structure of a temple image, or the single Community structure of a tree image, should be adopted. This subject was of paramount importance in that it touched upon the nature of European integration — ‘communautaire’ or intergovernmental and in that major actors — including Delors himself — attached a great importance to it throughout the IGC process. Moreover, the pillar structure fell into an area in which Delors as Commission President failed to exercise much influence. By focusing on the Treaty’s structure, this chapter thus deals with a case of failed leadership by the Commission President.