The EC and the socialist world : the ascent of a key player in Cold War Europe

This chapter offers a critical appraisal of the European Community’s relations with the socialist world in the period 1957–1992. “Socialist world” is here restricted to its European scope: the Soviet Union and its allies (all members of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance—CMEA or Comecon— and referred to as “the socialist bloc”), and socialist yet non-aligned Yugoslavia. The chapter argues that, after initial neglect, the European Community steadily became an important actor in Cold War European relations, and was gradually recognized as such by the traditional subjects (states) and purposefully created organizations acting in the field (such as NATO, CMEA). Not only did the EC polity break into the Cold War structure of superpower-led blocs, it did so with a view to breaking it in the long run, and consistently acted to effect change in East–West relations.