THE MECHANISM OF EUROPEAN POLITICAL COOPERATION IN THE HISTORY OF THE FOREIGN AND SECURITY POLICY OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY (60s – 80s OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY)

Abstract

The article reflects the results of the study of the history of the formation of foreign and security policy of the European Community at the stage of functioning of the European Political Cooperation (EPC) mechanism. The prerequisites for the formation of the foreign policy mechanism of interaction between the EEC member states are shown. The formation of political conditions and institutional and functional dimensions of the EPC is analyzed. The main international problems that had to be solved by the participants of European integration through the EPC mechanism are highlighted. The author takes into account the specifics of this segment of cooperation of the European Community States, which for a long time did not have an official status and was in fact experimental. The author points out the defining contradictions and controversial issues of the development of the foreign policy segment of the European Community in the context of the maturation of transformations in the system of international relations and world security in the second half of the 1980s. The study concludes that the establishment of the EPC format meant only the beginning of a complex process of formation of a full-fledged subjectivity of the European Community in the international arena. The period from 1970 (formal creation of the EPC mechanism) to 1986 (adoption of the Single European Act) can be interpreted as the initial period in the history of the formation of the European Community’s foreign and security policies. In general, the usual weakness of the mechanism for coordinating the foreign policy of the EEC states was manifested due to the diversity of their international interests and, most importantly, the lack of effective means of implementing common positions. However, this does not diminish the historical significance of this period. After all, at that time the Community formed the principles and basic approaches to its political organization and activities in the international arena. Also, its leadership learned to respond as quickly as possible to the challenges of world politics and form its policy in different regions of the world, diplomatic representation, and international image. The result of these changes provided invaluable experience for the establishment of the Common Foreign and Security Policy of the European Union. The inclusion of foreign and security policy in the regulatory framework of the EEC in the Single European Act of 1986 meant only the beginning of a complex process of forming a full-fledged subjectivity of the European Community in the international arena.