Pursuing The National Interest:Motivation Analysis Of France's European Policy During The Rule Under Charles De Gaulle

Since the Schuman Plan started the first step towards European integration,France has been playing an unique and distinct role in this process.Among the leaders of France,Charles de Gaulle,who came to power twice,exerted an important impact on France's attitude towards European integration,resulting in obvious traces of Gaullism in the policies of his subsequent presidents.During the tenure of Charles de Gaulle,the Rome Treaty came into force,and the agriculture and industrial products common markets were established successively,laying a solid foundation for European integration.While on the other hand,the UK failed to become a member of EEC because of Charles de Gaulle's veto.I am puzzled about the action of Charles de Gaulle advancing and impending European integration at the same time.Being famous of upholding nationalism and firmly opposing supranationalism,Charles de Gaulle accepted achievement of integration and promoted its development further.The action of him revealed that the complexity of international background at that time and the situation of France stopped Charles de Gaulle carrying policy according to his own personality and enthusiasm for nationalism.Some scholars use national interests to explain this abnormal phenomenon,but in my opinion,national interests are not enough to solve this problem.The content and process of pursuing national interests need to be analyzed in detail.In this thesis,national interests are divided into economic interests,security interests and gaining great power status,and I will explain Charles de Gaulle 's pursuit of above interests in the form of case study.In the process of promoting the formulation and implementation of the Common Agricultural Policy,the main resistance came from Germany,which is a big agricultural importer.So Charles de Gaulle vetoed the proposal of Germany,and interrupted the negotiation of six countries several times,and even withdrew from the meeting to force other countries to agree with France's proposal,which typically reflected the pursuit of economic interests.Moreover,during Charles de Gaulle's tenure,he rejected the UK from entering into the common market considering it would increase the difficulty of agricultural policy negotiations and adversely affect the circulation of French agricultural products in western European markets.Inaddition,France's attitude towards the UK is also influenced by the Anglo-American relation,which is highlighted by Anglo-American military cooperation.For France,being flexible and independent in the EEC partly reflects the great power status,while the UK's entry would increase the influence of the US and thus goes against France putting policies into practice and being dominate power in the EEC.From this point of view,Charles de Gaulle rejecting the UK being a member of EEC embodies the maintenance of great power status.In addition to economic interests and the great power status,security interests is also an important consideration for Charles de Gaulle.France determined to be independent from the US in terms of defense,so he promoted independent nuclear policy,and withdrew its troops and commanders out of NATO's military organization.In the meantime,France sought to improve relations with the Soviet Union and the Eastern Europe,seeking to strengthen the position of France in the world.