New Left Review I/19, March-April 1963

Serge Maller

Continental Capitalism and the Common Market

The crisis between England and France aroused intense anxiety in Europe about the future of the Common Market. In one way or another, all France’s partners appeared to be bent upon a rupture with her. Yet, after a pause of some days, the Brussels machinery was working normally again. In the old days, by the old rules, an international conference would never have survived this kind of upheaval. The political, economic, and sentimental ties which link Belgium, Holland and West Germany are such that one can only explain the survival of the existing agreements between the Six by one simple fact: the Common Market is now irrevocable. Europe has once and for all left behind the generous or hypocritical dreams of its promoters, and become an economic reality. Before the crisis, the issues discussed at Brussels were still diplomatic problems. Now they are domestic problems.

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