Although its inception gave birth to lively debates and that it influenced the mode of decision making in the EEC, this chapter shows how the European Council found its place relatively smoothly in the Community decision-making process.
How did the emergence of the European Council (EUCO) affect an established order in a specific European policy area? This chapter shows the capacity of the EUCO, created in December 1974, to steer and change elements of the established order in one of these policy areas, namely European Political Co-operation (EPC).
Within the monetary sphere, the 1970s were characterised by the opposition between two strategies for integration at the European level: the “economists” vs. “monetarists” debate. This chapter concentrates on the specific case of the monetary initiatives taken by France in 1974 and 1975.