A European voice in the Arab world: France, the superpowers and the Middle East, 1970–74

The international history of European integration in the long 1970s.A round-table discussion on research issues, methodologies, and directions

“…The French and the British governments in particular pushed for it because they resented their exclusion from the talks over the Arab-Israeli conflict, both during and in the aftermath of the war. 35 Sara Tavani's work points to similar connections in the early 1980s. 36 Despite the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the EC Ten remained wedded to détente unlike the US government.…”

Who was saving whom? The European Community and the Cold War, 1960s–1970s

“…One example of the new ambitions, but also of the much more modest realities, involves French President Georges Pompidou and the Middle East. In October 1973, in the wake of the Yom Kippur War, the French president felt that the time had come to demonstrate that European integration rested on a firm basis and could ‘contribute to the resolution of world issues’ (quoted in Gfeller, 2011: 6). In November, the EPC drafted a Declaration on the Middle East, with which the EC broke new ground: it was the first time the EC states had spoken with a single voice on a major international conflict and offered their help in re-establishing peace.…”