European Recovery Programme (ERP)
as the UNITED NATIONS (UN). It was brought under the aegis of the ROME TREATY (1957) in Title III of the SINGLE EUROPEAN ACT (SEA) (1986), which amended that Treaty. The weakness of the EPC, as an inter-governmental body with discordant voices, became very obvious during the GULF WAR (1991). European Recovery Programme (ERP) (1948-52). See MARSHALL PLAN. European Security and Defence Identity (ESDI) The TREATY ON EUROPEAN UNION (TEU) (1992) included ESDI and suggested that it should involve a revived WESTERN EUROPEAN UNION (WEU) linked to the COMMON FOREIGN AND SECURITY POLICY (CFSP) of the EUROPEAN UNION (EU). The idea of such an identity raises crucially the issue of its relation to the NORTH ATLANTIC TREATY ORGANIZATION (NATO), and more particularly, of continuing US commitment to European DEFENCE and SECURITY. In 1994 NATO gave its support to the strengthening of the European pillar of the Alliance with the WEU and the EU as its main elements, and to the idea that the European allies would be able to take more responsibility for managing their security and defence. European Union Originally the heart of this was the COMMON MARKET, or EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY (EEC), set up by the ROME TREATY (1957) for France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. In 2002 this consists of fifteen states, with the accession of Britain, Denmark and Eire (1973), Greece (1981), Spain and Portugal (1986) and Austria, Finland and Sweden (1995). In 1980 it became known as the EUROPEAN COMMUNITY (EC). In fact, it began with three 'communities': the EUROPEAN COAL AND STEEL COMMUNITY (ECSC) (1952) and, founded concurrently with the EEC, the EUROPEAN ATOMIC AGENCY (EURATOM), in addition to the EEC. The title of this major regional organization and ACTOR in world affairs was changed to EUROPEAN UNION (EU) in November 1993 as a consequence of the RATIFICATION of the TREATY ON EUROPEAN UNION (TEU) (1992). The Rome Treaty committed the EEC to 'ever closer union'. As a concept rather than a title, the term 'European Union' has been frequently invoked, but with different interpretations, from full eventual political INTEGRATION to something much looser. The term has been associated with specific initiatives, such as the Draft Treaty on European Union of 1984, and used simply rhetorically. The EU, with its three 'pillars', is preparing for the accession of a number of other STATES. Eurosclerosis This term came into use in the late 1970s and 1980s to describe the growing uncompetitiveness in the global economy of the EUROPEAN COMMUNITY (EC), with stagnation, inflation and sharply rising unemployment, and also the slowing of momentum towards greater European INTEGRATION. The background to this was the OIL CRISES following the YOM KIPPUR WAR (1973) and the Iranian Revolution (1979). The member STATES had reacted individually and in a protectionist way, rather than collectively, to the consequences of the dramatic rise in the cost of oil. A key response to Eurosclerosis in the 1980s was the commitment to the SINGLE MARKET with the elimination of NON-TARIFF BARRIERS (NTBs). Ex aequo et bono Latin for 'on the basis of fairness and justice'. Article 38 of the State of the INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE (icj) rules that a decision may be