ABSTRACT
The Maastricht Treaty on European Union was in the end made possible by the willingness of other European Community (EC) members to allow an intransigent Britain to opt out of certain key provisions. In the European Political Union (EPU) conference, two main lines of division among EC countries were of significance. The first of these was based on size. Belonging to the second group were Britain, Denmark, Ireland, and Portugal. Among the key issues discussed in the EPU conference was a common foreign and defense policy. The Luxembourg draft provided the EP with new powers to veto Community legislation in certain, limited areas of policy. The chapter examines more closely the negotiations on political union. After a brief survey of the positions of key national governments and the major areas of discussion, the actual course of the negotiations, leading up to the final agreements at Maastricht, is analyzed.
