ABSTRACT
The fact of the creation of the European Socialist Party in late 1992 may have led observers to assume that its member parties, socialists, socialist democrats and labour parties, are in favour of supranational politics and a supranational political system. The issue of internationalist involvement in the European Community and European Union has been a very contentious one within the ranks of these parties. The Socialist, Social Democratic and Labour parties of Western Europe have frequently demonstrated ambiguities in the positions they have taken about the ideal of a United States of Europe and its variants. The socialist tradition is an internationalist one and this tradition of course was evident in many of the ideals and pronouncements of the socialist individuals and parties who were in favour of European Unity. The Socialist International by 1947, agreed to the "basic theme of international socialist conferences" by supporting the reconstruction of Western Europe under the Marshall Plan.
