ABSTRACT
Europe in the mid-1970s appeared stable. Its nations had carved spheres of action for themselves, far more limited in the East than in the West, under the aegis of the superpowers. Although French insistence on unanimity within the European Economic Community (EEC) Council of Ministers on issues of major concern suggested that meaningful progress toward political and economic integration might be terminally slowed, the European Commission found ways to move forward. Although the EEC flourished, save for a recession in 1974, the rate of growth of the gross national products of the six Eastern European members of Comecon declined, according to US estimates, from an annual average of 4–6 percent in 1971–1975 to 0.9 percent in 1983. The destabilizing Strategic Defense Initiative of the great Cold Warrior, Ronald Reagan, instead of forcing a new hot confrontation, brought about a disarmament agreement that was a true turning point.
