ABSTRACT
This article aims to elucidate the way European capitalists reacted to the long crises of the 1970s through the analysis of the European League of Economic Cooperation (ELEC). It starts by introducing the ELEC as the most representative of European multinationals after merging with a rival transnational network: the European Committee for Economic and Social Progress (CEPES). Then it focuses on its 1975 London Conference where three representative strands of the European model of capitalism presented their views on the crises. All shared the view that the crises represented a structural rupture in the social and political legitimation of Fordism, Keynesianism and the welfare state, which put into question Europe’s role in the world. European integration was put forward as part of the solution. A review of four possible scenarios for European integration will be presented in the third section showing the views of a fourth component of European capitalism: Foreign Direct Investors from the USA. The last section will present the way the ELEC reacted to the second oil shock. The article will conclude that European capitalists conceived European integration as an integral element to reform and preserve the particular model of mixed economy and the welfare state in the midst of globalization.
