Formation of the Foreign Policy Dimension of European Integration in the 40’s – 80’s Years of the 20th Century

The article is devoted to study history of formation mechanisms of foreign policy of the European Communities in the period before creation of the European Union (40s – 80s of the XXth century). The dynamics formation of the foreign and security component of European integration from the first postwar projects of political association of the leading states of Western Europe (France and Great Britain) to creation in the early 1970s of a mechanism of European political cooperation (EPC) and its further activity are traced. The article analyzes political and legal status, evolution of the organizational structure, main activities, international achievements and miscalculations in the work of the EPC. Positions of Member States of the European Communities on development of their foreign policy and security components have been taken into account.The conclusions stated that the processes of European integration in the post-war period began precisely from the political sphere. However, due to differences in the strategic views of the states of Western Europe, their unwillingness to surrender state sovereignty in favor of European political institutions, as well as the position of the United States, it very quickly moved into the formation of a purely economic regional association. At the same time, the scale of economic integration and international policy tendencies have led to the formation of the system of political cooperation, which has become commonplace in the work of the Community institutions and the interaction of the Member States. On the whole, the EPC remained a weak and declarative practice of regular inter-state meetings at various levels, because it was outside the system of institutions and the regulatory framework of the European Communities. National ambitions of the Member States, each of which often favored the established priorities of its own foreign policy over the common interests of the union. Achieved level of political unification positions and actions of the Member States of the European Communities did not significantly increase the influence of integration in the international space until the formation of the European Union.