Michael Gehler

In the history of the European Communities, a declaration on European identity was adopted for the first time at the Copenhagen Summit in December 1973. Through this document, the heads of state and government set out a programmatic concept for further European integration, stronger internal cohesion and the emergence of a common foreign policy, in order to advance the unification process. After a short introduction, the book examines the background of the declaration, the role played by the founding member states, the states of the Northern enlargement (Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom), the Council of Europe, the European Council summit itself, and the European Court of Justice.
The volume sheds light on what really lays behind the Copenhagen Declaration.