The Impact of Policy of Non-Alignment on Yugoslavia’s Status in Western European Integrations

Abstract

: The authors are discussing a Cold-War evolution of relations between post-war Yugoslavia and two Western European regional organisations, the Council of Europe and the European Economic Community. The two relationships appear to have been meaningful, yet of fluctuating intensity. What substantially shaped them was a strategic focus on non-alignment by the Yugoslav government and the country’s president for life, Josip Broz. While relations with the Council of Europe unfolded largely in the political sphere, ties and contractual relationships between the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and European communities were linked closely to the country’s economic interests (trade, finances, etc.). Together with the internal system, it constituted a considerable limiting factor when, after the death of Tito, global changes across Europe prompted a debate on the prospects of Yugoslavia’s potential membership of those organisations.