Hallstein Commission

[3] The commission enjoyed a number of successes, such as the cereal prices accord which it managed to achieve in the wake of de Gaulle's veto of Britain's membership.

De Gaulle was a major opponent to the commission, and proposals such as the cereal prices accord were designed to bind France closer to the EEC to make it harder to break it up.

Its work gained it esteem and prestige not only from the member states, but from outside the community when the commission made its debut at the Kennedy Round.

By this he associated himself with the Parliament's cause and demonstrated how he thought the community ought to be run, in the hopes of generating a wave of pro-Europeanism big enough to get past the objections of member states.

[4] Then-French President, Charles de Gaulle, was sceptical of the rising supranational power of the commission and accused Hallstein of acting as if he were a head of state.

France was particularly concerned about protecting the CAP as it was only accepted by the other states after difficult negotiations and under a majority system it may be challenged by the other members.

This "empty chair crisis" (French: Crise de la chaise vide) was the first time that the operation of the EEC had failed because of a member state[5] and it exposed failures in the council's workings.