Transnational infrastructure and European integration. A conceptual exploration

Ostensibly the European integration process has been interconnected with science and technology only in the last decade. On the other hand, since the 1950s EEC member states and would-be members have been engaged in several projects and attempts to cooperate in science and technology. National governments not only chose the intergovernmental way, but also they tried to take advantage of the communitarian framework. These attempts produced some successes inside the EEC including the European Commission's framework programme. Apart from some projects discussed at EEC level on automobile standardisation, nuclear energy and supplies during oil crisis, European cooperation in aircraft or electric power was successfully experimented but outside the communitarian networks. These experiences and debates on a European techno-scientific construction encountered competition from across the Atlantic as well as within Europe. As the most recent developments seem to prove, the European Union has to play a role of technological innovator. Thanks to a transnational and interdisciplinary historical approach, are we able to suggest which role, and by which trends?