Robert Schuman was born
in Luxembourg in 1886. He moved to France
and in 1919 he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies. A moderate
conservative he joined the more liberal Popular Republican Movement
in 1940. During the Second World War he was
a member of the French
Resistance.
Schuman served as prime
minister between November 1947 and July 1948. This was followed by
a period as foreign minister and in 1949 Jean
Monnet, Planning Commissioner in France, proposed what eventually
became known as the Schuman
Plan. The proposal
was the basis for the European Coal and Steel
Community (ECSC) that was established in 1952. It was agreed that
the six countries that signed the Treaty of Paris, Belgium, France,
Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany, would pool its
coal and steel resources.
In 1958 Schuman was elected
president of the European Assembly in Strasbourg. Robert Schuman died
in 1963.
(1)
Robert
Schuman, declaration (9th May, 1950)
World peace cannot be
safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to
the dangers which threaten it.
The contribution which
an organised and living Europe can bring to civilisation is indispensable
to the maintenance of peaceful relations. In taking upon herself for
more than 20 years the role of champion of a united Europe, France
has always had as her essential aim the service of peace. A united
Europe was not achieved and we had war.
Europe will not be made
all at once or according to a single plan. It will be built through
concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity. The
coming together of the nations of Europe requires the elimination
of the age-old opposition of France and Germany. Any action which
must be taken in the first place must concern these two countries.
With this aim in view, the French Government proposes that action
be taken immediately on one limited but decisive point. It proposes
that Franco-German production of coal and steel as a whole be placed
under a common High Authority, within the framework of an organisation
open to the participation of the other countries of Europe.
The pooling of coal and
steel production should immediately provide for the setting up of
common foundations for economic development as a first step in the
federation of Europe, and will change the destinies of those regions
which have long been devoted to the manufacture of munitions of war,
of which they have been the most constant victims.
The solidarity in production
thus established will make it plain that any war between France and
Germany becomes not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible.
The setting up of this powerful productive unit, open to all countries
willing to take part and bound ultimately to provide all the member
countries with the basic elements of industrial production
on the same terms, will lay a true foundation for their economic unification.
(2)
Konrad Adenauer,
Memoirs 1945-53 (12th July, 1952)
Blankenhorn handed me
the letters in the cabinet room. One was a handwritten, personal letter
by Robert Schuman. The other was an official covering letter for the
project laid down in a memorandum which later became known as the
Schuman Plan.
In essence Robert Schuman
proposed to place the entire French and German production of coal
and steel under a common High Authority within the framework of an
organization that should be open to other European countries as well.
Schuman explained that the pooling of coal and steel production would
immediately provide for the first stage of a European federation,
the immediate creation of a common basis for economic development,
and for a comprehensive change in their development. The merger of
the basic production of coal and steel and the establishment of an
authority whose decisions would be binding for France, Germany, and
the other member countries, would create the first firm foundations
for the European federation which was indispensable for the preservation
of peace.
In his personal letter
to me Schuman wrote that the purpose of his proposal was not economic,
but eminently political. In France there was a fear that once Germany
had recovered, she would attack France. He could imagine that the
corresponding fears might be present in Germany. Rearmament always
showed first in an increased production of coal, iron, and steel.
If an organization such as he was proposing were to be set up, it
would enable each country to detect the first signs of rearmament,
and would have an extraordinarily calming effect in France.
Schuman's plan corresponded
entirely with the ideas I had been advocating for
a long time concerning the integration of the key industries of Europe.
I informed Robert Schuman at once that I accepted his proposal whole-heartedly.
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