Subject: Europe's foundational Declaration of Inter-Dependence
Communicating Europe with "old documents"
Dear President Barroso and Commissioners,
Congratulations on your new positions. During the coming months, the 60th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration must be planned to take place on 9 May 2010. I hope that the entire Commission will give great thought to the preparations for this major event. The Member States are living through the longest period of peace in more than 2000 years of European history. We are faced with global challenges of the greatest dimension. Europe has to set the highest moral example as it did by creating a Community of peace.
Yet for the last decade or more I have asked the Commission's information services to communicate in publications and on the web the foundational documents of Europe. This includes the FULL text of the Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950 and the Europe Declaration made and signed by all founding fathers on 18 April 1951 after the signing of Europe's founding treaty. This Declaration of Inter-Dependence is equivalent in importance to America's Declaration of Independence. I have never seen a publication of the Commission where this is printed. Why not?
In this regard, I am enclosing a copy of my latest letter to the Commission's Communications services, who have not yet replied to my August request to publish these foundational documents. I hope that the first thing in office will be for you to publish "the real foundation of Europe" -- to quote from the Europe Declaration.
My best wishes for your term in office to build supranational democracy.
Yours sincerely,
David Heilbron Price
Schuman Project
Extract from letter.
To Commission Communications services.
In August I again wrote that it was high time that the Commission published the EU’s founding public documents. I asked about its plans on the 60th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration in May 2010. This time they should publish the full text. For many decades the Commission has published only a censored version. It said it was the FULL text. It isn’t. To my knowledge the Commission has never published the founding fathers’ Europe Declaration on Inter-dependence of 1951. This announces and confirms the birth of Europe and its democratic principles.
I have received no answer. No explanation was forthcoming. Instead in the internal correspondence between officials that I was also sent, the question was raised: Why is this gentleman obsessed with old documents?
It is a good question and deserves an answer.
I would first like to ask my own question as part of that answer:
Why are Commission officials so little concerned about the origin of the vitally important institution for which they are working? Do they understand the history and purpose of European construction?
Forgive me for my tone, but I have been waiting more than a decade for the Commission to answer. I have made many requests. These requests to publish the founding documents of the European institution are not for some academic knowledge. The Commission was the world’s first SUPRANATIONAL institution and the public has a perfect right to know what it is all about and how it affects their lives. It is up to officials to be able to explain this in detail. Supranational Democracy was not introduced as an academic exercise but to solve some of the existing problems like stopping more than 2000 years of continuous war between European peoples. It was also designed to tackle future global calamities facing not only Europe but all those on the planet.
This is what Robert Schuman’s long-term friend and colleague, René Lejeune, wrote: ‘The solution of the enormous problems, which future generations will have to face, largely depends .. on the {Community approach} of which Robert Schuman will be the initiator.’ He called it ‘the principal procedure for the future of humanity’.
Notice the future tense. If you do not know what process Robert Schuman started, if you do not know why he started it, or how it works, no civil servant is capable of serving the public.
The cost of NOT having a supranational democracy is enormous, both in human terms, its social disruption, its financial cost and in its global consequences. I wrote about this in a recent commentary on Your Democracy in Europe.
The sort of distortions, disinformation and falsehoods that the European institutions are propagating against the founders of those institutions is costing billions of euros and possibly trillions.
That is no exaggeration. Take one example in simple monetary terms. We have already lost untold trillions to the European economy because Europe has NO ENERGY POLICY. It has an intergovernmental wish-list at best with no democratic or legal basis worth speaking of. If officials had paid attention to the founding fathers and read the declarations and official reports, they would long ago have taken serious action to create an Energy Community (to follow the Coal and Euratom treaties). Why? Because lack of ENERGY INDEPENDENCE is Europe’s political Achilles’ heel. Instead all plans of the founding fathers towards energy independence were blocked, abandoned, side-lined or chloroformed.
The rise of oil from around $2 in the 1970s to nearly $150 a barrel cost the European economy multiple trillions. This ruined the economy in the 1970s and 1980s, and wiped out a colossal surplus balance of payments. It destroyed industries. It set back the introduction of the Euro by a decade. That alone amounted to multiple billions in wasted costs to the economy. Economists say that the oil cartel, by unilaterally increasing the price of every barrel of oil and gas equivalent by $25, dispossesses the EU of around $100 billion yearly extra for exactly the same goods. Another way to call cartel action is economic blackmail. And abroad, it set Africa ablaze with wars and corruption. That is why the founding fathers designed the Commission to be a strong anti-cartel agency.
It is shameful that the Commission succumbed to political pressure in the time of de Gaulle. Even more as it is still doing so. Is it on automatic pilot? It has for decades refused to publish the founding or birthday document of the European Union. That is the Europe’s Declaration of Inter-dependence. It was signed by all the founding fathers such as Schuman and Adenauer who had just signed the founding treaty of the European Community.
By that spineless act of hiding these documents from the late 1950s to the present, the European Commission has participated in the blindness of de Gaulle and similar autocrats believed that they alone had the intelligence to solve all of France’s, Europe’s and the world’s problems. He was proved wrong on most counts. The Community method involves open democracy with a multitude of counsellors to provide safety.
The Founding Fathers denounced the false and counterfeit ‘democracies’ behind the Iron Curtain where various parties (sometimes even called Christian Democrats, Liberals and Socialists as in the DDR) were a sham. Schuman called them a sinister caricature of democracy. Whatever the people thought, whatever their opinion, the decisions were all made by political apparatchiks and functionaries in meetings behind closed doors. Those who suffered under dictatorships in both the east and west of Europe are familiar with this.
The Europe Declaration www.schuman.info/EuropeDeclaration.htm affirms that Europe is open to all countries that have the freedom to choose.
Indeed, one of the main reasons why I founded the www.Schuman.info web site about ten years ago was to be able to publish the full text of the Schuman Declaration because the Commission had signally failed to do so, despite my and other requests. It failed also in its primary duty as Guardian of the Treaties.
The Commission will have to publish these documents one fine day. Will it be now or when it is covered with further shame? I am asking therefore that urgent reconsideration should be given to publishing these foundational documents in the immediate future.
I look forward to an announcement about the Commission’s plans for the sixtieth anniversary of the Schuman Declaration.
I am sending a copy of this letter to the Commission President and also to Vice President Wallström. I am publishing this as an open letter on several websites including www.schuman.info http://democracy.blogactiv.eu and http://eurdemocracy.blogspot.com .
Yours sincerely
David Heilbron Price
Schuman Project
30 November, 2009
21 November, 2009
5 Has Europe lost its sleek democracy and got an old, lame camel? Politicians hid the most important document in Europe's sixty year history !
The Europeans and especially their leaders are behaving like a blind man in a coal cellar. They have lost their way and lost their vision.
What is the most important of the documents signed by the Founding Fathers of Europe? Even if people knew what it was, they would be hard pressed to find a copy. Europa.eu of course will not show you a copy. You won't find it in any of the Commission's publications. Forget about the secretive Council or the passive EcoSoc!
What I am talking about is the Declaration made by the Founding Fathers that defined their vision of a democratic Europe and of their future. That is especially relevant now, in our time and for our future. But where is the document? Why do the so-called European institutions not have a copy on show somewhere or at least accessible in the public archives. Even if they violently disagree with it, why do they deny its existence??
The Document I am referring to is called the Europe Declaration. It was signed by all the leaders of the Six founder States. Schuman of France, Adenauer of Germany, Count Sforza of Italy, Bech of Luxembourg, van Zeeland of Belgium and Stikker of The Netherlands and a few others for good measure. All signed the founding treaty of the European Union on 18 April 1951. On that same day they signed another document right after the signature of the Treaty of Paris. It described the principles of European democracy. It is called the Europe Declaration because it gives a lucid vision of the future.
Do you ever get the impression that you are living in Stalin's Soviet Union? Maybe Dr Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda UeberBoss, has been working in the basement of the Commission's Berlaymont building for the last few decades. The vital truth of one day, its most important information for all citizens, is buried and censored as if it never existed. We are given ersatz 'information', crafty distortions, PR paid for from EU funds. Instead of the obligations to reduce the membership of the Commission, the politicians provide jobs for political chums, one per majority party in each State, and scores of new but unnecessary jobs for the political cartel. The new political leaders want to play their own game and a bit of truth is most inconvenient. The Declaration also reminds governments of their duties towards their citizens -- as servants. A Europe following the vision of the Founding Fathers would be leaner and all Europeans would be better off, in many ways.
The reason, of course that the leaders -- the political cartel today and the Gaullists of yesteryear -- do not want you to know about this Declaration is that it gives an idea about how we should be running the show democratically today. It uses the words, politicians do not like and cannot explain. That is SUPRANATIONAL DEMOCRACY. It speaks about nations where the citizens are free to choose. And many other uncomfartable truths.
We now have a lame camel of a treaty -- the Lisbon Treaty -- a horse designed by a committee and decided without democratic assent -- instead of the thoroughbred race horse we could have had.
As a public duty I present the full version of the Europe Declaration. It is as important a document as America's Declaration of Independence. This we can call the Europe Declaration of INTER-DEPENDENCE. Not something to appeal to Charles de Gaulle. However today we are living on a planet that is perishing. If we do not recognize our interdependence it will not just be sad, it could well be the end of our species. Other species are dying out fast, due to man's egotism. The principles of inter-dependence and how we can manage the planet democratically are of vital importance, not only for Europeans, but all earthlings on this blue planet, the only speck of hope in all the black, hostile reaches of space.
Europe Declaration
18 April 1951
The following declaration was made and signed on same day as Europe's founding Treaty of Paris, creating the European Coal and Steel Community. It affirms that Europe must be built on supranational democratic principles. That is true then. It is true now.
The President of the Federal Republic of Germany, His Royal Highness the Prince Royal of Belgium, the President of the French Republic, the President of the Italian Republic, Her Royal Highness the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Her Majesty, the Queen of The Netherlands,
Considering that world peace can only be safeguarded by creative efforts commensurate with the dangers threatening it;
Convinced that the contribution that an organized and invigorated Europe can bring to civilization is indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations;
Conscious that Europe will not be constructed except by concrete achievements establishing first of all the reality of partnership, and by the establishment of common bases for economic development;
Anxious to cooperate through the expansion of their basic products in raising the standard of living and progressing in works of peace;
Resolved to transform their age-long rivalry through the consolidation of their essential interests, and, by the inauguration of an economic Community, to assemble the initial basis for a broader and deeper Community of peoples who had for centuries been opposed in bloody conflicts, and to set the foundations of institutions capable of providing a direction to a destiny that is henceforward shared,
Have decided to create a European Coal and Steel.Community
This work that has just been confirmed by our signature, we owe to the wisdom of our delegations and to the perseverance of our experts. We are deeply grateful to them.
Even before the work was set in motion, the very idea that was its inspiration had already aroused in our countries and beyond its borders an extraordinary surge of hope and confidence.
In signing the treaty founding the European Community for Coal and Steel Community, a community of 160 million Europeans, the contracting parties give proof of their determination to call the first supranational institution into life, and consequently create the true foundation for an organized Europe.
This Europe is open to all European nations that can decide freely for themselves. We sincerely hope that other countries will join in our common endeavour.
In full awareness of the need to reveal the significance of this first step by sustained action in other sectors, we have the hope and the will in the same spirit that presided in the elaboration of this Treaty, to bring the current projects now in preparation to a successful conclusion. The work will be pursued in conjunction with the existing European bodies.
These initiatives, each with their particular objective, should rapidly take their place within the framework of a European Political Community, the concept of which is being elaborated in the Council of Europe. This should result in the coordination and simplification of the European institutions as a whole.
All these efforts will be guided by the growing conviction that the countries of free Europe are inter-dependent and that they share a common destiny. We will strengthen this sentiment by combining our energies and our determination, and bringing our work into harmony through frequent consultations and building ever-increasing trust through our contacts.
Herein lies the significance of this day. We have no doubt its importance will be understood by the public opinion of our countries and by our parliaments, who are called to decide on its ratification. The governments that are represented here together will act as interpreters of our common will to build a peaceful and prosperous Europe. And we will serve it together.
The declaration was signed by Konrad Adenauer (West Germany), Paul van Zeeland, Joseph Meurice (Belgium), Robert Schuman (France), Count Sforza (Italy) Joseph Bech (Luxembourg), Dirk Stikker and J. R. M. van den Brink (The Netherlands).
What is the most important of the documents signed by the Founding Fathers of Europe? Even if people knew what it was, they would be hard pressed to find a copy. Europa.eu of course will not show you a copy. You won't find it in any of the Commission's publications. Forget about the secretive Council or the passive EcoSoc!
What I am talking about is the Declaration made by the Founding Fathers that defined their vision of a democratic Europe and of their future. That is especially relevant now, in our time and for our future. But where is the document? Why do the so-called European institutions not have a copy on show somewhere or at least accessible in the public archives. Even if they violently disagree with it, why do they deny its existence??
The Document I am referring to is called the Europe Declaration. It was signed by all the leaders of the Six founder States. Schuman of France, Adenauer of Germany, Count Sforza of Italy, Bech of Luxembourg, van Zeeland of Belgium and Stikker of The Netherlands and a few others for good measure. All signed the founding treaty of the European Union on 18 April 1951. On that same day they signed another document right after the signature of the Treaty of Paris. It described the principles of European democracy. It is called the Europe Declaration because it gives a lucid vision of the future.
Do you ever get the impression that you are living in Stalin's Soviet Union? Maybe Dr Goebbels, the Nazi Propaganda UeberBoss, has been working in the basement of the Commission's Berlaymont building for the last few decades. The vital truth of one day, its most important information for all citizens, is buried and censored as if it never existed. We are given ersatz 'information', crafty distortions, PR paid for from EU funds. Instead of the obligations to reduce the membership of the Commission, the politicians provide jobs for political chums, one per majority party in each State, and scores of new but unnecessary jobs for the political cartel. The new political leaders want to play their own game and a bit of truth is most inconvenient. The Declaration also reminds governments of their duties towards their citizens -- as servants. A Europe following the vision of the Founding Fathers would be leaner and all Europeans would be better off, in many ways.
The reason, of course that the leaders -- the political cartel today and the Gaullists of yesteryear -- do not want you to know about this Declaration is that it gives an idea about how we should be running the show democratically today. It uses the words, politicians do not like and cannot explain. That is SUPRANATIONAL DEMOCRACY. It speaks about nations where the citizens are free to choose. And many other uncomfartable truths.
We now have a lame camel of a treaty -- the Lisbon Treaty -- a horse designed by a committee and decided without democratic assent -- instead of the thoroughbred race horse we could have had.
As a public duty I present the full version of the Europe Declaration. It is as important a document as America's Declaration of Independence. This we can call the Europe Declaration of INTER-DEPENDENCE. Not something to appeal to Charles de Gaulle. However today we are living on a planet that is perishing. If we do not recognize our interdependence it will not just be sad, it could well be the end of our species. Other species are dying out fast, due to man's egotism. The principles of inter-dependence and how we can manage the planet democratically are of vital importance, not only for Europeans, but all earthlings on this blue planet, the only speck of hope in all the black, hostile reaches of space.
Europe Declaration
18 April 1951
The following declaration was made and signed on same day as Europe's founding Treaty of Paris, creating the European Coal and Steel Community. It affirms that Europe must be built on supranational democratic principles. That is true then. It is true now.
The President of the Federal Republic of Germany, His Royal Highness the Prince Royal of Belgium, the President of the French Republic, the President of the Italian Republic, Her Royal Highness the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, Her Majesty, the Queen of The Netherlands,
Considering that world peace can only be safeguarded by creative efforts commensurate with the dangers threatening it;
Convinced that the contribution that an organized and invigorated Europe can bring to civilization is indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations;
Conscious that Europe will not be constructed except by concrete achievements establishing first of all the reality of partnership, and by the establishment of common bases for economic development;
Anxious to cooperate through the expansion of their basic products in raising the standard of living and progressing in works of peace;
Resolved to transform their age-long rivalry through the consolidation of their essential interests, and, by the inauguration of an economic Community, to assemble the initial basis for a broader and deeper Community of peoples who had for centuries been opposed in bloody conflicts, and to set the foundations of institutions capable of providing a direction to a destiny that is henceforward shared,
Have decided to create a European Coal and Steel.Community
This work that has just been confirmed by our signature, we owe to the wisdom of our delegations and to the perseverance of our experts. We are deeply grateful to them.
Even before the work was set in motion, the very idea that was its inspiration had already aroused in our countries and beyond its borders an extraordinary surge of hope and confidence.
In signing the treaty founding the European Community for Coal and Steel Community, a community of 160 million Europeans, the contracting parties give proof of their determination to call the first supranational institution into life, and consequently create the true foundation for an organized Europe.
This Europe is open to all European nations that can decide freely for themselves. We sincerely hope that other countries will join in our common endeavour.
In full awareness of the need to reveal the significance of this first step by sustained action in other sectors, we have the hope and the will in the same spirit that presided in the elaboration of this Treaty, to bring the current projects now in preparation to a successful conclusion. The work will be pursued in conjunction with the existing European bodies.
These initiatives, each with their particular objective, should rapidly take their place within the framework of a European Political Community, the concept of which is being elaborated in the Council of Europe. This should result in the coordination and simplification of the European institutions as a whole.
All these efforts will be guided by the growing conviction that the countries of free Europe are inter-dependent and that they share a common destiny. We will strengthen this sentiment by combining our energies and our determination, and bringing our work into harmony through frequent consultations and building ever-increasing trust through our contacts.
Herein lies the significance of this day. We have no doubt its importance will be understood by the public opinion of our countries and by our parliaments, who are called to decide on its ratification. The governments that are represented here together will act as interpreters of our common will to build a peaceful and prosperous Europe. And we will serve it together.
The declaration was signed by Konrad Adenauer (West Germany), Paul van Zeeland, Joseph Meurice (Belgium), Robert Schuman (France), Count Sforza (Italy) Joseph Bech (Luxembourg), Dirk Stikker and J. R. M. van den Brink (The Netherlands).
10 November, 2009
4 Would the Founding Fathers be shocked at the fall of the Berlin Wall? Hardly. They planned for it!
In 1989 leaders of the European Community were shocked and worried about what they considered the dangerous consequences of the fall of the Berlin Wall. German unity was inevitable.
Some tried to block it. Others warned of a German Reich. Germany had been at the origin of three wars in a century: the Franco-Prussian war and two World Wars.
In the twenty years since the Berlin Wall fell, have politicians learned anything about the European Community? The Community was actually designed as the guarantee that Germany would not be able to go to war against its neighbours EVER again. That is what the founding fathers said.
I have looked as best I could over the past two decades to find a politician clearly explaining this point by point to the public. Maybe I am negligent but I have not found any evidence that either the European Commission, or the Council of Ministers or other politicians ever explained how Schuman and others conceived that the five institutions should work and would create peace with Germany when it was united.
Yet Robert Schuman and others gave the highest profile speeches about it fifty years ago. Why were these speeches not republished by the European institutions? Why were they not republished by the French, German and other Governments? Were the institutions asleep -- dreaming of federations or confederations or their brain child, the Constitutional Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Lisbon?
Let's look at the speeches given by Robert Schuman in 1948 and 1949 to the United Nations General Assembly.
On 28 September 1948 -- three short years after the massive destruction and hate of World War 2, Schuman told the UN General Assembly that the unification of Germany was inevitable and he, as Foreign Minister of France, was going to make sure that the unification of Europe was also inevitable because this was the guarantee that all could live in peace:
‘A renewed Germany will have to insert itself inside the democracy of Europe. The dismemberment of this old continent, so often and cruelly torn by war, is a relic of times past. ... Now, however, our times are those of large economic units and great political alliances. Europe must unite to survive. France intends to work on this energetically with all its heart and soul. A European public opinion is already being created. Already concrete efforts are taking shape that are marking the first steps on a new road.. …
'We are, of course, only at the start of what is a great work. … Let us hope, God willing, that those who are presently hesitating will not take too long to be convinced about it. An economic union implies political cooperation. The ideas of a federation and a confederation are being discussed. We are happy to see such concepts being taken up, and studied in numerous international meetings in which personalities most representative of European public opinion are participating. Now is the time for such ideas to be analysed and supported by the governments themselves. In agreement with the Belgian Government, the French Government has proposed to follow up suggestions to call a representative assembly of European public opinion with a view to prepare a project for organising Europe. This assembly will have to weigh all the difficulties and propose reasonable solutions which take into account of the need of a wise and progressive development.’
The next year on 23 September, after he had laid the foundations of the Council of Europe, an institution that would guarantee Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms for all Europeans, Schuman reported to the UN General Assembly on progress in Germany and Europe:
‘The first President of the new Federal Republic has just been elected and the first Chancellor designated. The destiny of Germany is again conferred on the Germans themselves. Facts will show if they are in a position to face up to their responsibilities that are restored to them and to prepare their future in an orderly manner and in freedom. The rhythm of developments that follow will depend on the results of this experiment. Our hope is that Germany will commit itself on a road that will allow it to find again its place in the community of free nations, commencing with that European Community of which the Council of Europe is a herald.’
Europe's peace would be based on a supranational democratic European Community, not a classical federation or a confederation. This was the year before the Schuman Declaration. (However, we are still awaiting the Commission to publish the full text, rather than the censored version it says is the full text.) This speech besides clarifying how Schuman was to guarantee a permanent European peace, also exposes the mistake or vain boast in Jean Monnet's Memoires that Monnet invented the term, European Community, on 21 June 1950. Schuman used it in many major speeches before Monnet ever uttered it.
Thus the European Community was the key that would ensure lasting peace, not only for Germany but for her neighbours. Schuman gave speeches in Germany about the reunification of Germany. He gave them in German so there would be no misunderstanding.
But let us quote another witness, Robert Buron, who records in a diary what Schuman said to him on 10 July 1953. Schuman described the options: Germany might make a secret deal with the Soviet Union or it could develop a real democracy inside a democratic European Community. Only the latter would safeguard the peace.
'Sooner or later, wished for or not, the reunification of Germany will happen. It may be in a climate of détente between East and West that would help the development. It may occur in a rapprochement of Germany alone with the Soviet Union, after elections favourable to socialists for example. The balance of the world will then be thrown into question.'
Schuman told him that the existence of the European Community had already caused the Soviets to stop and think about a less aggressive policy than world revolution. In Schuman's opinion, he recorded, 'the pursuit of a European policy is one of the causes for the decision of the new Russian rulers to move towards détente.'
Schuman was no longer in office as minister and Europe required a well informed governmental spokesman to speak out about the European Community. He would give 'a frank explanation between French and Russians about the policy of European integration.' Gaullists, nationalists and the large Communist party made this as difficult as possible. Today we need not only someone to speak to the Russians but to our own European citizens about the real meaning for them of a supranational, democratic Community.
Schuman said: 'If I believe profoundly in détente and in peace, I believe equally deeply that the strategy that we have traced is only realisable in practice if Western Germany remains solidly anchored to our European construction.
It is necessary to progress at the same time with European integration, the improvement of East West relations and German unification. Everything lies in the art of progressing simultaneously.'
Schuman and others foretold that the Soviet Union would collapse before the end of the century. But none of today's politicians were listening either.
Some tried to block it. Others warned of a German Reich. Germany had been at the origin of three wars in a century: the Franco-Prussian war and two World Wars.
In the twenty years since the Berlin Wall fell, have politicians learned anything about the European Community? The Community was actually designed as the guarantee that Germany would not be able to go to war against its neighbours EVER again. That is what the founding fathers said.
I have looked as best I could over the past two decades to find a politician clearly explaining this point by point to the public. Maybe I am negligent but I have not found any evidence that either the European Commission, or the Council of Ministers or other politicians ever explained how Schuman and others conceived that the five institutions should work and would create peace with Germany when it was united.
Yet Robert Schuman and others gave the highest profile speeches about it fifty years ago. Why were these speeches not republished by the European institutions? Why were they not republished by the French, German and other Governments? Were the institutions asleep -- dreaming of federations or confederations or their brain child, the Constitutional Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Lisbon?
Let's look at the speeches given by Robert Schuman in 1948 and 1949 to the United Nations General Assembly.
On 28 September 1948 -- three short years after the massive destruction and hate of World War 2, Schuman told the UN General Assembly that the unification of Germany was inevitable and he, as Foreign Minister of France, was going to make sure that the unification of Europe was also inevitable because this was the guarantee that all could live in peace:
‘A renewed Germany will have to insert itself inside the democracy of Europe. The dismemberment of this old continent, so often and cruelly torn by war, is a relic of times past. ... Now, however, our times are those of large economic units and great political alliances. Europe must unite to survive. France intends to work on this energetically with all its heart and soul. A European public opinion is already being created. Already concrete efforts are taking shape that are marking the first steps on a new road.. …
'We are, of course, only at the start of what is a great work. … Let us hope, God willing, that those who are presently hesitating will not take too long to be convinced about it. An economic union implies political cooperation. The ideas of a federation and a confederation are being discussed. We are happy to see such concepts being taken up, and studied in numerous international meetings in which personalities most representative of European public opinion are participating. Now is the time for such ideas to be analysed and supported by the governments themselves. In agreement with the Belgian Government, the French Government has proposed to follow up suggestions to call a representative assembly of European public opinion with a view to prepare a project for organising Europe. This assembly will have to weigh all the difficulties and propose reasonable solutions which take into account of the need of a wise and progressive development.’
The next year on 23 September, after he had laid the foundations of the Council of Europe, an institution that would guarantee Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms for all Europeans, Schuman reported to the UN General Assembly on progress in Germany and Europe:
‘The first President of the new Federal Republic has just been elected and the first Chancellor designated. The destiny of Germany is again conferred on the Germans themselves. Facts will show if they are in a position to face up to their responsibilities that are restored to them and to prepare their future in an orderly manner and in freedom. The rhythm of developments that follow will depend on the results of this experiment. Our hope is that Germany will commit itself on a road that will allow it to find again its place in the community of free nations, commencing with that European Community of which the Council of Europe is a herald.’
Europe's peace would be based on a supranational democratic European Community, not a classical federation or a confederation. This was the year before the Schuman Declaration. (However, we are still awaiting the Commission to publish the full text, rather than the censored version it says is the full text.) This speech besides clarifying how Schuman was to guarantee a permanent European peace, also exposes the mistake or vain boast in Jean Monnet's Memoires that Monnet invented the term, European Community, on 21 June 1950. Schuman used it in many major speeches before Monnet ever uttered it.
Thus the European Community was the key that would ensure lasting peace, not only for Germany but for her neighbours. Schuman gave speeches in Germany about the reunification of Germany. He gave them in German so there would be no misunderstanding.
But let us quote another witness, Robert Buron, who records in a diary what Schuman said to him on 10 July 1953. Schuman described the options: Germany might make a secret deal with the Soviet Union or it could develop a real democracy inside a democratic European Community. Only the latter would safeguard the peace.
'Sooner or later, wished for or not, the reunification of Germany will happen. It may be in a climate of détente between East and West that would help the development. It may occur in a rapprochement of Germany alone with the Soviet Union, after elections favourable to socialists for example. The balance of the world will then be thrown into question.'
Schuman told him that the existence of the European Community had already caused the Soviets to stop and think about a less aggressive policy than world revolution. In Schuman's opinion, he recorded, 'the pursuit of a European policy is one of the causes for the decision of the new Russian rulers to move towards détente.'
Schuman was no longer in office as minister and Europe required a well informed governmental spokesman to speak out about the European Community. He would give 'a frank explanation between French and Russians about the policy of European integration.' Gaullists, nationalists and the large Communist party made this as difficult as possible. Today we need not only someone to speak to the Russians but to our own European citizens about the real meaning for them of a supranational, democratic Community.
Schuman said: 'If I believe profoundly in détente and in peace, I believe equally deeply that the strategy that we have traced is only realisable in practice if Western Germany remains solidly anchored to our European construction.
It is necessary to progress at the same time with European integration, the improvement of East West relations and German unification. Everything lies in the art of progressing simultaneously.'
Schuman and others foretold that the Soviet Union would collapse before the end of the century. But none of today's politicians were listening either.
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