SUBJECTS

THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF THE EU

HISTORY

  • Specific Objectives and Competences

    • To know about the generation of politicians who made it possible to undertake the process of European construction.
    • To know about the type of model for integration that was used at the beginning of the process of European integration.

    Contents

    • After WWII, Europe became less important within the international arena, which became dominated by the USA and the USSR. The two victorious superpowers came to dominate the international scene and spread their influence throughout the world.
    • Western Europe saw that its future lay in promoting closer cooperation and avoiding the errors of the past.
    • On 9th May 1950, the French Foreign Minister, Robert Schuman, revealed his plans for the construction of a new Europe which were, in part, inspired by Jean Monnet. In what came to be known as the Schuman Declaration, he proposed the creation of a common higher authority whose task it would be to control the market for and production of coal and steel within the countries of Europe.
    • As this was the base for the arms industry, it was thought that establishing joint control over the production of coal and steel would help to prevent future conflicts between European states.
    • Schuman’s idea was to begin a process of European integration based on specific actions. It was following this principle that in 1951 Germany, Italy, France, Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands signed the treaty that created the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

Debates

Comparing the list of politicians who pose the “greatest danger” to Europe, according to the publication Der Spiegel, with the founding fathers of the EU.

What has caused the rise of this generation of Eurosceptic politicians?

In many cases they represent minority parties, but do you think that they are conditioning the policies of their respective countries with respect to Europe?

Documents

>15  European federalism (en).

>15  Biography of Jean Monnet (bg, da, et, cz, de, el, es, en, fr, ga, it, lv, lt, hu, mt, nl, pl, pt, ro, sk, sl, fi, sv).

>15  Biography of Robert Schuman (bg, da, et, cz, de, el, es, en, fr, ga, it, lv, lt, hu, mt, nl, pl, pt, ro, sk, sl, fi, sv).

>15  Biography of Konrad Adenauer (bg, da, et, cz, de, el, es, en, fr, ga, it, lv, lt, hu, mt, nl, pl, pt, ro, sk, sl, fi, sv).

>15  Biography of Winston Churchill (bg, da, et, cz, de, el, es, en, fr, ga, it, lv, lt, hu, mt, nl, pl, pt, ro, sk, sl, fi, sv).

 

Videos

>15  Jean Monnet (fr with transcription available in en bg, da, et, cz, de, el, es, en, fr, ga, it, lv, lt, hu, mt, nl, pl, pt, ro, sk, sl, fi, sv, 0’50”).

>15  Robert Schuman (fr with transcription available in bg, da, et, cz, de, el, es, en, fr, ga, it, lv, lt, hu, mt, nl, pl, pt, ro, sk, sl, fi, sv, 0’47”).

>15  Konrad Adenauer (de with transcription available in bg, da, et, cz, de, el, es, en, fr, ga, it, lv, lt, hu, mt, nl, pl, pt, ro, sk, sl, fi, sv, 0’57”).

>15  Winston Churchill (en with transcription available in bg, da, et, cz, de, el, es, en, fr, ga, it, lv, lt, hu, mt, nl, pl, pt, ro, sk, sl, fi, sv, 0’49”)

>15  The idea that gave rise to the EU (fr with subtitles in bg, da, et, cz, de, el, es, en, fr, it, lv, lt, hu, mt, nl, pl, pt, ro, sk, sl, fi, sv, 2’03”)

>15  Visions of Europe. 2004. EU 140

 

Images

>15  Negotiating the ECSC Treaty © European Union, 2013)

 

External Link

>15  The pro-Europe movement in the post-war period (en, fr)

>15  The Schuman Declaration (fr, en)

>15  List of the 10 present-day politicians who pose the “greatest danger” to Europe (en)

>15  Euroscepticism: more than a British phenomenon (en)