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August 3 - August 10,2003 |
First the Market, Then Peace
EU's strategies respect goals and commitment to no more war in Europe
By Antonio Maglio
Originally Published: 2003-07-20
It took the Europeans two tragedies to understand that nationalism had run its course: the First and Second World Wars. Particularly following the latter catastrophe, that had literally brought Europe to its knees, a need was clear to all: the conditions that had led to such two devastating conflicts in 30 years had to be prevented from recurring.
European integration was born from this premise. Despite their proverbial national pride, Europeans did not betray this premise. However, it could not remain a pure declaration of principles: it needed legs for going further. The idea was to achieve the main objective, i.e. peace, beginning with the creation of a common market and the progressive elimination of the barriers dividing the States, guaranteeing free circulation of goods, people, services, and capitals.
With this strategy in mind, France took the initiative. It did so on May 9, 1950, when its Foreign Minister, Robert Schuman, said that the time was ripe "for a European federation", and proposed to start with the management of the resources spared by the war: coal and steel. In the post-war reconstruction, production and trade of these resources were strategic from a political as well as economic point of view. Schuman's proposal (vigorously seconded by Italy's Alcide De Gasperi and Altiero Spinelli, Germany's Konrad Adenauer, and France's Jean Monnet) was promptly accepted by six countries (France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxemburg) that on April 18, 1951, signed the Treaty of Paris, creating the very first spark of integration: ECSC, the European Coal and Steel Community.
It was clear, even then, that only the first step had been taken. The founding states believed that "a European power ruled by democratic, independent institutions" had to be created, as Pascal Fontaine wrote in his Ten Lessons on Europe. "Those institutions would manage the sectors where joint actions are more efficacious than separate initiatives: internal market, currency, economic and social cohesion, job creation, environmental protection, foreign and defence policy, the establishment of a space of freedom and security."
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