Schuman plan

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Quai d'Orsay

The Schuman Plan or Schuman Declaration is a fundamental political plan for the amalgamation of German and French coal and steel production after the Second World War, which was presented on May 9, 1950 by the then French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman (1886–1963) in the Salon de l 'Horloge des Quai d'Orsay was announced to press representatives in a government statement.

“The French government proposes that all Franco-German coal and steel production be placed under a joint High Authority, in an organization open to other European countries to join. [...] "

- from the declaration of the French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman of 9 May 1950
Salon de l'Horloge

Before the reading, more precisely just a few hours earlier, only Konrad Adenauer was informed, who immediately approved the plan.

The urgent tasks of the Supreme Authority were outlined as follows:

  • modernizing production and improving quality;
  • the supply of coal and steel on the French and German markets and on the markets of all participating countries on the same terms;
  • the development of joint exports to other countries;
  • the improvement of the living conditions of the workers in these industries.

Schuman read this government statement just three days before the London Conference of Foreign Ministers of France, Great Britain and the USA, at which new points of view that would guide European politics were discussed. Although the Schuman Plan was drawn up in secrecy by a group around Jean Monnet , it was the most widely read document at the conference. The Schuman Plan builds on the concept of the Ruhr Statute is thus stands in a continuity of the French Ruhr policy . The plan led to the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community and thus proved to be an important basis for the process of European integration .

occasion

Due to the intensification of the East-West conflict in connection with the Cold War , it became clear to the French government that it could no longer oppose German rearmament and the restoration of Germany's sovereignty (see Foreign Ministers Conference in September 1950). In the course of the strengthening of the Federal Republic of Germany it became clear that the restrictions on the German coal and steel industry had to be lifted because France was also very interested in German raw materials.

In addition, the Federal Republic of Germany was in the process of accession negotiations to the Council of Europe . France wanted the Federal Republic and Saarland to join the Council of Europe as two new members in order to secure the autonomy of the Saarland . With the Schuman Plan, to which Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer agreed, this diplomatic disgruntlement could be compensated for by the planned autonomy. Adenauer consequently agreed that Saarland could join independently of the Federal Republic.

In a speech at a trade union meeting in Metz in 1950, Schuman declared: “In truth, this plan (the Schuman Plan) is the continuation of the Monnet Plan ” and, “to facilitate French steel exports”, France “took on this mission”. According to Hans Ritschl : "This speech was not intended for German ears!" Jean Monnet was the first head of the Commissariat général du Plan (planning office) in France and saw the " Monnet Plan" (1946–1950) a major modernization program for the French economy and a huge expansion of French steel capacity. It also limited the competing German steel industry to a maximum of 7.5 million tons per year.

Further development after presentation of the plan

In this plan, the contract goes beyond the founding of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC, even ECSC called) back on April 18 1951st Jean Monnet was also the first President of the High Authority of the Coal and Steel Community (1952–1955), which were merged with the EEC and EURATOM to form the European Communities with the EC merger treaty of 1965 .

Foreign, economic and security policy basic ideas of France

According to the historian Clemens Wurm, France pursued with the Schuman Plan - unlike Great Britain, which as a still existing colonial power at the time was more oriented towards world trade as well as the ideas of the Commonwealth and the special relationship with the USA - a more continental European-oriented policy of containment Soviet Union and security “in front of and with Germany”. In addition, the Schuman Plan was seen as a good idea to form a European project through which France could largely keep Great Britain out of continental politics and secure a politically dominant role there itself. In order to solve its traditional Germany problem, France intended to integrate Germany into supranational organizations at the European level, after trying to control Germany through alliances (including the Soviet Union) between 1944 and 1947, to dissolve its state unity, or to dissolve West Germany around the Rhineland to amputate the Ruhr area and the Saarland had failed due to resistance from the USA and Great Britain. With the Schuman Plan, France broke with the old politics and began to build a new European power bloc with the cooperative involvement of the young Federal Republic.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Schuman Declaration - May 9, 1950. Basic information on the European Union. Accessed May 9, 2017
  2. ^ John Gillingham: The French Ruhr Policy and the Origins of the Schuman Plan. In: Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, issue 1/1987 (PDF; 8.2 MB), ISSN  0042-5702 , p. 1 ff.
  3. ↑ The Schuman Plan: The new Ruhr authority Professor Dr. Hans Ritschl The Mirror 1951
  4. ↑ The Schuman Plan: The new Ruhr authority Professor Dr. Hans Ritschl The Mirror 1951
  5. ^ Clemens Wurm: Great Britain, France and Western European Integration. Inaugural lecture on October 27, 1992 (PDF; 63 kB), accessed on February 25, 2012