Schuman Declaration
 

The Schuman Declaration – On 9 May 1950, Robert Schuman, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, held a press conference in the Clock Room (le Salon de l’Horloge) at the Quai d’Orsay where he read a declaration, drafted by his advisor and friend, Jean Monnet, which would come to start a new stage in European history. Schuman called upon France, Germany, and other countries of the old continent to join together for the production of coal and steel. This economic initiative was the first step of the Schuman and Monnet project for the creation of a European federation.

Even if Schuman and Monnet advocated for pragmatism and progressive construction, this idea was audacious because it meant that European countries, just after the worst period in modern history, were to abandon their autonomy of raw material management and entrust it to a supranational institution. The appeal was heard by six countries. On 18 April 1951, France, the FRG, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and Italy founded the European Coal and Steel Community, the ancestor of the European Union.