Items12The creator’s order
  1. 1Robert SchumanRobert SchumanBorn Jun 29, 1886Making the coal and steel proposal public Schuman put a specific plan before France and its neighbors in May 1950. French and West German coal and steel production would be placed under a common High Authority, with other European countries able to join. The proposal made reconciliation a question…0
  2. 2Jean MonnetJean MonnetBorn Nov 9, 1888Designing and running the High Authority Monnet worked with Schuman on the plan and then became the first president of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community. Start here to see what it meant to give a shared institution responsibility for an industry. The job of putting the…0
  3. 3Konrad AdenauerKonrad AdenauerBorn Jan 5, 1876Bringing West Germany into the founding agreements Adenauer backed the Coal and Steel Community and signed the Treaties of Rome as West German chancellor. The first agreement offered a way to cooperate with France over specific industries. Rome carried that cooperation into a wider market. His…0
  4. 4Alcide De GasperiAlcide De GasperiBorn Apr 3, 1881Backing the first agreement from Italy As Italian prime minister, De Gasperi supported the Schuman Plan and the Coal and Steel Community it helped create. He treated closer cooperation as a way to secure peace without dissolving the countries involved. His support brings Italy into the story…0
  5. 5Joseph BechJoseph BechChairing the Messina Conference Bech chaired the 1955 meeting that revived talks on European integration. Luxembourg joined Belgium and the Netherlands in putting forward a shared memorandum. The chair and the joint proposal are a reminder that a smaller country can shape what larger governments…0
  6. 6Johan BeyenJohan BeyenBorn May 2, 1897Making the case for a general common market Beyen wanted economic integration to reach beyond coal and steel. He used the Benelux customs union as a model and presented his plan at Messina. Compare his proposal with Schuman’s to see the change in scale, from pooling production in two industries to…0
  7. 7Paul-Henri SpaakPaul-Henri SpaakBorn Jan 25, 1899Turning Messina into a negotiating program Spaak chaired the committee the six governments set up after Messina. Its report supplied the basis for the negotiations on the common market and Euratom. His work sits between the statement of intent and the treaty itself, when experts had to make the…0
  8. 8Walter HallsteinWalter HallsteinBorn Nov 17, 1901Working on both sides of the transition Hallstein led the West German delegation to the conference on Schuman’s coal and steel proposal. He later signed the Treaties of Rome alongside Adenauer and became the first president of the European Economic Community’s Commission. His career links the work…0
  9. 9Gaetano MartinoGaetano MartinoBorn Nov 25, 1900Giving the talks a place to restart After the proposed European Defence Community failed, Martino helped restart integration talks by bringing the foreign ministers to Messina. He went on to lead the Italian delegation responsible for drafting and signing the Treaty of Rome. The same minister…0
  10. 10Guy MolletGuy MolletBorn Dec 31, 1905Getting past a deadlock over labor rules Differences over working hours and overtime had stalled the talks. As French prime minister, Mollet met Adenauer in November 1956 and reached agreement in principle on most of the disputed points. The other delegations accepted the new proposals and the…0