- XIX e century:first formulation of a project for political Europe, with in particular Victor Hugo who speaks of the “United States of Europe”.
- 1920:Count Coudenhove-Kalergi proposes the creation of a pan-European union with the aim of avoiding the horrors of the First World War forever.
- 1943:in the middle of the Second World War, resistance movements from all countries are considering a union between the different states so that such a conflict cannot happen again. They founded a European federalist movement.
- 1947:establishment of the bipolarization of the world into two antagonistic blocks (USSR/United States). Faced with Eastern Europe controlled by the Soviets, the Americans are pushing the countries of Western Europe to unite more to prevent communism from spreading (policy of containment resulting from the Truman Doctrine). It was in this context that the OEEC (Organization for European Economic Cooperation) was created in 1948, which was used to distribute the money from the Marshall Plan.
- 1948:the Brussels Pact provides for a defensive military alliance between the various countries of Western Europe.
1948, 1949 and 1950
Characters
Konrad Adenauer
Jean Monnet
Robert Schuman
Alcid of Gasperi
Procedure
In May 1948, a “Congress of Europe” was held in The Hague, the Netherlands, chaired by Winston Churchill. Its objective is to unite the different countries of Europe into a state union. The whole issue of this congress is to know whether this union should be federalist, which would be a strong sign of cooperation, or only sovereignist, that is to say that the States would retain a large part of their traditional prerogatives. Within the congress, many differences appeared before the second solution was favoured. It is thus a limited victory for the idea of European construction.
The Hague Congress provides for the creation of a Council of Europe, which is made effective a year later, in May 1949. This council's mission is to promote democracy and respect for human rights. . However, the Council of Europe has no power of its own, and cannot make its decisions binding on the various States.
The member states of the Council of Europe came together the following year, in 1950, to sign the European Convention on Human Rights. Its purpose is to protect human rights and fundamental freedoms.
Consequences
- 1951:favoring the start of European construction through economic fact rather than political union, the fathers of Europe created the ECSC (European Coal and Steel Community).
- 1959:to ensure compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights, which sits in Strasbourg, is created.