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The Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950 was a governmental proposal by incumbent French Foreign Minister, Robert Schuman, to create a new form of organisation of states in Europe called a "supranational community". Following the experiences of two World Wars, France concluded that certain values such as justice could not be defined by the state apparatus alone. It involved far more than a technical Community to place the coal and steel industries of France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg under a common High Authority. It led to the re-organization of the Western Europe created by World War II by treaty. The proposal led first to the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). It was also the forerunner of several other European Communities and also what is now the European Union (EU). The event is commemorated annually as Europe Day and Schuman himself is considered one of the founding fathers of the European Union. ==Background== Europe had just come out of World War II, a conflict that had nearly destroyed the continent and split it between two spheres of influence. With the desire not to repeat such destruction, there was a strong momentum towards European co-operation. Winston Churchill, standing next to Robert Schuman, had called for Franco-German reconciliation in a united Europe in a speech in Metz on 14 July 1946. In Zurich, Churchill later called for a "United States of Europe" and, in the meantime, the formation of a "Council of Europe".〔(The Zurich speech ) European NAvigator〕 Anxious to see greater European economic integration in order to be able to form a block against the Soviet Union, the U.S. used the Marshall Plan to force the adoption of more open markets as a pre-requisite to receive aid. The Organisation for European Economic Co-operation was founded in 1948 to help coordinate the Marshall Plan. Its guiding principles were:〔(OECD )〕 *promote co-operation between participating countries and their national production programmes for the reconstruction of Europe, *develop intra-European trade by reducing tariffs and other barriers to the expansion of trade, *study the feasibility of creating a customs union or free trade area, *study multi-lateralisation of payments, and *achieve conditions for better utilisation of labour. The United States also directly funded prominent European pro-federalists through the government funded American Committee on United Europe. Under the Monnet Plan of 1946–1950, designed to increase French steel production at the expense of Germany, France had absorbed the Saarland, a center for coal mining, from Germany and turned it into a protectorate. French attempts to detach the industrial region of the Ruhr with its many steel plants and coal mines from Germany met with greater resistance. However, in 1949 the International Authority for the Ruhr was founded. It was an international body that set limits on the production and production capacity in the Ruhr, and controlled distribution of the production, i.e. export or domestic. The organisation was dissolved with the introduction of the common market and the European Coal and Steel Community. In speeches before the United Nations, Schuman announced that a revitalized Germany must be placed inside a European democracy.〔(Schuman's UN speeches 1948 and 1949 )〕 The Council of Europe was duly created to provide the great framework of a European union (as it was originally called) in which the European Communities could be inserted. The Council was a herald of these supranational communities to come on the path to a full European integration. Schuman had stated that the idea of a European Coal and Steel Community dated from before he attended university. Schuman initiated policies in preparation for this major change of European politics while Prime Minister of France (1947–48) and Foreign Minister from 1948 onwards. He spoke about the principles of sharing European resources in a supranational union at the signing of the Statute of the Council of Europe in London, 5 May 1949. The Declaration had several distinct aims, which it tackled together: * It marked the birth of Europe as a political entity * It aimed to make war between Member States impossible * It encouraged world peace * It would transform Europe by a '' 'step by step' '' process (building through sectoral supranational communities) leading to the unification of Europe, including both East and West Europe separated by the Iron Curtain * The world's first international anti-cartel agency * It created a single market across the Community * This, starting with the coal and steel sector, would revitalise the whole European economy by similar community processes * It claimed to improve the world economy and of the developing countries, such as those in Africa.〔(What were Schuman's purposes in creating a European Community? )〕 According to Professor Dr. Hans Ritschl, Schuman made a speech arguing that the Schuman Plan was really a continuation of the Monnet Plan, and that it was solely for the sake of supporting French steel exports that they had taken on that task.〔(DER SCHUMANPLAN: DIE NEUE RUHRBEHÖRDE ) Professor Dr. Hans Ritschl Der Spiegel 1951〕 Professor Dr. Hans Ritschl says this speech was never intended to reach German ears.〔(DER SCHUMANPLAN: DIE NEUE RUHRBEHÖRDE ) Professor Dr. Hans Ritschl Der Spiegel 1951〕 However, Prof Ritschl cites no sources and the characteristics, objectives and method of the Schuman Plan and the Monnet Plan are quite different as noted above. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Schuman Declaration」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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