On 10 March 1948, Joseph Retinger, Secretary-General of the International Committee of the Movements for European Unity, sends to Morgan Phillips, Secretary of the British Labour Party, a letter in which he refutes all the Labour Party’s criticisms of the Congress of Europe held in The Hague.
The letters exchanged on 21 and 22 April 1948 between Morgan Phillips, General Secretary of the British Labour Party, and Leslie Hale, Labour MP, highlight the tensions in the Labour Party regarding its participation in the Congress of Europe in The Hague.
In April 1948, the London Secretariat of the Joint International Committee of the Movements for European Unity produces a first version of the travel arrangements and programme of the British Delegation to the Congress of Europe in The Hague.
On 3 May 1948, Leslie Illingworth, British cartoonist, takes an ironic look at the dissensions within the British Labour Party regarding the sending of Labour delegates to the Congress of Europe in The Hague four days later.
On 4 May 1948, the Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir comments on the forthcoming debate in the British House of Commons on the proposal for a Western European Federation put forward by Labour, Conservative and Liberal MPs and underlines the dissensions within the British Labour Party with regard to the Congress of Europe in The Hague.
On 8 May 1948, the Italian daily newspaper Il nuovo Corriere della Sera comments on the statement made by Morgan Phillips, General Secretary of the British Labour Party, who explains why the Labour Party will not be sending any official delegates to the Congress of Europe in The Hague.
On 9 May 1948, the French daily newspaper Le Monde outlines the comments made by Morgan Phillips, General Secretary of the British Labour Party, on the reasons for the party’s reserved attitude towards the Congress of Europe in The Hague.
On 10 May 1948, referring to the debates being held at the Congress of Europe in The Hague, the British daily newspaper Daily Mail is supportive of a United Kingdom which maintains its links with the British Empire whilst making great efforts to achieve European unity.
On 13 May 1948, in an article in the British daily newspaper Daily Mail, the Labour MP, Christopher Shawcross, member of the British delegation to the Congress of Europe in The Hague, explains why the Labour and Socialist Parties should have supported the Hague Congress. He also argues in favour of the establishment of a European Assembly and calls on Clement Attlee's Labour Government to endorse such an Assembly.
On 16 September 1948, the Conservative MP Sir Peter MacDonald, Member of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU), gives an address to the House of Commons in which he criticises the attitude adopted by the British Labour Government concerning the Congress of Europe in The Hague.
The delegations of the countries of Central and Eastern Europe
On 16 April 1948, the representatives of a number of movements composed of exiles from Central and Eastern Europe send to the former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, Honorary Chairman of the forthcoming Congress of Europe in the Hague, the resolution that they adopted the previous day in London in which they call on the Security Council of the United Nations to condemn the Soviet regime and Soviet occupation in the countries behind the Iron Curtain.
On 30 April 1948, Georges Rebattet, representative in Paris of the International Committee of the Movements for European Unity, sends to the Polish federalist activist, Jerzy Jankowski, a letter in which he informs him that it is impossible to appoint him as one of the observers from the countries of Eastern Europe invited to attend the Congress of Europe in The Hague.
On 4 May 1948, journalist Peter Prídavok, President of the Slovakian National Council in London, sends to Winston Churchill, Honorary Chairman at the Congress of Europe in The Hague, a letter in which he affirms his support for the proposal for a federal Europe and his commitment to the democratic independence of the Slovak nation.
On 6 May 1948, the Slovene Democratic Union for the free Territory of Trieste sends a letter of encouragement to the former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, President of the Congress of Europe in The Hague.
On 5 May 1948, anti-Communist Slovak activists send a letter to the former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, Chairman of the Congress of Europe in The Hague, in which they express their wishes for success to those attending the Congress and their desire to see Slovakia become part of a European federation.
On 15 June 1948, welcoming the outcome of the recent Congress of Europe in The Hague and determined to contribute to the efforts being made to unify Europe, Romanian exiles based in Switzerland launch an appeal to establish a Groupement Roumain pour l’Europe Unie (Romanian Group for a United Europe).
On 20 June 1948, following the Congress of Europe in The Hague, Grégoire Gafenco, former Romanian Foreign Minister and Member of the Union of European Federalists (UEF), sends to Joseph Retinger, Secretary of the International Committee of the Movements for European Unity, a letter in which he informs him of the establishment, in Paris, of a Romanian Group for a United Europe.
On 9 September 1948, Juozas Lanskoronskis, representative in France of the Baltic Federalist Movements, and Anro Halm, General Secretary of the Baltic Council in Stockholm, send to the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Chairman of the Congress of Europe held four months earlier in The Hague, a letter in which they express the determination of the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian people to contribute to the efforts to establish a united Europe on a federal basis.
On 24 January 1948, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Rundschau speculates on the issues involved in the forthcoming Congress of Europe due to be held in The Hague and reports on the comments made by Henri Brugmans, Dutch President of the Union of European Federalists (UEF), on the importance of involving Germany in the process of European unification.
On 30 April 1948, Joseph Retinger, Secretary of the International Committee of the Movements for European Unity, sends to his colleague in Paris, Georges Rebattet, a note informing him of the procedures to be followed so that the German Delegation may travel to the Netherlands in order to attend the Congress of Europe in The Hague.
Dans cette interview, Guy Gervais de Rouville, membre en mai 1948 de la délégation française au congrès de l'Europe à La Haye, évoque ses sentiments d'alors à l'égard de la délégation allemande et décrit la manière dont elle était traitée lors du congrès.
In May 1948, a few days before the official opening of the Congress of Europe in The Hague, the International Committee of the Movements for European Unity publishes a list giving details of the composition of the national delegations and the observers attending the Congress.
On 13 April 1948, Georges Rebattet, representative in Paris of the International Committee of the Movements for European Unity, sends to Joseph Retinger, Secretary of the International Committee, a letter in which he informs him, in particular, of the difficulties involved in the appointment of some national delegations to the Congress of Europe in The Hague.
In April 1948, Léon Van Vassenhove, French leader of the Union of European Federalists (UEF) in Switzerland and Professor at the International Institute for Political Science at the University of Fribourg, accepts the invitation issued to him to attend the Congress of Europe held in May in The Hague.
On 5 May 1948, Henri d’Orléans, Count of Paris, issues a press release in which he welcomes the convening of the Congress of Europe in The Hague and calls on European leaders to establish a federal Europe.
At the Congress of Europe in The Hague, each delegate, like Paul Ramadier, former French Prime Minister and Chairman of the Political Committee, receives a named access ticket.
At the Congress of Europe in The Hague, each delegate, like Paul Ramadier, former French Prime Minister and Chairman of the Political Committee, receives a pass giving access to all the plenary sessions.
On 20 May 1948, former Spanish Republican Minister José E. Leiva sends a stiff note to Georges Rebattet, delegate in Paris of the International Committee of the Movements for European Unity, in which he complains about the way in which the Spanish Delegation to the Congress of Europe in The Hague was appointed.
On 26 May 1948, in the Belgian daily newspaper La Dernière Heure, the former Conservative MP, Randolph Churchill, son of the former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, condemns the attitude of Labour Party leaders towards the Congress of Europe in The Hague.
In this interview, French federalist activist Jean-Pierre Gouzy discusses his memories of the Congress of Europe held in The Hague in May 1948 and describes, in particular, the practical difficulties of the journey between Paris and the Dutch capital.
In this interview, French federalist activist Jean-Pierre Gouzy discusses his memories of the Congress of Europe held in The Hague in May 1948 and lists the main participants.