On 9 May 1950, Robert Schuman, French Foreign Minister, proposes to the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and to other European countries that their coal and steel resources be pooled in a common European organisation. As it could not be recorded on 9 May 1950, Schuman’s address had to be given again shortly afterwards so that it could be recorded for posterity.
In this interview, Paul Collowald, former journalist on the daily newspaper Le Nouvel Alsacien and former European correspondent in Alsace for the daily newspaper Le Monde, describes the preparations for and the political and economic implications of the Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950.
In this interview, Jacques-René Rabier, Head of the Private Office of Jean Monnet at the French National Planning Board from 1947 to 1952, explains his personal experience of the preparations for the Schuman Plan within the National Planning Board. He also describes the atmosphere when Robert Schuman, French Foreign Minister, made his declaration on 9 May 1950 in the Salon de l'Horloge at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris, a declaration that Jacques-René Rabier witnessed at first hand.
On 11 May 1950, Gaston Tessier, President of the CFTC [the French Confederation of Christian Workers], expresses his agreement of principle with the Schuman Plan.
On 21 November 1950, the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Committee on European Affairs adopts a declaration on the implementation of the Schuman Plan.
On 10 June 1959, German Federal President Theodor Heuss awards the Federal Cross of Merit to Robert Schuman, President of the European Parliamentary Assembly, for his action to promote European unity. To mark the occasion, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer gives an address in which he praises Robert Schuman’s European commitment in the implementation of the plan for a European Coal and Steel Community.
In this interview, Edmund Wellenstein, Head of the ‘Germany’ Division and Director-General for European Affairs in the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 1950 and 1952, describes how the Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950 was received in diplomatic and economic circles in the Netherlands.
In this interview, Jacques-René Rabier, Head of Jean Monnet’s Private Office at the French National Planning Board from 1947 to 1952, discusses the section on joint development in Europe and Africa in the declaration made on 9 May 1950 in the Salon de l’Horloge at the Quai d’Orsay in Paris by Robert Schuman, French Foreign Minister.
In this interview, Max Kohnstamm, former Head of the German Office of the Netherlands Foreign Ministry, describes the circumstances in which he learnt of the Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950.