European Coal and Steel Community

As Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Schuman was instrumental in turning French policy away from the Gaullist objective of permanent occupation or control of parts of German territory such as the Ruhr or the Saar. Despite stiff ultra-nationalist, Gaullist and communist opposition, the French Assembly voted a number of resolutions in favour of his new policy of integrating Germany in a community. The International Authority for the Ruhr changed in consequence. Background: Schuman declaration The Schuman Declaration had the stated aim of preventing further antagonism between France and Germany and among other European states Schuman proposed that uniting these two industries across France and Germany under an innovative supranational system (that also included a European anti-cartel agency) would "make war between France and Germany [...] not only unthinkable but materially impossible". Negotiations Following the Schuman Declaration in May 1950, negotiations on what became the Treaty of Paris (1951) began on 20 June 1950. The objective of the treaty was to create a single market in the coal and steel industries of the member states. Customs duties, subsidies, discriminatory and restrictive practices were all to be abolished. The Germans regarded the concentration of coal and steel as one of the bases of their economic efficiency, and a right. The steel barons were a formidable lobby because they embodied a national tradition. Younger members of the party like Carlo Schmid, were, however, in favour of the Community and pointed to the long socialist support for the supranational idea. In France, Schuman had gained strong political and intellectual support from all sections of the nation and many non-communist parties. Notable amongst these were ministerial colleague Andre Philip, president of the Foreign Relations Committee Edouard Bonnefous, and former prime minister, Paul Reynaud. Projects for a coal and steel authority and other supranational communities were formulated in specialist subcommittees of the Council of Europe in the period before it became French government policy. Charles de Gaulle, who was then out of power, had been an early supporter of "linkages" between economies, on French terms, and had spoken in 1945 of a "European confederation" that would exploit the resources of the Ruhr. However, he opposed the ECSC as a faux (false) pooling ("le pool, ce faux semblant") because he considered it an unsatisfactory "piecemeal approach" to European unity and because he considered the French government "too weak" to dominate the ECSC as he thought proper. De Gaulle also felt that the ECSC had an insufficient supranational mandate because its Assembly was not ratified by a European referendum and he did not accept Raymond Aron's contention that the ECSC was intended as a movement away from United States domination. Consequently, de Gaulle and his followers in the RPF voted against ratification in the lower house of the French Parliament. The steel and coal interests, however, were quite vocal in their opposition. The Council of Europe, created by a proposal of Schuman's first government in May 1948, helped articulate European public opinion and gave the Community idea positive support. The UK Prime Minister Clement Attlee opposed Britain joining the proposed European Coal and Steel Community, saying that he 'would not accept the [UK] economy being handed over to an authority that is utterly undemocratic and is responsible to nobody.' Founding treaty and countersigned by the relevant ministers. The 100-article Treaty of Paris, which established the ECSC, was signed on 18 April 1951 by "the inner six": France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The ECSC was based on supranational principles On 11 August 1952, the United States was the first non-ECSC member to recognise the Community and stated it would now deal with the ECSC on coal and steel matters, establishing its delegation in Brussels. Monnet responded by choosing Washington, D.C., as the site of the ECSC's first external presence. The headline of the delegation's first bulletin read "Towards a Federal Government of Europe". Six years after the Treaty of Paris, the Treaty of Rome was signed by the six ECSC members, creating the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom). These "Communities" were based, with some adjustments, on the ECSC. The Treaty of Rome was to be in force indefinitely, unlike the Treaty of Paris, which was to last for a renewable period of fifty years. These two new Communities worked on the creation of a customs union and nuclear power community respectively. That day, the ECSC flag was lowered for the final time outside the European Commission in Brussels and replaced with the EU flag. ==Institutions==

in Luxembourg The institutions of the ECSC were the High Authority, the Common Assembly, the Special Council of Ministers and the Court of Justice. A Consultative Committee was established alongside the High Authority, as a fifth institution representing producers, workers, consumers and dealers (article 18). These institutions were merged in 1967 with those of the European Community, except for the Consultative Committee, which continued to be independent until the expiration of the Treaty of Paris in 2002. High Authority The High Authority (the predecessor to the European Commission) was a nine-member executive body which governed the ECSC. The Authority consisted of nine members in office for a term of six years, appointed by the governments of the six signatories. Two were from each of France, Germany and Italy; and one from each of Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. These members appointed a person among themselves to be President of the High Authority. Common Assembly (pictured in 1952). The Common Assembly (the forerunner to the European Parliament) was composed of 78 representatives: 18 from each of France, Germany, and Italy; 10 from Belgium and the Netherlands; and 4 from Luxembourg (article 21). It exercised supervisory powers over the executive High Authority (article 20). The Common Assembly representatives were to be national MPs delegated each year by their Parliaments to the Assembly or directly elected "by universal suffrage" (article 21), though in practice it was the former, as there was no requirement for elections until the Treaty of Rome, and no actual election until 1979, as Rome required agreement in the council on the electoral system first. However, to emphasise that the chamber was not a traditional international organisation composed of representatives of national governments, the Treaty of Paris used the term "representatives of the peoples". The ECSC Assembly was intended as a democratic counter-weight and check to the High Authority, to advise but also to have power to sack the Authority (article 24). The first President (akin to a Speaker) was Paul-Henri Spaak. Special Council of Ministers The Special Council of Ministers (the forerunner to the Council of the European Union) was composed of representatives of national governments. The presidency was held by each state for a period of three months, rotating between them in alphabetical order. One of its key aspects was the harmonisation of the work of the High Authority and that of national governments. The council was also required to issue opinions on certain areas of work of the High Authority. Court of Justice The Court of Justice was to ensure the observation of ECSC law along with the interpretation and application of the Treaty. The Court was composed of seven judges, appointed by common accord of the national governments for six years. There were no requirements that the judges had to be of a certain nationality, simply that they be qualified and that their independence be beyond doubt. The Court was assisted by two Advocates General. ==Members==

After the original six members, the ECSC expanded to all members of the European Economic Community (later renamed the European Community) and the European Union (15 countries in 2002 at the time of the expiry of the Treaty of Paris). ==Achievements and shortcomings==

Major goal: ending war between member states Schuman described the goal as to "make war not only unthinkable but materially impossible" for signatory states. This is described in the treaty's preamble. It commences by quoting the French Government Proposal of Schuman: "World peace cannot be safeguarded without creative measures commensurate with the dangers which threaten it". Europe had been at the centre of world wars. For this, the Community created the world's first international anti-cartel agency. Treaty Chapters VI Ententes et Concentrations and VII on the Free Market describe joint action against cartels and trusts, which were instrumental in world war arms races, and activities leading to the disruption of the free market. The six founding member states are now living in the longest period of peace in more than 2,000 years of their history. Economic The economic mission of the ECSC (article 2) was to "contribute to economic expansion, the development of employment and the improvement of the standard of living in participating countries". Writing in Le Monde in 1970, Gilbert Mathieu argued the Community had little effect on coal and steel production, which was influenced more by global trends. From 1952, oil, gas, and electricity became competitors to coal, so the 28% reduction in the amount of coal mined in the Six had little connection with the Treaty of Paris. The ECSC's greatest achievements relate to welfare issues, according to Mathieu. It involved the continent's first European tax. This was a flat tax, a levy on production with a maximum rate of one percent. Given that the European Community countries are now experiencing the longest period of peace in more than seventy years, this has been described by a European newspaper as the cheapest tax for peace in history. ==See also==