Difference between revisions of "Robert Schuman" - New World Encyclopedia

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Revision as of 17:06, 19 November 2008

Robert Schuman

5th President of the European Parliament
1st of the European Parliamentary Assembly
In office
1958 – 1960
Preceded by Hans Furler
Succeeded by Hans Furler

132nd Prime Minister of France
4th Prime Minister of the Fourth Republic
In office
September 5, 1948 – September 11, 1948
Preceded by André Marie
Succeeded by Henri Queuille

130th Prime Minister of France
2nd Prime Minister of the Fourth Republic
In office
November 24, 1947 – July 26, 1948
Preceded by Paul Ramadier
Succeeded by André Marie

Born June 29 1886
Died September 4 1963
Political party MRP

Robert Schuman (29 June 1886 – 4 September 1963) was a noted French Statesman. Schuman was a Christian Democrat (M.R.P.) and an independent political thinker and activist. First elected to parliament in 1919 after serving on the city council of council of Metz. He was arrested in 1940 by the occupying Nazi administration but escaped to join the Resistance. After World War II he was Finance Minister, then Prime Minister from November 1947 to July 1948. He served a second, brief term in September 1948. He was Justice Minister 1955–1956. It was, however, as Foreign Minister (1948-1953) that he he began to translate his vision of ending war and of forging a new relationship between Germany and France. With Alcide De Gasperi, Konrad Adenauer and Jean Monnet he was instrumental in building what became the the European Union and other institutions including the Council of Europe and NATO. He was the first President of the Parliamentary Assembly 1958-1960.


Biography

Background

Robert Schuman's father, Jean-Pierre Schuman (1837–1900), was born a French citizen in Évrange, Lorraine, just across the border with Luxembourg. His mother tongue was Luxembourgish. After Lorraine became part of Germany in 1871 (Imperial Province of Elsaß-Lothringen), he became a German citizen. Robert's mother, Eugénie Duren (1864–1911), a Luxembourgian lady born in Bettembourg, became a German citizen by marriage in 1884. Although born in the suburb of Clausen, Luxembourg City, Robert Schuman was German by virtue of the principle of jus sanguinis; he took up French nationality only in 1919 after Alsace-Lorraine had been given back to France. His mother tongue was Luxembourgish (at the time considered a German dialect), his second language Standard German. Since he learned French only in school (as every Luxembourger does) he spoke it with a Luxembourg/Lorraine German accent.

Schuman's pursued his secondary education at the Athénée de Luxembourg secondary school in Luxembourg, a former Jesuit College. He then decided to study at German universities but as the Luxembourg secondary school diploma was not valid in Germany, he had to pass the entrance exam for this, the Abitur, at the Kaiserliche Gymnasium in Metz. His university education in law, economics, political philosophy, theology and statistics took place in the German education system. He received his law degree, after studying at the University of Bonn, the University of Munich, the Humboldt University in Berlin and in Strasbourg in Alsace (then Germany).

War time

After the death of his mother in a coach accident Schuman may have briefly considered the religious life, but resolved to pursue a lay apostolate. He remained single and celibate throughout his life. He became a lawyer, and was judged medically unfit for military call-up. (He served in a civilian capacity during the First World War and never wore a German uniform.) He was a member of the city council of Metz as well as the German Katholikentag. After the First World War, Alsace-Lorraine was retaken by France and Schuman became active in French politics. In 1919 he was first elected as deputy to parliament on a regional list later serving as the deputy for Thionville until 1958 with an interval during the war years. He had a major contribution to drafting and parliamentary passage of Lex Schuman in French parliament. Schuman investigated and patiently uncovered postwar corruption in Lorraine steel industries.

In 1940, because of his expertise on Germany, Schuman was called to become a member of Paul Reynaud's wartime government. Later that year he was arrested for acts of resistance and protestation at Nazi methods. He was interrogated by the Gestapo. Thanks to an honourable German he was saved from being sent to Dachau. Transferred as a personal prisoner of the vicious Nazi Gauleiter Joseph Buerckel, he escaped in 1942 and joined the French Resistance. Although his life was still at risk he spoke to friends about a Franco-German and European reconciliation that must take place after the end of hostilities, as he had done also in 1939-40.

Post war

Part of the Politics series on
Christian Democracy

Parties

Christian Democratic parties
Christian Democrat International
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European Democratic Party
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Ideas

Social conservatism
Social market economy
Sphere sovereignty
Communitarianism
Stewardship
Catholic social teaching
Neo-Calvinism
Neo-Thomism

Important documents

Rerum Novarum (1891)
Stone Lectures (Princeton 1898)
Graves de Communi Re (1901)
Quadragesimo Anno (1931)
Laborem Exercens (1981)
Sollicitudi Rei Socialis (1987)
Centesimus Annus (1991)

Important figures

Thomas Aquinas · John Calvin
Pope Leo XIII · Abraham Kuyper
Maritain · Adenauer · De Gasperi
Pope Pius XI · Schuman
Pope John Paul II · Kohl

Politics Portal · edit

After the war Schuman rose to great prominence. He was Minister of Finance, then twice Prime Minister from 1947–1948. He was part of the Third Force coalition governments which opposed to both the Communists and Gaullists. He became Foreign Minister in the latter year. Schuman's government proposed the creation of a European Assembly, the first government to do so. This proposal saw life as the Council of Europe and was created within the schedule Schuman had set. At the signing of its Statutes at St James's Palace, London, 5 May 1949, the founding States agreed to defining the frontiers of Europe based on the principles of human rights and fundamental freedoms that Schuman enunciated there. In September 1948 as Foreign Minister, he announced before the United Nations General Assembly, France's aim to create a democratic organisation for Europe which a post-Nazi and democratic Germany could join. In 1949-50, he made a series of speeches in Europe and North America about creating a supranational European Community. This structure, he said, would create lasting peace between States.

On May 9 1950, these principles of supranational democracy were announced in a Declaration jointly prepared by Paul Reuter, the legal adviser at the Foreign Ministry, his chef-de Cabinet, Bernard Clappier and Jean Monnet and two of his team.The French Government agreed to the Schuman Declaration which invited the Germans and all other European countries to manage their coal and steel industries jointly and democratically in Europe's first supranational Community with its five foundational institutions. On 18 April 1951 six founder members signed the Treaty of Paris (1951) that formed the basis of the European Coal and Steel Community. They declared this date and the corresponding democratic, suprantional principles to be the 'real foundation of Europe'. Three Communities have been created so far. The Treaties of Rome, 1957, created the Economic community and the nuclear non-proliferation Community, Euratom. Together with intergovernmental machinery of later treaties, these eventually evolved into the European Union. The Schuman Declaration, was made on 9 May 1950 and to this day May 9 is designated Europe Day.

As Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Schuman was instrumental in the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO. Schuman also signed the Treaty of Washington for France.The defensive principles of Nato's Article 5 were also repeated in the European Defence Community Treaty which failed as the French National Assembly declined to vote its ratification. Schuman was a proponent of an Atlantic Community. This was strongly resisted by Communists, ultranationalists and Gaullists.

European politics

Schuman later served as Minister of Justice before becoming the first President of the European Parliamentary Assembly (the successor to the Common Assembly) which bestowed on him by acclamation the title 'Father of Europe'. He is considered one of the founding fathers of the European Union. In 1958 he received the Karlspreis, an Award by the German city of Aachen to people who contributed to the European idea and European peace, commemorating Charlemagne, ruler of what is today France and Germany, who resided and is buried at Aachen. He was also a knight of the Order of Pope Pius IX.

Religious Faith

Celibate, modest and un-ostentatious, Schuman was an intensely religious man and Bible scholar. He was strongly influenced by the writings of Pope Pius XII on social responsibility, St. Thomas Aquinas and Jacques Maritain. he attended mass daily. Zin writes that his "faith determined all his commitment and illuminated his political action."[1] Schuman wrote,

"Democracy owes its existence to Christianity. It was born the day man was called to realize in his daily commitment the dignity of the human person in his individual freedom, in the respect of the rights of everyone, and in the practice of brotherly love towards all. Never, before Christ, had similar concepts been formulated."[2]

In the same book, he spoke of how Europe was finally throwing off the "bonds of hate and fear" and realizing the what "Christian brotherhood means."[3]

He was also a knight of the Order of Pope Pius IX.


Schuman's First Government, November 24 1947 – July 26 1948

  • Robert Schuman - President of the Council
  • Georges Bidault - Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • Pierre-Henri Teitgen - Minister of National Defense
  • Jules Moch - Minister of the Interior
  • René Mayer - Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs
  • Robert Lacoste - Minister of Commerce and Industry
  • Daniel Mayer - Minister of Labour and Social Security
  • André Marie - Minister of Justice
  • Marcel Edmond Naegelen - Minister of National Education
  • François Mitterrand - Minister of Veterans and War Victims
  • Pierre Pflimlin - Minister of Agriculture
  • Paul Coste-Floret - Minister of Overseas France
  • Christian Pineau - Minister of Public Works and Transport
  • Germaine Poinso-Chapuis - Minister of Public Health and Population
  • René Coty - Minister of Reconstruction and Town Planning

Changes

  • February 12 1948 - Édouard Depreux succeeds Naegelen as Minister of National Education.

Schuman's Second Government, September 5 1948 – September 11 1948

  • Robert Schuman - President of the Council and Minister of Foreign Affairs
  • René Mayer - Minister of National Defense
  • André Marie - Vice President of the Council
  • Jules Moch - Minister of the Interior
  • Christian Pineau - Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs
  • Robert Lacoste - Minister of Commerce and Industry
  • Daniel Mayer - Minister of Labour and Social Security
  • Robert Lecourt - Minister of Justice
  • Tony Revillon - Minister of National Education
  • Jules Catoire - Minister of Veterans and War Victims
  • Pierre Pflimlin - Minister of Agriculture
  • Paul Coste-Floret - Minister of Overseas France
  • Henri Queuille - Minister of Public Works, Transport, and Tourism
  • Pierre Schneiter - Minister of Public Health and Population
  • René Coty - Minister of Reconstruction and Town Planning


Legacy

On March 19, 1958 the European Parliament declared that Schuman was the "Father of Europe." While credit for founding what evolved into the European Union is shared with others, there is little doubt that Schuman's contribution was crucial, representing France's commitment to permanently ending war in Europe. His concept of supra-national democracy and his vision of making peace "unthinkable and materially impossible" have taken the people of Europe a long way towards establishing a secure and stable society across state borders, a society that protects human rights and promotes the common good. This has become a model of how humanity might develop global institutions of cooperation to ensure a peaceful, prosperous world community. Schuman's deep Christian faith compelled him to selfless service; reaming celibate, he saw his career as a lay-vocation. He spoke of himself as an instrument, albeit imperfect, "of Providence" used by God for which "purposes which are above us."[1] On the one hand, he was open about how his faith informed his politics. On the other hand, he was happy to collaborate with those who did not share his religious convictions but who wanted to end war to create a new society in which all people could flourish.

Memorials

Grave of Robert Schuman in Saint Quentin church, in Scy-Chazelles, near Metz, France

The Schuman District of Brussels (including a metro station, square and railway station) is named in his honor. Around the square ("Rond Point Schuman") can be found various European institutions, including the Berlaymont building which is the headquarters of the European Commission, as well as key European Parliament buildings.

In Luxembourg there are:

  • Boulevard Robert Schuman
  • Robert Schuman Building, of the European Parliament.

In Ireland there is:

  • A building in the University of Limerick named the "Robert Schuman" building. This building is commonly referred to by the students of the University simply as "the Schuman," or jokingly as "the Shoeman."

Schuman's place of birth house] was restored by the European Parliament and can be visited; as can his home in Scy-Chazelle just outside Metz.

In addition to the Robert Schuman Foundation, several education initiatives honor his memory including the Robert Schuman Center for Advanced Learning of the European University Institute at San Domenico di Fiesole - Italy, the L'Université Robert Schuman, a Social Science University in Strasbourg, France and the Robert Schuman Institute for Developing Democracy in Central Europe at Budapest.

References
ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

  • Black, Cyril Edwin. 2000. Rebirth a political history of Europe since World War II. Boulder, Colo: Westview Press. ISBN 9781429488556
  • Fimister, Alan. 2008. Robert Schuman: neo-scholastic humanism and the re-unification of Europe. Philosophy and politics, 15. Bruxelles: P.I.E. Peter Lang. ISBN 9789052014395.
  • Fontaine, Pascal. 1990. Europe, a fresh start: the Schuman Declaration, 1950-90. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities.ISBN 9789282612200
  • Nelsen, Brent F., and Alexander C-G. Stubb. 1994. The European Union: readings on the theory and practice of European integration. Boulder, Colo: L. Rienner. ISBN 9781555875053.

External links

All links Retrieved December 20, 2007.

Preceded by:
Emmanuel Temple
Minister of Justice
1955–1956
Succeeded by:
François Mitterand
Preceded by:
Paul Ramadier
Prime Minister of France
1947–1948
Succeeded by:
André Marie
Preceded by:
André Marie
Prime Minister of France
1948
Succeeded by:
Henri Queuille

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  1. 1.0 1.1 ,Edoardo.2004. Faith illuminated his political action. 30 Days in the Church and in the World. September. Retrieved November 19, 2008.
  2. Zen, citing from Schuman, Robert. 1963.Pour l’Europe. Paris: ́Editions Nagel.
  3. Robert Schuman: Memoirs Pour l’Europe. European Spirit. Retrieved November 19, 2008.