Everything about European Coal And Steel Community totally explained
|title_leader =
President of the High Authority
|leader1 = Jean Monnet
|year_leader1 = 1952-1955
|leader2 = René Mayer
|year_leader2 = 1955-1958
|leader3 = Paul Finet
|year_leader3 = 1958-1959
|leader4 = Piero Malvestiti
|year_leader4 = 1959-1963
|leader5 = Rinaldo Del Bo
|year_leader5 = 1963-1967
|event_start = In force
|date_start =
23 July 1952
|event_end = Expired
|date_end =
23 July 2002
|event1 = Merger
|date_event1 =
1 July 1967
|event_pre = Signing
|date_pre =
18 April 1951
|footnotes = ¹ The political centres were
Luxembourg and
Strasbourg, later also
Brussels.
²Initial founding languages, before the merger and subsequent enlargements, were Dutch, English, French, German and Italian.
}}
The
European Coal and Steel Community (
ECSC) was a six-nation
international organisation during the
Cold War and served as the foundation for the modern-day
European Union. The ECSC was the first organisation to be based on the principles of
supranationalism.
The ECSC was first proposed by
French foreign minister Robert Schuman on
9 May 1950 as a way to prevent further war between
France and
Germany. It was formally established in 1951 by the
Treaty of Paris, signed not only by France and Germany, but also by
Italy and the three
Benelux states:
Belgium,
Luxembourg and the
Netherlands. Between these states the ECSC would create a
common market for
coal and
steel. The ECSC was governed by a 'High Authority', checked by bodies representing governments, MPs and an independent judiciary.
The ECSC was joined by two other similar communities in 1957, with whom it shared its membership and some
institutions. In 1969 all its institutions were merged with that of the
European Economic Community (EEC, which later became part of the
European Union), but it retained its own independent identity. However in 2002 the Treaty of Paris expired, and with no desire to renew the treaty, all the ECSC activities and resources were absorbed by the
European Community. During its existence, the ECSC had succeeded in creating a common market but couldn't prevent the decline of the coal and steel industries. It did however set the ground for the future European Union.
History
The
Schuman Declaration of
9 May 1950 (later celebrated as
Europe Day) was based on the work of
Jean Monnet and laid out a plan for a European Community to pool the
coal and
steel of its members in a
common market. Schuman proposed that "
Franco-German production of coal and steel as a whole be placed under a common High Authority, within the framework of an organisation open to the participation of the other countries of Europe." Such an act was intended to help economic growth and cement peace between France and Germany, who were historic enemies. Coal and steel were vital resources needed for a country to wage war, so pooling those resources between two such enemies was seen as particularly symbolic. The plan was also seen as a first step to a "
European federation".
In France,
Charles de Gaulle had been an early supporter of "linkages" between economies - on French terms - and had spoken of a "European confederation" that would exploit the resources of the
Ruhr in 1945. However, he opposed the ECSC as a
faux 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 insufficient supra-national authority because the Assembly wasn't ratified by a European referendum, and he didn't 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.
Six years after the Treaty of Paris, the
Treaties of Rome were 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 Treaties of Rome were to be in force indefinitely, unlike the Treaty of Paris which was to expire after fifty years. These two new Communities worked on the creation of a
customs union and
atomic energy cooperation respectively. However, their fields rapidly expanded and the EEC became the most important tool for political unification, overshadowing the ECSC. That day, the
ECSC flag was lowered for the final time outside the
European Commission in
Brussels and replaced with the
EU flag.
Timeline of treaties
Institutions
The institutions of the ECSC were the
High Authority, the
Common Assembly, the
Special Council of Ministers and the
Court of Justice. A subsidiary
Consultative Committee was established alongside the High Authority. These institutions were merged in 1967 with those of the European Community, which then governed the ECSC, except for the 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 community. France, Germany and Italy appointed two members each to the Authority and the three smaller members appointed one each. These eight members then themselves appointed a ninth person to be
President of the High Authority.
Other institutions
The Common Assembly (which later became the
European Parliament) was composed of 78 representatives and exercised supervisory powers over the executive High Authority. The Common Assembly representatives were to be national MPs elected by their Parliaments to the Assembly, or directly elected. Though in practice it was universally the former as there was no requirement for elections until the
Treaties of Rome and no actual election
until 1979. However, to emphasise that the chamber wasn't a traditional international organisation composed of representatives of national governments, the Treaty of Paris used the term "
representatives of the peoples".
The Special Council of Ministers (equivalent to the current
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, which were still responsible for the state's general economic policies. The Council was also required to issue opinions on certain areas of work of the High Authority.
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.
Achievements and failures
The Community had little effect on coal and steel production, which respectively decreased and increased relative to the world trends. However, trade between members did increase (tenfold for coal) which saved members' money by not having to import resources from the United States, particularly where there were cutbacks in one state. The High Authority also issued 280 modernisation loans to the industry which helped the industry to improve output and reduce costs. Costs were further reduced by the abolition of tariffs at borders.
However the ECSC's greatest achievements are seen as on welfare issues, not on economic issues. Over 15 years it financed 112,500 flats for workers, paying
US$1,770 per flat, enabling workers to buy a home they couldn't have otherwise afforded. The ECSC also paid half the occupational redeployment costs of those workers who have lost their jobs as coal and steel facilities began to close down. Combined with regional redevelopment aid the ECSC spent $150 million creating 100,000 jobs, a third of which were for unemployed coal and steel workers. The welfare guarantees invented by the ECSC were extended to workers outside the coal and steel sector by some of its members.
However the ECSC failed to achieve several fundamental aims of the Treaty of Paris. It was hoped the ECSC would prevent a resurgence of large coal and steel groups such as the
Konzerne, which helped
Adolf Hitler rise to power. Instead the cartels and major companies re-emerged, leading to
price fixing (another element that was meant to be tackled). Furthermore, it failed to define a proper energy policy and to ensure an upward equalisation of pay of workers within the market. These failures could be down to overambition in a short period of time, or that the goals were merely political posturing to be ignored.
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