Making Europe

"At a time when everything is in turmoil, one must be able to dare. The worst attitude in politics is not being able to decide". Robert Schuman is considered, beyond national borders or ideological stances, one of the "fathers" of united Europe. He was a moderate, a fervent believer in the Gospel, with a deep spirituality, that he never flaunted. But he also was statesman, capable of bringing together the "dream" of new horizons and the much-needed political negotiations and consistent operative decisions for the "common good".Fifty years ago, in 1963, Schuman forever closed his eyes in his modest home in Scy-Chazelles, in Lorraine, at the end of a life dedicated to political service. In the same year he published his only book, "Pour l’Europe", a kind of political testament that, reread today, given the turbulent phase of community building, still has a lot to teach to those who pose serious questions on how to overcome the obstacle of an economic crisis that has greatly undermined the European project, as spotlighted in the aftermath of World War II, in the Declaration pronounced by Schuman on May 9, 1950. "World peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it", declared the then Foreign Minister at the Quai D’Orsay in Paris. But while peace was the ultimate goal of integration, the virtue called to convey it was solidarity. "Europe will not be made all at once, or according to a single plan. It will be built through concrete achievements which first create a de facto solidarity". In "Pour l’Europe", written a few years later, Schuman outlined his thought: "The Europeans will be saved if they are aware of their solidarity in the face of a common danger". In a 1951 paper he wrote: "Making Europe consists in coordinating the activity of European countries, whose performance is prompted by relinquishing short-term egoisms to the benefit of a supranational common good" by means of "positive, concerted and common action". That teaching has been repeatedly referred to over the past months, marked by standstills and rifts caused by the serious economic recession… The recovery of that lesson after fifty years – at a time of preparations marking the celebration of Schuman’s contribution and with a beatification cause under way – cannot prescind from his insights on the accomplishment of a long-lasting peace. In "Pour l’Europe" Schuman stated that continental integration (notably, Schuman equally envisaged the collapse of Communist political systems, and the ensuing "reunification" of Eastern and Western Europe) "will not – and must not – remain a merely economic and technical undertaking. It needs a soul". Moreover "Europe will thrive provided that it acknowledges its very own identity and responsibilities, via the recovery of the Christian principles of solidarity and kinship".Schuman’s political convictions marked his first speech as president of the parliamentary Assembly of the European Economic Community in 1958: "All the countries of Europe are permeated by Christian civilization. This is Europe’s soul and we must give it back to her". A theme that was highlighted in 1957, when the EEC was first established: "It must be realized that with the passing of time, Europe cannot be limited to a purely economic structure. It must also act as a protection for everything that expresses the greatness of our Christian civilization, namely, the dignity of the human person, freedom and the responsibility of private and public initiative, the blossoming of all the moral energies of our people…" that cultural mission shall be the indispensable complement" of "a Europe that has so far been based on economic cooperation". Peace, solidarity, overcoming – material, cultural and spiritual – barriers, the knowledge of European history, the lay feature of political institutions: the legacy that Schuman passed down to the European Union, to Member States and to policymakers and citizens alike, to the Christian community as a whole, can act as the keystone that will enable Europe to take the necessary steps in the new global arena.