Free Europe - Steps Toward Unity (1958)

[Music] Europe historically has been mainly a geographic term denoting the huge Western Peninsula of Eurasia [Music] for the West in the Cold War it frequently implies only those countries west of the Iron Curtain free Europe but in recent years the term Europe has connoted more now it also refers to the goal of a united community integrating the nations of that area which if achieved would make free Europe the third most important power in world affairs to make Europe has been the object of persevering campaigners among the leaders of the area it is also a basic goal of American policy yet it defies Europe's almost endless diversities and poses a deeply controversial long-term problem in recent years free Europe has enjoyed an unprecedented degree of harmony in diplomatic relations among virtually all its members and it's economic position has never been stronger but even under the glow of good relations and good times free Europeans have an uneasy remembrance of catastrophes which threaten their extinction and which could recur in new and more terrifying forms [Music] furthermore they are painfully aware of their loss of world leadership and above all of their exposed position in the Atomic Age [Music] bring your of Steep concern for its external and internal security provides a powerful motivation for steps toward unity free Europeans know they must produce ever more efficiently in order to be assured of both economic security and political stability thus they are generally more conscious than ever before of their need for closer ties and better integrated efforts though they are far from agreed on the best methods or the best pace for achieving this goal on the other hand efforts to unite Europe by peaceful means have gained favor in this century in the past the occasional proponents were visionaries such as the dupe do silly in the 16th century William Penn in the 18th and Victor Hugo in the 19th now Deneuve a calorie carries on this tradition in the 20th century only after World War one did the weight of economic and military problems stimulate key statesmen such as a doir Aereo Anna risky real of France to push hard for a unified Europe a worldwide depression and the lies - power of adult Hitler destroyed these efforts bringing war again to Europe but the devastating effects of world war ii created the necessary support among the thinkers and politicians now at last their first effective steps toward unification were taken leaders who lent their enthusiasm and prestige to dozens of promotional organizations with broad followings included winston churchill robear schumer the france all our respective Belgium Algie day day Gasperi of Italy yosef mesh of watson board konrad adenauer of West Germany an umbrella type organization the European movement meshes all the private groups the parliamentarians of Europe who are promoting integration concert their actions through the European parliamentary Union during the years following World War two critical steps were taken by the government's toward the integration of free Europe these steps though largely uncoordinated represented more solid progress toward unity than Europe had made for 2,000 years the three Benelux countries led the way with the formal establishment of the Benelux customs union effective January 1st 1948 in 1958 the participants Belgium the Netherlands and Luxembourg proclaimed a full economic union the Benelux union has thus eliminated almost all trade barriers and is close to realizing free movement for goods services capital and persons a second regional organization also established in 1948 was the Western Union or Brussels pact the first post-war military alliance formed in free Europe members of the Western Union were the United Kingdom the Benelux countries and France this alliance between Britain and her closest neighbors which was directed against a German military revival was soon overshadowed by NATO but it did serve as a forerunner of other European and Atlantic community organizations such as Western European Union which later tied Britain into the arrangements for controlled German rearmament in 1947 Europe's desperate reconstruction deeds had prompted the Marshall Plan this move in turn soon led to establishment of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation all eec with the still broader goal of long-term economic growth considering that a strong and prosperous European economy is essential for the attainment of the purpose of the United Nations the preservation of individual liberty and the increase of general well-being and that it will contribute to the maintenance of peace accordingly the contracting parties hereby set up an organization for European Economic Cooperation the OE EC was so successful as a cooperative device that after the Marshall Plan terminated the organization was continued by unanimous desire [Music] present members of the OEE see forming what is sometimes called greater Europe are Iceland Norway Sweden Denmark [Music] Ireland the United Kingdom the Netherlands Belgium Luxembourg West Germany France Switzerland Austria Portugal Italy Greece and Turkey since 1950 the OEC has swung its attention to removal of trade barriers increases in productivity and support of national financial stability all avenues to economic integration operating under the OE EC's authority is the European payments union EPU which boosts trade and facilitates payments between member nations it uses foreign exchange surpluses earned by some members to ease credit for others with deficits meanwhile this broad economic uplift through the OEE Sea was complemented in 1949 by the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization NATO this organization which was the first peacetime military alliance between the United States and its European partners now has 15 members they are Iceland Norway Denmark the United Kingdom Belgium the Netherlands Luxembourg West Germany France Portugal Italy Greece turkey United States and Canada underlying Natal our common military political economic and cultural interests among the free peoples of the north atlantic area europe's freedom and strength are vital to America's own safety if these nations were absorbed by the Communist Empire there would be a shift in the balance of power which would doom the Western Way of life as we know it furthermore the United States benefits from a close economic and scientific association with Europe American industry and agriculture find some of their best markets in free Europe consequently the United States has spent billions of dollars to restore and strengthen the national economies of free Europe has contributed manpower as well as resources to a common defense system [Music] thus NATO with its headquarters in and near Paris is the capstone of America's relationship to free Europe originally NATO consisted of 12 members the Korean War brought two new ones Greece and Turkey in 1955 West Germany became the 15th member assuming a vital position in European defense and providing a powerful psychological assist today NATO serves chiefly as a means for coordinating national and collective defense an armed attack against one country will be considered an attack against all in addition NATO points the way toward an Atlantic community of non-military policies article 2 calls for a measure of political and economic integration by coordinated efforts to strengthen internal stability and eliminate conflicts of economic policies in 1948 at the congress of europe in the hague abroad federation of europe was among the plans discussed even before europeans joined hands with americans and canadians in the larger Atlantic community some European leaders had been considering the far more ambitious project of a political unification of Europe alone one result was the organization of the Council of Europe in 1949 its promoters sought to take in all of Greater Europe but Switzerland clung to its strict neutrality and Portugal would not join without Spain which was ostracized by reason of its undemocratic regime and the bad blood created by the Civil War the Council of Europe in Strasbourg aims to promote greater unity among the European countries in order to facilitate their economic and social progress the council lacks any real authority because most of the governments of Greater Europe are unprepared to make any actual concessions for a true Federation of Europe for many observers it has long since lost real importance and is often disparaged by such terms as debating society it has persevered however and has accomplished tangible results in such reforms as the simplification of visa requirements it is the only official body representing most of free Europe ready to serve as nucleus of the United States of Europe three years after creation of the Council of Europe came the longest stride to date toward a united Europe establishment of the European Coal and Steel community ECSC with its headquarters in Luxembourg the three Benelux countries France West Germany and Italy sometimes known as the community of six or little Europe agreed to force a major breakthrough on unification without waiting for the rest of Greater Europe to go along by establishing the first European authority above the national governments the European Coal and Steel community was proposed by French Foreign Minister Robert Schumann in June 1950 the staunchest supporters of European integration had been clamoring for a decisive step [Music] Shuman who knew germany well and it even served in the German army in World War one was convinced that a pooling of these key industries of France and Germany would be the surest means of healing the historic breach between the two countries the outbreak of the Korean War gave impetus to the so-called Schumann plan the resulting treaty asserted considering that world peace may be safeguarded only by creative efforts as great as the dangers menacing it convinced that the contribution which an organized and vital Europe can bring to civilization is indispensable to the maintenance of peaceful relations the nations resolved to substitute for historic rivalries a fusion of their essential interest to establish the foundation of a broad and independent community earth of the ECSC was marked by creation of an assembly at spaceport checking the executive in Luxembourg despite the initial hostility of the producers clashes with national prerogatives and the enormity in general of the task the ECSC has firmly established itself as a going concern in large part the credit has been due to jean monet french promoter extraordinary who was a principal architect of the treaty and became the first president of the high authority the executive body of the ECSC in the first five years of operation the crude steel output of the six member countries increased 50% compared to a rise of 30% in their total industrial output [Music] the Korean War produced an urgent drive to rearm Germany at any cost now the same community of six undertook to go much further and faster with a European defense community EDC and a European political community EPC these also were supranational though abortive steps toward integrating Europe EDC was given top priority as a means for quieting French fears of a militarized Germany the goal was a European army which would preclude renewed German aggression a selling point was that several phases of creating a united Europe would be compressed into one many French however were violently opposed to giving up their traditional defense system then - no great popular demand for rapid Federation existed in Europe and the move toward coexistence reduced the urgency of German rearmament in 1954 the torpedoing of both EDC and EPC by French premier man des France stunned the community of six and the Western alliance Britten's him now seize the initiative promptly a new approach to German rearmament was taken through a Western European Union combining the United Kingdom with the community of six under the london and paris agreements British participation in the control arrangements now reduced French apprehensions over German rearmament perhaps the chief benefit of the Western European Union was the special link it forged between the community of six and the rest of Greater Europe [Music] at Messina Sicily June 1955 the prime movers of European integration resumed their earlier moderate pace along lines which were still supranational but more practical community of six representatives resolved to work for broader economic integration and a pooling of atomic resources at Rome March 1957 the now historic treatise signaling agreement on these far-reaching steps were signed [Music] the treaties established the common market or European Economic Community AEC and the European atomic community your atom [Music] these projects were aimed at two of Europe's most critical needs the harmonization of economic policies and the assurance of adequate industrial power for the future also they advance the unification of Europe again in supranational steps but with less concentration of power in the executive and more gradually over a 15-year period the treaty provisions on your Africa's suggest almost limitless opportunities for expansion of little Europe's economic potential these seek a common development of the African territories of France Belgium and Italy and may even be extended throughout their economic spheres of influence now turning to some of the problems of making Europe we go back to the geographic areas embraced by the present regional organisations smallest and oldest grouping is Benelux with only about 2% of the area of free Europe but almost 7 percent of its population Benelux joins West Germany France and Italy in the community of 6 with over 50% of free Europe's population of almost 300 Millions this grouping also known as little Europe is the core of any real Federation in this area this community of six in turn joins the United Kingdom to form the Western European Union while all of free Europe except Finland Spain and Yugoslavia are joined in the loose grouping known as Greater Europe most of this area joins the United States and Canada to form the Atlantic community embraced by NATO Sweden Austria Switzerland and Ireland are outside now what are the fields of national activities which these communities aspire to integrate the Benelux union is intended as a true economic union of the entire economies of the three participating countries the community of six is presently intent on integrating specialized economic activities such as utilization of coal steel iron and scrap removal of barriers to movement of goods people and capital and control of atomic energy the Western European Union has a military mission primarily to control armaments and secondarily to rationalize arms production the OEE see and the Council of Europe are organizations for the discussion of general economic social and political policy while NATO is primarily concerned with military defense it is also concerned with the harmonization of economic and political policy [Music] finally all these organizations possess distinctive types or degrees of power [Music] most are intergovernmental following traditional international cooperation with no sacrifice of national sovereignty these promote integration indirectly at the working levels improving understanding among both technicians and statesmen aligning national policies thus subtly integrating the minds and Will's of the leaders before attempting to integrate the sovereignties of the several states only the community of six has thus far relinquished some sovereignty to supranational organisations as our own states once delegated certain powers to our own federal union [Music] the ECSC was the Peace Center as a supranational organization wielding certain Authority or power beyond direct national control the participating countries through their national parliaments elect and assembly this assembly has now been merged into a European parliamentary assembly which also serves the EEC and Urata the executive body called the high authority controls prices levies taxes and issue certain regulations binding on the individual private enterprises it has considerable discretionary authority and is the supranational heartbeat of the ECSC under orders of the six national governments is the Council of Ministers which seeks to harmonize the actions of the high authority with national policies and in certain matters empowers the high authority to act the consultative committee representing producers workers and consumers advises the high authority the European Court of Justice hears appeals on actions by the high authority and has power to nullify or approve its actions the court as well as the high authority is appointed by the governments despite the gratifying progress already made toward unifying free Europe there remain powerful forces ever ready to slow the pace even to block certain paths these may be national or international groupings motivated by political expediency special economic interests such as cartels or traditional national prejudices the opponent's usually ignore the ultimate good to be gained by all through integration the economic facts themselves such as wide disparities in national resources and productivity levels raise formidable hurdles the supranational authorities are constantly in jeopardy as they clash in their routine activities with national agencies still supreme in the unpooled sectors of the member countries economies particularly in matters of monetary and financial policy in a serious deadlock the supranational authorities would lack coercive power [Music] difficulties also arise out of disagreement among the promoters of integration especially over the deepening division between little Europe and the rest of Greater Europe in an effort to bridge this growing gap Britain and the community of six have discussed a broad free-trade area to be linked with the common market while such a scheme would not be super national it would be by far the longest stride to date in uniting Greater Europe but the obstacles to a general freeing of trade throughout the area are deep-seated and stubborn many common market leaders too are wary of concessions to the rest of Greater Europe which might slow their own integration pace yet the overall progress already made toward integrating free Europe is far beyond expectation European institutions are functioning European officials are exercising direct authority over the people of half the area popular acceptance of the new European order is growing which alone offers this area hope of holding its own [Music] as massage on Monet now chairman of the action committee for a United States of Europe says I learned that public opinion must be mobilized to prepare the way for the government's we have begun to make public opinion aware for example of the tremendous energy needs which Europe faces in the coming 20 years atomic power is the field in which a united Europe can do spectacularly more than can the separate countries a strong and prosperous United States of Europe delivered from fear can powerfully contribute to the cohesion of the free world Europe's Nations faced with the prospect of decline like the city-states of ancient Greece have begun to make one of the century's greatest experiments in government in their effort to break the restraints of the past it may well be through this new kind of federalism that rejects nationalist excess that the 20th century will make one of its greatest contributions to succeeding generations [Music]