Declaration of Robert Schuman

The 6 May 1950 declaration of Robert Schuman (1886 – 1963), the French Foreign Minister, contained the visionary plan to found a European Community for Coal and Steel (ECSC). He presented this plan at the Salon de l'horloge of the French foreign ministry (Quai d’Orsay) on 9 May 1950. The so-called Schuman-Plan can be considered as the initial impulse for the development of the European Union. This document is also distinguished by the hand-written additions made by Jean Monnet (1888 –1979), who already postulated the basic idea of the Schuman-Plan in the 1940s.