Campaing for the Federal Pact

THE CONTEXT. The US, concerned about the economic weakness and division of Europe, launched the Plan in 1947. Marshall, an extraordinary plan of economic aid given to Europe as a whole, which states were to share through common institutions. The 16 Western European states that joined the Plan formed the OECE (Organisation for Economic Cooperation in Europe) in 1948 to distribute the aid. The following year, the OECE was joined by the Council of Europe, which promotes democracy and human rights in Europe.

THE UEF'S POLITICAL ANALYSIS. The federalists hoped that the end of the war would bring with it the birth of the European Federation. However, the victorious countries reintegrated the European nation states, with the exception of Germany, which was divided into four occupation zones. The American Marshall Plan initiative thus renewed the hopes of the European federalists for a rapid European federation.

UEF ACTION. This period focused the federalists campaigning on the transformation of the Advisory Assembly of the Council of Europe into the Constituent Assembly of a European Federation. Their fundamental tool was a petition, which was signed by thousands of citizens and a large number of eminent politicians, which asked the Advisory Assembly to draw up a proposal for a federal pact among key European countries. A petition gathered 500,000 signatures in Italy alone and, in November 1950, five thousand members of the newly-formed Young European Federalists (JEF) marched to support the Pact in Strasbourg.