October 1949- February 1950 | The Petition for a Federal Pact
The opportunity to launch a campaign for a federal pact and to mobilise public opinion was provided by the Strasbourg Assembly (of the Council of Europe).
During its first session on September 6th 1949, it unanimously approved a motion, drafted by Ronald Mackay in collaboration with Andre Philip, for the creation of a European political authority equipped with limited but concrete powers. It therefore formally entrusted the committee of general affairs to formulate and submit for approval a pact which defined the directive principles of the Council of Europe on a political, economic, social and cultural level, and which should bound the member or associated states.
The reaction of the federalists in view of this manifestation of will on the part of the Advisory Assembly was expressed by the extraordinary assembly of the UEF, which was held in Paris from October 28th to 31st 1949. It approved the basic principles of a European pact for federal union, or rather a schematic plan for a federal constitution on the basis of which gradual economic unification, a common foreign policy and common defence for those countries adhering to the pact could be achieved. It was therefore decided to ask the Advisory Assembly to draw up in its next session, on the basis of such indications, the text of a federal pact and to recommend its ratification to member states, which would have to commit themselves to the implementation of the said pact as soon at it was ratified by a number of states whose total population reached at least one hundred million people.
In the end, it was decided to organise a petition in favour of a federal pact in order to provide tangible support to the efforts of the Advisory Assembly’s most advanced component against the resistance of the least advanced component.
The campaign for the Federal Pact was supported by the SMUSE, the NEI and the Movimento dei Lavoratori Cristiani per l’Europa (the Christian Workers for Europe Movement). It took place in 1950 and was led by an international campaign committee formed by top level European personalities and was initiated in individual countries under the responsibility of the national campaign committees. The most significant results, which met with the indifference if not the hostility of the EM, with the exception of a number of national councils, were obtained in Italy, France and Germany, while in the other countries no relevant results were achieved.
It therefore attempted to push the Advisory Assembly to oppose the Council of Ministers, which impeded through unanimous voting any kind of development of a federal nature on the part of the Council of Europe, and even invited a secession on the part of those members of federal persuasion. However, the resolution inspired by federalist principles, presented by
members Philip and Gerard Jaquet to the Advisory Assembly, obtained only a meagre minority of votes. Furthermore, a delegation, which from the Orangerie went to the Maison de l’Europe to deliver the request for a European constituent to Spaak, the president of the Advisory Assembly, received a cold response in which the Council of Europe was indicated as the only foundation on which it was possible to construct a united Europe.
The federalist action towards the Council of Europe then concluded on November 24th with a demonstration by 5,000 young people (in front of the Maison de l’Europe), organisedby the Jeunesses Federalistes Europeennes (JEF), which had only just been founded, in order to express its dissatisfaction ahead of the impotence and lack of courage of the Advisory Assembly .
The campaign for the Federal Pact was not therefore able to achieve its primary objective, which was that of obtaining on the part of the Advisory Assembly the launch of a courageous and incisive initiative in favour of European federation. During the meetings and demonstrations held in Strasbourg between November 17th and 24th 1950, the federalists became well aware of the Council of Europe’s inability to provide the stimulus for the progress of European unification and the far greater possibilities contained in the Schuman and Pleven Plans, both for their more advanced nature with regard to the specific proposals they contained, and for the fact that British adhesion was not considered an essential condition. The UEF therefore accepted Spinelli’s proposal to launch the idea that the European constituent could be created outside the institutional framework of the Council of Europe, and it prepared to exploit the opportunities that emerged in this regard from the new phase of functionalist integration founded on the community method.
Despite not having immediate practical effects on the development of European integration, the action of the UEF towards the Council of Europe nevertheless obtained the important political result of proving that it was possible to mobilise pro-European stances widespread in public opinion in order to put effective federalist pressure on the political classes. This capability would produce its most politically incisive consequences in the phase of European integration that hinged on article 38 of the EDC and on the European Political Community (EPC).
Folder of the Campaign
The documents of this Campaign are part of the UEF archives deposited at the Historical Archives of the European Union and are available online in digital format.
The archival file on this Campaign includes the complete documentation, including preparatory documents, notes, speeches, minutes, reports, correspondence, and newspaper articles.
The entire file can be viewed here: LINK
General Assembly of the UEF 29-30-31 October 1949
Organization of the Campaign
General Secretary Circular No. 1
- Organisation de la Campagne page 1
- I - Observations Générales - 2
- II - Préparation de la Campagne Populaire - 3
- III - Participation à la Campagne desautres Mouvements - 4
- IV - Ouverture de la campagne et idéroulement - 5
- V - Exploitation des Résultats - 6
- Conclusion - 7
DOCUMENT FROM CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Document of the Central Intelligence Agency that show how important are the European Federalists Movements in 1950' period for the USA Administration to create a strong core of European countries against the URSS.
This document is not archived by the HAEU.
Campaign in Italy
In Italy — where the greatest success was achieved — by October the petition had been signed by 500,000 citizens, including 246 members of parliament, and was adopted by 493 municipal councils, 39 provincial administrations, the principal political parties, non-communist trade unions, non-communist partisan associations and a further 200 associations of various types. The gathering of signatures, in support of which more than 300 demonstrations were organised, was concluded with a great demonstration in Rome on November 4th 1950 at
the Teatro Sistina. In the course of this demonstration, which was attended by the President of the Republic Einaudi, the petition was signed by the Prime Minister De Gasperi, the Foreign Minister Sforza, by another six ministers and seven undersecretaries. The petition was presented to the two Italian chambers on November 7th, which on November 10th and 15th adopted a motion of identical content.
Campaign in Germany
In the Federal Republic of Germany, the campaign materialised, as well as in numerous demonstrations, in the organisations of a number of referendums on the Federal Pact. In the referendums held in July in collaboration with the municipal administrations of Breisach (a small town in Baden) and Castrop-Rauxel (an industrial town in Renania-Vestfalia with 70,000 inhabitants), 94.5% and 93% respectively of the adhesions of the participants were obtained (87,5% and 73%). A second referendum was held in November on the occasion
of the elections to renew the Bavarian parliament. In the cities of Munich, Bad-Reichenall and Traunstein, 83.3%, 82.7% and 84.5% respectively of the population declared themselves in favour of a federal union of European states. The idea of the Federal Pact was also approved on July 26th by the Bundestag with a resolution which only four communist members of parliament voted against.
Campaign in France
In France, the campaign was impeded by the existing rivalries between the various French federalist organisations and began rather late, but nevertheless an important result was achieved, with the adhesion to the petition on the part of 1/3 of 30,000 French mayors. The conclusion of the campaign for a Federal Pact on a European level was the meeting held between November 20th and 23rd 1950 in Strasbourg at the Orangerie hall (just a short distance from the Maison de l’Europe, seat of the Advisory Assembly) of the European Council of Vigilance, which was immediately renamed, upon the proposal of the director of ‘‘Franc Tireur’’, Georges Altman, the Council of the Peoples of Europe. The project conceived by Voisin, was taken forward by Frenay, president of the executive office of the UEF Philip, the secretary general of the SMUSE, and Bichet, the president of the NEI. It took place immediately after the 3rd ordinary congress of the UEF and the 4th congress of the SMUSE, which were held simultaneously in Strasbourg from November 17th to 19th.
From the Powerless Consultative Assembly to a European Pact
Booklet printed by the UEF with the petition for a European Federal Pact
THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF PATRONS OF THE EUROPEAN PACT
- José Antonio AGUIRRE
- Karl ARNOFD
- Paul AUERLord BEVERIDGE
- Edmond BONNEFOUS
- Sir Adrian BOULT
- Lord BOYD-ORR
- Mme. Gilberte BROSSOLETTE
- Gerald BULLETT
- Robert BURON
- Nicolo CARANDINI
- Mrs. M. I. CORBETT-ASHBY
- Benedetto CROCE
- Lionel CURTIS
- Pierre de FELICE
- François de MENTHON
- Georges M. DIMITROFF
- Signora Ida EINAUDI
- Henri FRENAY
- Grégoire GAFENCO
- Ing. Enzo GIACCHERO
- Dr. C. E. Μ. JOAD
- Miss F. L. JOSEPHY
- R. W. G. MACKAY
- Dr. Walter MENZEL
- Mme. Maria MONTESSORI
- Professor F. PARRI
- G. PETKOV
- Mme. Germaine PEYROLES
- André PHILIP
- Paul RAMADIER
- Paul REYNAUD
- Professor G. SALVEMINI
- Professor Carlo SCHMIDT
- Frau Louise SCHROEDER
- André SIEGFRIED
- Ignazio SILONE
- Dr. Carl SPIECKER
- Paul Henri TEITGEN
- Dr. E. M. W. TILLYARD
- Miss Μ. Μ. WINGATE
- Zigmund ZAREMBA