Jean Monnet

Jean Monnet (1888–1979) was a French political economist and diplomat whose plans and diplomacy helped establish European integration, especially the European Coal and Steel Community.

European Coal and Steel Community: A 1952 organization that placed French and West German coal and steel production under a shared authority. Monnet helped design the community as the first supranational step toward European integration.
League of Nations: An international organization founded after World War I to promote peace and cooperation among states. Monnet served as deputy secretary-general and gained early experience in international administration.
Robert Schuman: A French statesman who served as foreign minister and prime minister during the early postwar period. Schuman presented the proposal Monnet had drafted for pooling coal and steel.
Intergovernmentalism: An approach to international cooperation in which national governments retain decisive authority. It contrasts with Monnet’s preference for institutions able to act beyond individual governments.
Action Committee for the United States of Europe: A cross-party organization founded by Monnet in 1955 to promote European integration. It shows how Monnet mobilized political parties and labor organizations beyond official diplomacy.
European Economic Community: A community founded in 1957 to build a common market among six European countries. Its creation extended the integration process Monnet had helped launch.
Allied supply during World War I: Coordination of supplies among the Allied powers during the First World War. Monnet helped organize wartime procurement, revealing the value of cross-border economic coordination.
Konrad Adenauer: West Germany’s first chancellor, who held office from 1949 to 1963. Adenauer accepted the coal-and-steel proposal and became a central partner in Franco-German reconciliation.
Europe of the Fatherlands: A vision of European cooperation that preserves national sovereignty and rejects a federal political structure. This sovereignty-centered alternative became associated with de Gaulle’s resistance to Monnet’s model.
European integration: The process through which European countries develop shared institutions, policies, and economic ties. Monnet’s work became a defining example of integration through practical institutional steps.

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