FOREIGN OFFICE FILES FOR POST-WAR EUROPE
Series One: The Schuman Plan and the European Coal & Steel Community, 1950-1957

Part 1: Complete FO 371 files for 1950-1953
(PRO Class FO 371/85841-85869, 86977, 87168, 93826-93844, 94101-94107, 94356, 100247-100265, 100267-100272, 104012-104019, 105951-105961, 106069-106075 & 106077)

Within this microfilm collection of British Foreign Office Files can be found documents that relate directly to the fundamental questions of European co-operation and integration. The foundation of the European Coal and Steel Community in April 1951 was the first significant move towards European Union requiring countries to forsake a degree of national sovereignty and accept a supranational authority. Proposed by French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman and drafted by Jean Monnet, head of the French Planning Commission, it made clear its federal objectives:

"The pooling of coal and steel production will immediately provide for the establishment of common bases for economic development as a first step in the federation of Europe, and will change the destinies of those regions which have long been devoted to the munitions of war, of which they have been the most constant victims."

These British Foreign Office Files include:

- Draft Papers on The Schuman Plan Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community
- Papers on the reorganisation of the German coal, iron and steel industry
- Papers with a special focus on the German steel cartels, the iron and steel works in the Soviet Occupied Zone of Germany, economic statistics and export figures, production and output
- Working Papers of the UK Delegation to the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) at Luxembourg, including briefing papers and fortnightly progress reports
- Material on the relationship between the new Community, OEEC and GATT, focusing on the problems arising
- Documentation of British fears of being isolated in the move towards Western European integration, Britain’s emphasis on maintaining close relations with America and British plans regarding Association with the Community
- ECSC relations with trade unions; UK relations with the ECSC as well as Observations on German views concerning the problems facing the ECSC

Britain, always preferring an inter-governmental rather than a federal approach, monitored the plan closely and the Foreign Office Files provide detailed analysis of the discussions from 1950 to 1957.

The ECSC Treaty was signed in Paris by France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. In part, the momentum developed for such an agreement reflected the influence of key people committed to some form of "common future" for Western Europe: Schuman and Monnet in France, Adenauer in West Germany, Alcide de Gsperi and Carlo Sforza in Italy, Paul-Henri Spaak in Belgium, and Joseph Beck in Luxembourg. From 1951 onwards, it set the tone for renewed debate culminating in the establishment of the European Economic Community, a landmark reached in 1957.

The original draft of the Schuman Plan was the work of Jean Monnet, who certainly saw it as only the first step in a chain that would ultimately lead to complete political and economic integration.

What were the original motives of the French and the Germans? These papers allow scholars to study the aims and objectives of the two major players, for example:
French views on the Schuman Plan as the first step towards effective political integration and French desires for stability and union within Western Europe in the interests of national security. They were convinced that this had to be based on a rapprochement between France and West Germany. Also predominant are Security issues and the balance of power in Europe. France was content for Germany to remain divided. However, the economic growth of West Germany following the major currency reforms of 1948 meant that France wanted to keep not just a political and military, but also an economic check, on her new neighbour. The files offer an opportunity for a detailed examination of the economic advantages for France of a multi-national and combined effort to grapple with the difficulties, experienced in several countries, pertaining particularly to coal and steel.

Similarly German motives can be assessed:
One can look at West Germany’s desire to rid itself of the economic restrictions of the international Ruhr Authority; the new West German state’s aspirations for achieving equality in the international arena; West Germany’s search for an opportunity to regain sovereignty over the coal and steel producing Saar, which still remained in French hands and Adenauer’s views and interests in integration to safeguard a better future for Germany and a more advantageous economic climate.

Jean Monnet became first president of the High Authority of the ECSC and remained in office until June 1955. The files in this collection allow researchers to see the ECSC in operation, to witness the problems, to judge its achievements and to investigate how the ECSC acted as a stimulus for greater European co-operation in the years from 1951-1957.

Important groundwork laid the foundations for the creation of an economic common market. By 1958 much trade discrimination had been eliminated, production and volume of trade had greatly expanded. Non-members like Britain found it vital to maintain permanent delegations in Luxembourg accredited to the High Authority.

On the other hand there were problems:
The ECSC constantly had to wrestle with national objections and intransigence. The French continued various policies and practices which infringed the terms of the ECSC Treaty. No solution was found to stem coal over-production.

Part 1 of this project covers the early years of the Schuman Plan from 1950 to 1953, and deals with the key issues facing the six countries who signed the treaty, as well as the implications of Britain’s decision to remain outside the organisation. Taken from British Foreign Office Files, the following extracts are a sample of the kind of material to be found in Part 1 of this collection:

Memorandum on French proposal to establish Franco-German coal and steel authority, May 1950. [FO 371/85841]:

"It is easier to understand the motives and timing of the French proposal than to estimate its value. French efforts since the war to establish a control of Ruhr industry have been progressively frustrated. They have realised for three years that an extra-territorial status for the Ruhr was not practical politics. Subsequent attempts to establish international ownership were equally unsuccessful. In 1947 M Bidault made the following statement at the Conference of Foreign Ministers in London: ‘France is not opposed, and never has been opposed to the revival of a peaceful German economy, nor to the establishment of a normal standard of living for the German people. She merely asks that Germany's resources shall in no event be used for the preparation of aggression and , on the other hand, that the restoration of Germany shall not have priority over that of the Allied countries. In order to comply with those requirements of security, it is necessary firstly to ensure that a special regime be applied to the Ruhr, principle centre of German mining and metal resources’..."

Report of a meeting held in the Home Secretary’s room in the House of Commons on 21 November 1951. [FO 371/94356]:

"The meeting was called by Mr Nutting to consider the attitude of His Majesty’s Government towards the Council of Europe and to decide whether any general statement of policy should be made in the consultative Assembly by the leader of the United Kingdom Delegation. It was generally agreed that a statement was desirable and that it should be as positive as possible. Mr Foster hoped that we might be able to make a definite statement on our relationship with the Schuman community and the European Army. Lord Hood pointed out that the two schemes were in very different stages of development and that it would be impossible to treat them together. It was, however, agreed that some statement on our position in relation to the Schuman Plan would be both possible and politically desirable. Mr Nutting suggested that the proposed statement might declare that His Majesty’s Government intended, once the Schuman treaty is ratified, to establish a permanent mission at the seat of the High Authority to enter into relations and to transact business. Such a statement would, it was felt, be most warmly welcomed at Strasbourg and in Europe as a whole. The Home Secretary agreed to consult the cabinet and seek its approval."

These typescript, English language primary sources will be easy for students to use for project work, as well as offering significant research potential for senior scholars. A paperback guide covers all 3 Parts.

"FO 371 Files are the crucial UK source for the ‘insider’s view’ at the Foreign Office over the whole Schuman Plan and ECSC scheme, providing primary data and intelligence on the early years of operation."
Dr Martin Dedman, School of Economics, Middlesex University

"John Young’s recent historiography of Britain and Europe (in 'The Contemporary History Handbook' edited by B Brivati, J Buxton and A Seldon) sets out a number of as yet unanswered questions about "one of the most significant debates for historians of post-war Britain". It is clear that at least some of Young’s questions - and others which go beyond the British standpoint - can be more easily illuminated by the bringing together of the public records that are in this collection."
Professor Elizabeth Meehan, Dean, Faculty of Economics and Social Science
The Queen’s University of Belfast