Today, many Ukrainians and Europeans do not know that the EU, which has become the key to peace and economic growth in Europe, was created seven decades ago by Christian democrats.
According to researcher Jeff Fontaine, in the first half of the twentieth century, France and Germany behaved like stray dogs, grabbing pieces of borderlands and provoking world wars. However, a quick and lasting reconciliation between European countries became possible thanks to a small group of figures who professed Christian values.
It was Christian values that helped postwar European politicians negotiate long-term peace and cooperation between countries that had been at war for almost a thousand years. In the second millennium AD alone, hundreds of wars were fought between the French, Germans, Italians, Dutch, Spaniards, etc., and each country considered its neighbors to be its main enemies. Christian pastors had a great conciliatory influence on the views of representatives of antagonistic states – Germany and France – regarding the ownership of the Saarland coal basin. French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman and German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer managed to establish a dialogue primarily through joint attendance at Christian events, where each realized the need for compromise and trust.
Today, it seems that after the collapse of Nazism, the emergence of the Marshall Plan, and the creation of NATO, Europe was doomed to peaceful development, but this is not the case. Due to the distrust and tensions between states, these projects could have failed, and Europe was on the verge of repeating the mistakes of the past. The founders of the European integration idea, Robert Schuman, Alcide de Gasperi, and Konrad Adenauer, believed that in addition to economic initiatives, it was necessary to create an atmosphere of forgiveness, repentance, and reconciliation.
Schuman emphasized that the reconstruction of Europe is possible only on the basis of deeply rooted, basic Christian values. Moreover, Schumann believed that democracy would either be Christian or it would not exist at all. An anti-Christian democracy will turn into a parody that will sink into tyranny or anarchy. According to Schumann, by cutting off Christian roots, Europe would lose the concepts of equality, human dignity, and tolerance.
Schumann proposed to Adenauer to create a supranational system of control over the coal and metallurgy of both countries and make war not only undesirable but also materially impossible. This was an innovative step by the “Father of Europe” that was not without the influence of the Christian worldview.
After the Schuman Declaration on the conceptual structure of European integration on May 9, 1950, the further unification process was launched. On April 18, 1951, the Treaty of Paris was signed establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, followed by the Treaty of Rome in 1957 and the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC), Euroatom and customs agreements. Charles de Gaulle, who did not want to weaken France’s sovereignty, maneuvered between weakening and strengthening the influence of Germany, Britain, the United States, and European institutions in Europe, and delayed the EU’s institutional evolution for two decades. However, the foundations laid by the Christian Democrats made it possible to create a structure that remains a model of security, economic development, and social justice for the whole world.
Author: Valeriy Maydanyuk