End of an era as ECSC passes away

Date: 25/07/02

By Martin Banks

NOT many people may have noticed, but this week marked the end of an era in Europe's modern history: the disappearance of the body which paved the way for the integration of the continent.

At 11.30am on Tuesday, (23 July) the flag of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was lowered for the last time in a ceremony at the European Commission's Breydel headquarters in Brussels.

It signalled the expiry of the 50-year-old treaty which established the ECSC, made up of France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

The impetus for the community came from Robert Schuman, the French foreign minister of the day, and Jean Monnet, the ECSC's first president. They were determined to create an industrial powerhouse that would bind France and Germany together - and make the prospect of a third world war unthinkable.

Schuman proposed that the coal and steel resources in the Ruhr, Saar and Lorraine should be placed under a joint supranational 'high authority' - the forerunner of the European Commission.

The 1952 ECSC also set up the Council of Ministers, Court of Justice and an assembly which developed into the European Parliament. In its wake, the 1957 Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community, which in turn became the European Community and then the European Union.

Despite its huge historical significance, there was relatively little fanfare as the founding treaty passed into the history books. Barely 100 onlookers, mostly Commission staff as well as a handful of media staff, attended the ceremony.

Commission President Romano Prodi appeared dewy-eyed as he watched the flag being lowered for the last time. It was day of mixed emotions, too, for Robert Joos and Pierre Diederich, former members of the ECSC consultative committee, which represented employees, producers and consumers.

Joos, now general manager of the Belgian steel industry, said: 'It is no exaggeration to say that the EU would quite possibly not have come about without the ECSC. It was a pioneering experiment in cross-border cooperation and, economically, it was particularly important because it helped reconstruct the steel and coal industries after the Second World War. It is sad to see the ECSC come to an end because it did so much to build the foundations of the modern Europe.'

For his fellow Belgian Diederich, a former president of the committee, the political experiment was just as important as the economic one.

'In many ways, it is a day for both looking back and to the future. The treaty was the first attempt at pooling sovereignty and, of course, this goes to the heart of arguments about the direction of the EU now. It was a visionary idea which, I believe, has proved a resounding success and leaves a remarkable legacy.'

The 50-year-old treaty which established the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) came to an end on 23 July 2002.