Robert Schuman

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Robert Schuman
In office
1958 – 1960
Preceded by Hans Furler
Succeeded by Hans Furler
In office
September 5, 1948 – September 11, 1948
Preceded by André Marie
Succeeded by Henri Queuille
In office
November 24, 1947 – July 26, 1948
Preceded by Paul Ramadier
Succeeded by André Marie
Born June 29, 1886
Died September 4, 1963
Political party MRP

Robert Schuman (June 29, 1886 – September 4, 1963), French Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, was a noted Luxembourg-born French Statesman, a Christian Democrat (M.R.P.) who is regarded as one of the founders of the European Union, the Council of Europe and NATO, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

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Twice Prime Minister of France, a reformist Minister of Finance and a Foreign Minister who was instrumental in building post-war European and trans-Atlantic institutions, Robert Schuman was an independent political thinker and activist. He was a man of several cultures. Robert Schuman's father, Jean-Pierre Schuman (1837–1900), was born a French citizen in Évrange, Lorraine, just across the border with Luxembourg. After Lorraine became part of the German Empire in 1871 (Alsace-Lorraine), he became a German citizen. Robert's mother, Eugénie Duren (1864–1911), a Luxembourgian born in Bettembourg, became a German citizen by marriage in 1884. Although born in the suburb of Clausen, Luxembourg City, Robert Schuman was German by virtue of the principle of jus sanguinis. He renounced this nationality in favour of French nationality in 1919 when the Alsace-Lorraine region was returned to France. His mother tongue was Luxembourgish but was taught French and Standard German at school. Since he learned French only in school (which is mandatory in Luxembourg) he spoke it with a Luxembourg/Lorraine accent[1].

Schuman pursued his secondary education at the Athénée de Luxembourg secondary school in Luxembourg, a former Jesuit College. He then decided to study at German universities, but since the Luxembourg secondary school diploma was not valid in Germany, he had to pass the entrance exam for this, the Abitur, at the Kaiserliche Gymnasium in Metz. His university education in law, economics, political philosophy, theology and statistics took place in the German education system. He received his law degree after studying at the University of Bonn, the University of Munich, the Humboldt University in Berlin and in Strasbourg in Alsace (then Germany).

After the death of his mother in a coach accident, Schuman may have briefly considered the religious life, but resolved to pursue a lay apostolate. He remained single and celibate throughout his life. He became a lawyer, and was judged medically unfit for military call-up. (He served in a civilian capacity during the First World War, so never wore a German uniform). He was a member of the city council of Metz as well as the German Katholikentag. After the First World War, Alsace-Lorraine was retaken by France and Schuman became active in French politics. In 1919 he was first elected as député to parliament on a regional list, and later serving as the député for Thionville until 1958 with an interval during the war years. He made a major contribution to the drafting and parliamentary passage of the Lex Schuman by the French parliament. Schuman also investigated and patiently uncovered postwar corruption in the Lorraine steel industries.

In 1940, because of his expertise on Germany, Schuman was called to become a member of Paul Reynaud's wartime government. Later that year, he was arrested for acts of resistance and protest against Nazi methods. He was interrogated by the Gestapo. Thanks to an honourable German, he was saved from being sent to Dachau. Transferred as a personal prisoner of the vicious Nazi Gauleiter Joseph Buerckel, he escaped in 1942 and joined the French Resistance. Although his life was still at risk, he spoke to friends about a Franco-German and European reconciliation that must take place after the end of hostilities, as he had already done in 1939-40.

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Centesimus Annus (1991)
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After the war Schuman rose to great prominence. He was Minister of Finance, then Prime Minister from 1947–1948, assuring parliamentary stability during a period of revolutionary strikes and attempted insurrection. He was part of the Third Force coalition governments which opposed to both the Communists and Gaullists. Becoming Foreign Minister in 1948, he retained the post in different governments until early 1953. Schuman's first government proposed the creation of a European Assembly, making the issue a governmental matter for Europe. This proposal saw life as the Council of Europe and was created within the tight schedule Schuman had set. At the signing of its Statutes at St James's Palace, London, 5 May 1949, the founding States agreed to defining the frontiers of Europe based on the principles of human rights and fundamental freedoms that Schuman enunciated there. He also announced a coming supranational union for Europe. In September 1948 as Foreign Minister, he had announced before the United Nations General Assembly, France's aim to create a democratic organisation for Europe which a post-Nazi and democratic Germany could join. In 1949-50, he made a series of speeches in Europe and North America about creating a supranational European Community. This structure, he said, would create lasting peace between Member States.

On May 9, 1950, these principles of supranational democracy were announced in a Declaration jointly prepared by Paul Reuter, the legal adviser at the Foreign Ministry, his chef-de Cabinet, Bernard Clappier and Jean Monnet and two of his team.The French Government agreed to the Schuman Declaration which invited the Germans and all other European countries to manage their coal and steel industries jointly and democratically in Europe's first supranational Community with its five foundational institutions. On 18 April 1951 six founder members signed the Treaty of Paris (1951) that formed the basis of the European Coal and Steel Community. They declared this date and the corresponding democratic, suprantional principles to be the 'real foundation of Europe'. Three Communities have been created so far. The Treaties of Rome, 1957, created the Economic community and the nuclear non-proliferation Community, Euratom. Together with intergovernmental machinery of later treaties, these eventually evolved into the European Union. The Schuman Declaration, was made on 9 May 1950 and to this day May 9 is designated Europe Day.

As Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Schuman was instrumental in the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, NATO. Schuman also signed the Treaty of Washington for France.The defensive principles of Nato's Article 5 were also repeated in the European Defence Community Treaty which failed as the French National Assembly declined to vote its ratification. Schuman was a proponent of an Atlantic Community. This was strongly resisted by Communists, ultranationalists and Gaullists.

Schuman later served as Minister of Justice before becoming the first President of the European Parliamentary Assembly (the successor to the Common Assembly) which bestowed on him by acclamation the title 'Father of Europe'. He is considered one of the founding fathers of the European Union. In 1958 he received the Karlspreis, an Award by the German city of Aachen to people who contributed to the European idea and European peace, commemorating Charlemagne, ruler of what is today France and Germany, who resided and is buried at Aachen. He was also a knight of the Order of Pope Pius IX.

Celibate, modest and un-ostentatious, Schuman was an intensely religious man and Bible scholar. He was strongly influenced by the writings of Pope Pius XII, St. Thomas Aquinas and Jacques Maritain. It was announced on 15 May 2004 that the diocesan investigation of the cause of beatification would soon conclude, this might have as its result that Schuman will be declared "Blessed" by the Roman Catholic Church.[citation needed]

Grave of Robert Schuman in Saint Quentin church, in Scy-Chazelles, near Metz, France
Grave of Robert Schuman in Saint Quentin church, in Scy-Chazelles, near Metz, France

The Schuman District of Brussels (including a metro/railway station, square) is named in his honour. Around the square ("Rond Point Schuman") can be found various European institutions, including the Berlaymont building which is the headquarters of the European Commission and has a monument to Schuman outside, as well as key European Parliament buildings. In the nearby Cinquantenaire Park, there is a bust of Schuman as a memorial to him.

A Social Science University named after him lies in Strasbourg, France and in Luxembourg there is a Rond Point Schuman, Boulevard Robert Schuman and a Robert Schuman Building, of the European Parliament. The house where he was born was restored by the European Parliament and can be visited; as can his home in Scy-Chazelle just outside Metz.

In Aix-en-Provence, a town in Bouches-du-Rhone, France, there is an Avenue Robert Schumann, which homes the three university buildings of the town and in Ireland there is a building in the University of Limerick named the "Robert Schuman" building. This building is commonly referred to by the students of the University simply as "the Schuman", or jokingly as "the Shoeman".

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Belgian 3 pioneers of the European unification gold coin
Belgian 3 pioneers of the European unification gold coin

Schuman has left such a legacy behind, that he was the main motive for one of the most recent and famous gold commemorative coin: the Belgian 3 pioneers of the European unification coin, minted in 2002. The obverse side shows a portrait with the names Robert Schuman, Paul-Henri Spaak and Konrad Adenauer.

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Preceded by
Emmanuel Temple		 Minister of Justice
1955–1956		 Succeeded by
François Mitterand
Preceded by
Paul Ramadier		 Prime Minister of France
1947–1948		 Succeeded by
André Marie
Preceded by
André Marie		 Prime Minister of France
1948		 Succeeded by
Henri Queuille
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