Édouard Henri Jean Bonnefous (24 August 1907 – 24 February 2007) was a French politician. Before
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
(1939–45) he was active in the study of international affairs.
After the war he was elected a deputy on the
Rally of Left Republicans
The Rally of Republican Lefts (french: Rassemblement des gauches républicaines, RGR) was an electoral alliance during the French Fourth Republic composed of the Radical Party, the Independent Radicals, the Democratic and Socialist Union of the ...
platform in 1946, and remained a deputy until 1958. He served as a minister in several cabinets, and was also active in the
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...
. He was a strong advocate of greater European integration. From 1959 to 1986 he was a member of the Senate, where he became a critic of General de Gaulle, and an advocate of protection of the environment.
Early years
Édouard Henri Jean Bonnefous was born in Paris on 24 August 1907.
He was the son of Georges Bonnefous, a former minister.
He was educated in Paris at the '' Lycée Janson de Sailly'' and the ''École Fontanes''.
He obtained diplomas from the ''
École libre des sciences politiques
, motto_lang = fr
, mottoeng = Roots of the Future
, type = Public research university''Grande école''
, established =
, founder = Émile Boutmy
, accreditation ...
'' (Free School of Political Sciences) and the ''Institut des hautes études internationales'' (Institute of Advanced International Studies).
Before
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
(1939–45) Bonnefous was involved in political economy and foreign policy, and made various trips abroad for study purposes.
He and
Jean Sarrailh
Jean Sarrailh (14 October 1891 – 28 February 1964) was a French historian who specialized in the history and culture of Spain in the 18th and 19th centuries.
He was rector of several universities including the University of Paris, was involved ...
founded the ''Institut des hautes études d'Amérique latine'' (Institute of Advanced Latin American Studies). He was also a journalist and theater critic.
In 1937 he contributed economic studies to ''La Journée industrielle'' and ''Le National''. He was mobilized in the infantry at the start of World War II.
In 1941 he joined the
French Resistance
The French Resistance (french: La Résistance) was a collection of organisations that fought the German occupation of France during World War II, Nazi occupation of France and the Collaborationism, collaborationist Vichy France, Vichy régim ...
. In 1944 he was a member of the departmental committee for the liberation of Seine-et-Oise.
He was co-founder, with
André Siegfried
André Siegfried (April 21, 1875 – March 28, 1959) was a French academic, geographer and political writer best known to English speakers for his commentaries on American, Canadian, and British politics.
He was born in Le Havre, France, to Ju ...
and
Roger Seydoux
Roger Seydoux (28 March 1908 in Paris – 3 July 1985 in Paris) was a French academic and diplomat.
Main diplomatic assignments
* Last Resident-general in Tunisia
* First ambassador to Tunisia (1956)
* Ambassador to Morocco (1960-1962) See offi ...
, of the journal ''Année politique''.
He became a professor at the ''Institut des hautes études internationales''.
Deputy
Post-war Europe: 1945–48
Bonnefous was a candidate for election to the National Constituent Assembly on 21 October 1945 on the "Republican Concentration" platform, but did poorly.
After this he was one of the founders of the
Rally of Left Republicans
The Rally of Republican Lefts (french: Rassemblement des gauches républicaines, RGR) was an electoral alliance during the French Fourth Republic composed of the Radical Party, the Independent Radicals, the Democratic and Socialist Union of the ...
(''Rassemblement des gauches républicaines'', RGR), and was elected Deputy for
Seine-et-Oise
Seine-et-Oise () was the former department of France encompassing the western, northern and southern parts of the metropolitan area of Paris.
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
.
Bonnefous became a member of the Consultative Assembly of the
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe (CoE; french: Conseil de l'Europe, ) is an international organisation founded in the wake of World War II to uphold European Convention on Human Rights, human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. ...
in
Strasbourg
Strasbourg (, , ; german: Straßburg ; gsw, label=Bas Rhin Alsatian, Strossburi , gsw, label=Haut Rhin Alsatian, Strossburig ) is the prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est region of eastern France and the official seat of the Eu ...
.
He played an important role in the formative period of the Council of Europe.
In the opening session of the Council of Europe in August 1949 Bonnefous called for the European countries to "agree to pool their natural resources under a joint international administration."
Bonnefous said, "A basic industry must be chosen as an example of how to break away from the old concepts of national borders and state sovereignty. The coal industry must obviously be selected."
He also warned, "if the German revival is not integrated in the economic organization of Europe, it will be carried out against the other European countries."
Bonnefous published ''L'Idée européenne et sa réalisation'' in 1950, a book on European issues.
In October 1950 Bonnefous stated, "if one does not wish German rearmament to be carried out against Europe, it is essential to integrate it in a European organization worthy of the name, for, without this, we are going to allow Germany to be reconstructed at the same time as we despair of creating Europe.
He was opposed to the
European Defence Community
The Treaty establishing the European Defence Community, also known as the Treaty of Paris, is an unratified treaty signed on 27 May 1952 by the Inner Six, six 'inner' countries of European integration: the Benelux countries, France, Italy, and We ...
proposed in 1950 by
René Pleven
René Pleven (; 15 April 1901 – 13 January 1993) was a notable French politician of the Fourth Republic. A member of the Free French, he helped found the Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (UDSR), a political party that was meant ...
, the French Prime Minister. He thought it was "a threat to the very idea of Europe" and would be dominated by Germany.
He said there were two opposing concepts of Europe:
In August 1950 Bonnefous proposed to the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe that a European Transport Authority should be established, following a similar model to the
European Coal and Steel Community
The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to regulate the coal and steel industries. It was formally established in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris, signed by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembo ...
(ECSC).
The new authority would be a supranational body authorized and funded to undertake projects at a European level that would lead to a common European transport system, and to finance works such as tunnels under the
Strait of Gibraltar
The Strait of Gibraltar ( ar, مضيق جبل طارق, Maḍīq Jabal Ṭāriq; es, Estrecho de Gibraltar, Archaic: Pillars of Hercules), also known as the Straits of Gibraltar, is a narrow strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Medi ...
and the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
.
The initial response was positive. He submitted a plan for the authority on 24 January 1951. This ran into resistance from Britain and the Scandinavian countries, and a much less ambititious European Transport Office was eventually proposed.
French politics: 1951–55
Bonnefous was reelected on 17 June 1951 under a system of proportional representation in which the Communists won three seats in the 2nd district of Seine-et-Oise, the Rally of the French People won two seats, and Bonnefous's RGR was one of four parties that won a single seat.
Bonnefous was president of the Foreign Affairs Committee.
He was appointed deputy member of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe on 10 August 1951.
Between 20 January 1952 and 8 March 1952 he was
Minister of Commerce
A Commerce minister (sometimes business minister, industry minister, trade minister or international trade minister) is a position in many governments that is responsible for regulating external trade and promoting economic growth (commercial polic ...
in the government of
Edgar Faure
Edgar Jean Faure (; 18 August 1908 – 30 March 1988) was a French politician, lawyer, essayist, historian and memoirist who served as Prime Minister of France in 1952 and again between 1955 and 1956.René Mayer
René Mayer (; 4 May 189513 December 1972) was a French Radical politician of the Fourth Republic who served briefly as Prime Minister during 1953.
Mayer was born and died in Paris. He led the Mayer Authority from 1955 to 1958. He was Fran ...
.
From 1953 to 1955 he was president of the parliamentary group of the
Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance
The Democratic and Socialist Union of the Resistance (french: Union démocratique et socialiste de la Résistance or UDSR) was a French political party founded after the liberation of France from German occupation and mainly active during the Fo ...
(''Union démocratique et socialiste de la Résistance'', UDSR).
He was made honorary president of the
Société d'économie politique
The Société d’Economie Politique () is a French learned society concerned with political economy. It was founded in 1842 to provide a forum for discussion of free trade, a subject of violent debate at the time, and has continued to organize dis ...
.
Minister of Posts, Telegraphs and Telecommunications: 1955–56
Edgar Faure
Edgar Jean Faure (; 18 August 1908 – 30 March 1988) was a French politician, lawyer, essayist, historian and memoirist who served as Prime Minister of France in 1952 and again between 1955 and 1956.Quai d'Orsay
The Quai d'Orsay ( , ) is a quay in the 7th arrondissement of Paris. It is part of the left bank of the Seine opposite the Place de la Concorde. The Quai becomes the Quai Anatole-France east of the Palais Bourbon, and the Quai Branly west of th ...
and then at the Council of Europe that the scope should include the
Organisation for European Economic Co-operation
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate e ...
, Finland, Spain and Yugoslavia.
The largest possible scope would gain the greatest economies of scale.
At the first meetings of the ECSC subcommittee on posts and telecommunications in August–September 1955 it became clear that Belgium wanted to limit close cooperation to the six ECSC countries. The subcommittee rejected the larger membership on the grounds that it would infringe on the authority of the national governments,
On 20 January 1956 the PTT ministers of the six members of the ECSC met in Paris to discuss the common arrangements.
Great Britain was represented by an observer.
In the end the
Treaty of Rome
The Treaty of Rome, or EEC Treaty (officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community), brought about the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC), the best known of the European Communities (EC). The treaty was sig ...
signed on 25 March 1957 did not discuss PTT issues at all.
Later positions: 1956–58
Bonnefous was reelected to the Chamber of Deputies on 2 January 1956 on the RGR platform, and on 2 February was again elected president of the UDSR parliamentary group.
On 23 February 1956 Bonnerfous was reelected a deputy member of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe.
In May 1957 he was appointed vice-president of the Assembly of the European Union.
On 13 June 1957 Bonnefous was appointed Minister of Public Works, Transport and Tourism in the government of
Maurice Bourgès-Maunoury
Maurice Jean Marie Bourgès-Maunoury (; 19 August 1914 – 10 February 1993) was a French Radical politician who served as the Prime Minister in the Fourth Republic during 1957.
Bourgès-Maunoury was born in Luisant, Eure-et-Loir. He is famo ...
, and retained this post during the subsequent governments of
Félix Gaillard
Félix Gaillard d'Aimé (;
5 November 1919 – 10 July 1970) was a French Radical politician who served as Prime Minister under the Fourth Republic from 1957 to 1958. He was the youngest head of a French government since Napoleon.
Career
A ...
and
Pierre Pflimlin
Pierre Eugène Jean Pflimlin (; 5 February 1907 – 27 June 2000) was a French Christian Democrat politician who served as the Prime Minister of the Fourth Republic for a few weeks in 1958, before being replaced by Charles de Gaulle during the ...
.
During the crisis of May 1958 Bonnefous supported the return to power of General
Charles de Gaulle
Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...
.
He left office when the government was dissolved on 1 June 1958.
In the legislative elections of 23/30 November 1958 Bonnefous was defeated by the Gaullist candidate. He continued to head the management committee of ''L'année politique'', and gave courses on Economic Geography at the ''Institut des hautes études internationales''.
Senator
Grave in Paris.
Bonnefous was elected Senator for Seine-et-Oise on 28 April 1959.
He was elected Senator for
