Édouard Bonnefous

Édouard Henri Jean Bonnefous (24 August 1907 – 24 February 2007) was a French politician. Before World War II (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 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. 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'' (Free School of Political Sciences) and the ''Institut des hautes études internationales'' (Institute of Advanced International Studies).

Before World War II (1939–45) Bonnefous was involved in political economy and foreign policy, and made various trips abroad for study purposes.
He and Jean Sarrailh 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. In 1944 he was a member of the departmental committee for the liberation of Seine-et-Oise.
He was co-founder, with André Siegfried and Roger Seydoux, 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 (''Rassemblement des gauches républicaines'', RGR), and was elected Deputy for Seine-et-Oise on this platform on 10 November 1946.
Bonnefous was a member of the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the French zone of post-war Germany.
He was not in favor of quickly returning independent power to the Germans.
He wrote, "France fortunately shows more distrust towards the vanquished, even towards the repentant ones, then its allies, believing that caution is a more important consideration than the desire for a democratic reeducation of Germany."

European unity debates: 1948–51

Bonnefous was president of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Commission from 1948 to 1952.
He was the main author of a 19 March 1948 motion calling for the government to "work for the early convening of a European Constituent Assembly". This was partly in response to signs that the Soviet Union was following an expansionist policy. Similar motions were presented in the British and Dutch parliaments.
In 1948 he was French delegate to the United Nations.
Bonnefous became a member of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.
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 proposed in 1950 by René Pleven, 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 (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 and the English Channel.
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 in the government of Edgar Faure