The Europe Declaration, also known as the Charter of the Community, was a joint statement issued by the Foreign Ministers of West Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg in 1951. The Declaration was issued at the signing of the Treaty of Paris, which created 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) based on the

Schuman Plan The Schuman Declaration, or Schuman Plan, was a proposal to place French and West German production of coal and steel under a single authority that later became the European Coal and Steel Community, made by the French foreign minister, Robert ...

, on 18 April 1951. The Declaration said that the ECSC marked the birth of the Europe as a political, economic and social entity, reflecting the principles that

Robert Schuman Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Robert Schuman (; 29 June 18864 September 1963) was a Luxembourg-born French statesman. Schuman was a Christian Democrat (Popular Republican Movement) political thinker and activist. Twice Prime Minister of France, a ref ...

had announced in the Schuman Declaration of 1950. It included the statement:

"By the signature of this Treaty, the involved parties give proof of their determination to create the first
supranational Supranational or supra-national may refer to: * Supranational union, a type of multinational political union * Supranational law, a form of international law * Supranational legislature, a form of international legislature * Supranational curre ...
institution and that thus they are laying the true foundation of an organised Europe. This Europe remains open to all European countries that have freedom of choice. We profoundly hope that other countries will join us in our common endeavour."'' Der Schuman Plan. Vertrag ueber die Gruendung der europaeischen Gemeinschaft fuer Kohl und Stahl'', p21 Ulrich Sahm mit einem Vorwort von Walter Hallstein. Frankfurt 1951.

The declaration was signed by Konrad Adenauer (West Germany), Paul van Zeeland,

Joseph Meurice Joseph is a common male given name, derived from the Hebrew Yosef (יוֹסֵף). "Joseph" is used, along with "Josef", mostly in English, French and partially German languages. This spelling is also found as a variant in the languages of the mo ...

(Belgium),

(France), Count Carlo Sforza (Italy), Joseph Bech (Luxembourg), Dirk Stikker and Jan van den Brink (Netherlands). It was made to recall future generations to their historic duty of uniting Europe based on liberty and democracy under the

rule of law The rule of law is the political philosophy that all citizens and institutions within a country, state, or community are accountable to the same laws, including lawmakers and leaders. The rule of law is defined in the ''Encyclopedia Britannica ...

. Thus they viewed the creation of a wider and deeper Europe as intimately bound to the healthy development of the supranational or Community system.

References

External links

Description of the declaration
on European NAvigator {{EU treaties and declarations Declarations of the European Union 1951 in Europe 1951 documents