The preparations for the Schuman Declaration are gradually being completed, as Jean Monnet and his colleagues draft the ninth and final plan.
As international tensions increased after the war, Monnet felt that the time had come to take substantial steps towards European unity and, together with his team, began to develop the idea of the European Community. On May 9, 1950, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman delivered the “Schuman Declaration” on behalf of the French government.
The mastermind and author of the Declaration, which proposed placing the entire Franco-German production of coal and steel under the management of a High Authority, was Monnet. The reasoning was that the joint production of these resources by the two strongest countries on the continent could prevent a new war in the future.
