The Early Years of European Integration—German and Dutch Reactions to the Schuman Plan

Abstract

On 9 May 1950, Robert Schuman, the French minister of Foreign Affairs, launched his daring and—to many contemporaries—shocking plan to put the Franco-German production of coal and steel as a whole under a common High Authority. By doing so, he not only hoped to prevent war in Europe in the future, but also started the process of European integration. How did the Netherlands and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) react to this controversial plan and why did they decide to join the European integration process? This chapter claims that although there were a number of similarities between Bonn and The Hague, they had different reasons for joining the European integration process from the start. For the FRG, it was mainly a way to regain its sovereignty and to be seen as a normal state again. For The Netherlands, however, the reasons seem mostly to have been economic. By integrating Germany into the Western block, Europe and especially The Netherlands could profit from Germany’s economic potential, while at the same time preventing the country from becoming a military threat ever again. It also explains the Dutch resistance towards more political integration. In fact, the Dutch government remained anti-supranational well into the 1950s. The Dutch European policy, especially in the early years, was driven primarily and maybe even exclusively, by economic considerations, whereas that of the Federal Republic was above all inspired by political motives.