The conception of Community Integration by Jean Monnet (1950-1955)

Abstract

Jean Monnet is rightly regarded as one of the founding fathers of the European community integration. This article is an attempt to reconstruct his views on the pivotal issue of the form and content of international cooperation in the post-war Europe. Since Monnet was engaged in a wide spectrum of activities, the author of this article mostly focuses on the so-called third period of his career, that is the years 1950-1955. This was the time when Monnet was directly involved in the design and implementation of the scheme to launch the three European Communities: Coal and Steel, Defence and Political. The issue of the institutions that Monnet planned in his conception marks the departure point for the authors’ deliberations. Monnet intended these institutions to be a foundation of human cooperation in Europe. They were also intended to provide European citizens with the tools for stimulating and managing this cooperation. Supranational structures were of special import to his thought. Monnet thought of them as independent bodies that wielded power bestowed upon them in order that they helped the community reach their objectives. This power was legitimized through sharing the sovereignty of each community member state. Economic criteria constituted preconditions for this form of highly advanced cooperation. The cooperation depended on a precisely defined area of shared economic interests of the member states. This is why the model of sector integration was chosen as the major method, which was to gradually lead to the spillover effect-based European integration. Monnet referred to this kind of organizational structure as „federal community”. It had a well-defined area of competences and it enjoyed independence from political institutions in the particular member states. This community took a formal shape of a state organization, executing all sorts of actions typical of nation-state institutions of power. Monnet intended this kind of international cooperation to cover all the strategic aspects of community functioning: economic, political and military. Monnet's conception manifested itself through the formation of the three above-mentioned European Communities. In terms of institutional structure, the European Communities were to rely on a strong supranational body as its kernel. Around it, three other institutions were planned: the democratic Assembly with the legitimizing function; the control-oriented Tribunal; and the Council responsible for communication with national governments. These efforts undertaken by Monnet in the period under discussion aimed at constructing an organizational structure referred to as „European Federation” or „the United States of Europe”. It was to be built on the particular sector-related communities. Summing up, it is difficult to determine beyond doubt if Monnet was a federalist or a functionalist. The most adequate solution to the problem of how to organize European community seems to present itself in the form of an intermediate position between these two extremes. This stance can be referred to as „functional federalism”.