Robert Schuman

Who is Robert Schuman?

Robert Schuman was born on 29 June 1886 in Clausen, in Luxembourg City, to a Luxembourg-born mother and a Lorraine-born father, and grew up speaking Luxembourgish before pursuing legal studies in France and Germany. He took French nationality in 1919 when Alsace-Lorraine returned to France after the First World War, and went on to become a prominent French statesman, serving twice as Prime Minister of France and as its Foreign Minister in the years following the Second World War. On 9 May 1950 he issued the Schuman Declaration, proposing that French and West German coal and steel production be placed under a shared supranational authority — a plan designed to make renewed war between the two nations "not merely unthinkable but materially impossible." This proposal led directly to the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the direct forerunner of today's European Union, and Schuman later served as the first President of the European Parliamentary Assembly, where he was honored with the title "Father of Europe." His Luxembourg birthplace and cross-border heritage are still celebrated as a symbol of European reconciliation, and 9 May is marked annually as Europe Day in his honor.

Sources: Wikipedia, "Robert Schuman" · Government of Luxembourg, "Robert Schuman and the beginnings of the European Union" · European Investment Bank, short biography of Robert Schuman