Office of the Historian

89. Memorandum From the Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs (Merchant) to the Secretary of State1

Washington, April 12, 1955.

SUBJECT

  • M. Monnet’s personal plans and his views regarding progress in European integration

The idea of giving new impetus to European integration appears to be gaining support in a number of European capitals and is reflected in proposals for additional fields of activity for the European Coal and Steel Community. The clearest and most concrete summary of this development is contained in a recent letter from the Acting U.S. Representative to the CSC, reporting on a conversation with M. Monnet.2

M. Monnet said, in this conversation, that the governments of the six CSC member countries, including the French, appear willing to take further steps towards creating a united Europe. Their immediate objective, he reports, is to extend the scope of the CSC by bringing fuel oil and electric power under the jurisdiction of the High Authority, and by working out a separate organizational framework for the integration of transportation and atomic energy within the six countries. A single legislative Assembly and Court of Justice would continue to serve the enlarged Community.

The basic decision on additional integration, according to Monnet, is to be reached at the next meeting of the CSC Council of Ministers, around April 18. Both Chancellor Adenauer3 and M. Pinay4 have asked Monnet to remain as President of the High Authority to take charge of the extension of the Community, and he has agreed to do so, if the six governments decide on further integration and give him the necessary mandate.

M. Monnet does not wish the above information to be disseminated to U.S. Embassies in the six countries, fearing that any U.S. involvement with the Foreign Offices might have unfavorable effects. He also does not consider that any help from the U.S. Government is required at present. Because of M. Monnet’s feeling on this matter, we are not planning to disseminate to the field or to other agencies at this time the information concerning his personal plans.

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 840.00/4–1255. Confidential. Drafted by Boochever and cleared with Joseph Palmer II, Deputy Director of RA. Copies were sent to Hoover and Waugh.↩
  2. Not found in Department of State files.↩
  3. Konrad Adenauer, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.↩
  4. Antoine Pinay, French Foreign Minister.↩