European Coal And Steel Community Essay

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The European  Coal  and  Steel Community  (ECSC) was a supranational  organization instituted under the 1951 Treaty of Paris, which provided a framework for the pooling of coal and steel resources across member countries. The ECSC was designed to make future military conflict between France and Germany materially impossible  through  the  integration   of heavy industry,  while contributing to the economic  development  and political stability of postwar  Europe. A new range of political institutions  were established under the treaty to oversee the operation of the organization, and the ECSC can be regarded as both the first attempt  at a supranational  organization  and the forerunner to the European Union. The organization had considerable success in the modernization of production,  advancement  of commercial  policy, and management of industrial dislocation before the expiration of the Treaty in 2002.

The formation  of the  ECSC was spurred  by the efforts of the French foreign minister Robert Schuman, who believed that a unified Franco-German coal and steel industry would stand at the heart of a peaceful and  prosperous  Europe. The treaty  establishing  the ECSC was signed in Paris by France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands,  and Luxembourg on April 18, 1951, with the common market for coal, iron ore, and scrap metals coming into force on February 10, 1953, and the  common  market  for steel on May 1, 1953. The mission statement  of the ECSC was set out in Article 2 of the treaty: to contribute to economic expansion, higher employment, and an improvement in living standards  while ensuring  rational  distribution, high productivity, and the avoidance of economic disturbances in member states. In order to fulfill these objectives, a new range of supranational  institutions were established: the High Authority, the Assembly, a Council of Ministers, and a Court of Justice.

The High Authority  was the  independent executive committee, composed of nine members from the six participating  countries, whose ultimate responsibility was to ensure  treaty obligations were fulfilled. The High Authority obtained funding for the ECSC’s administrative  costs and schemes from a levy placed on  coal and  steel production,  while it had  powers to gather  information  pertinent to the execution  of its duty from member  states  and enforce  sanctions against those  states remiss in their  obligations. The Assembly, composed of 78 representatives  of the national parliaments, held supervisory power over the operation of the ECSC while the Council, including a representative  from each participating country, acted as the harmonizing  agent between the actions of the High Authority  and  the  national  economic  policies of member states. The Court of Justice, composed of seven judges appointed  for six-year terms,  ensured that the law was observed with regard to the implementation of the treaty while protecting  individuals and enterprises  against any administrative  malpractices by the ECSC.

The High Authority  acted  upon  the  information ascertained from undertakings and market data to decide commercial  policy, and  the  necessity of any intervention through the establishment of production quotas, fixed prices, or customs duties. The ECSC also tried  to  prevent  collusion  between  member  firms, while  removing  restrictions   upon  the  free  movement of labor between member states. From the levy imposed upon production, the ECSC was able to provide financing for research and development  (R&D), technical  modernization, and investment  loans. The organization also provided significant funding for the construction of employee housing and the compensation and retraining  of workers displaced from the sector due to general industrial decline.

The  ECSC enjoyed  considerable  success  in  the main  areas of policy despite  operating  in a period of relative industrial decline in western Europe. Although certain failures were apparent  in the organization’s inability to prevent  economic  concentration between member firms and equalize wage rates between countries, these are juxtaposed against significant social benefits accrued  from the retraining and redeployment  of displaced labor. The ECSC treaty expired on July 23, 2002, with provision being made for the transfer of the activities of the organization to the European Community. The 2001 Treaty of Nice provided for the transfer of all remaining funds to the European Community for the purpose of R&D in the coal and steel industries.

Bibliography:   

  1. Desmond Dinan, Origins and Evolution of the European Union (Oxford University Press, 2006);
  2. European Commission, and Statistical Office of the European Communities,  50 Years of the ECSC Treaty: Coal and Steel Statistics: Data 1952–2000: Pocketbook. Theme 4—Industry, Trade, and Services (Office for Official Publications of the European Communities,  2002);
  3. John Gillingham, Coal, Steel, and the Rebirth of Europe, 1945–1955: The Germans and French from Ruhr Conflict to Economic Community (Cambridge University Press, 1991);
  4. Donald Hancock, Politics in Europe (CQ Press, 2007);
  5. Jens-Uwe Wunderlich, Regionalism, Globalisation   and   International    Order: Europe and Southeast Asia (Ashgate, 2007).

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