Social Europe

politics, economy and employment & labour

  • Themes
    • Strategic autonomy
    • War in Ukraine
    • European digital sphere
    • Recovery and resilience
  • Publications
    • Books
    • Dossiers
    • Occasional Papers
    • Research Essays
    • Brexit Paper Series
  • Podcast
  • Videos
  • Newsletter

When We Were True Europeans

Wim de Wagt 11th October 2016

Wim de Wagt

Wim de Wagt

French prime minister Aristide Briand launched 5 September 1929 during the Assembly of the League of Nations in Geneva a sensational idea of a European federal union. All 26 European delegates afterwards declared support for Briand’s proposal.

This remarkable initiative at such a crucial moment in European history is hardly known outside an inner circle of specialized historians: an omission in our collective memory which is highly regrettable, because it reflects the current state of our European Union.

Briand is today mainly known for his peacekeeping efforts with regard to the Locarno Treaty of 1925-1926, together with his German counterpart Gustav Stresemann and the British diplomat Austen Chamberlain, for which they were granted the Nobel Prize. Stresemann, a liberal and then minister of foreign affairs of a coalition government, agreed with Briand in September 1929. He aimed at economic and financial integration of the European nations, that is to say a Europe without borders and customs. Several politicians of Germany’s Catholic party and social democrats shared his views.

The idea of breaking down frontiers in Europe to benefit economic development was a direct, although unintended result of the Treaty of Versailles. This treaty decreed eleven new sovereign states be modelled out of the ruins of the German, Austro-Hungarian and Soviet empires. Throughout Europe numerous politicians, economic experts, businessmen, bankers and intellectuals argued this wouldn’t work. Europe should be reunited again. Their motives sometimes differed, their roadmap wasn’t always the same, but their goals were: lasting peace, economic growth, democracy, and prosperity for all.

Although these ideas looked rational, especially where economic issues were concerned, there was an irrational side to it. Most propagandists of a united Europe felt they were part of a broad, European consciousness, a sort of spiritual paradise lost, that they wanted to regain.


Our job is keeping you informed!


Subscribe to our free newsletter and stay up to date with the latest Social Europe content. We will never send you spam and you can unsubscribe anytime.

Sign up here

One of the lesser known advocates of European union was Louise Weiss, a French Jewish feminist and journalist. Thinking back on the scattered Europe after the First World War, she wrote in her Memoires d’une Européenne (1969) that in the pre-war years: ‘We were still true Europeans’. This common feeling of brotherhood and togetherness on a cultural and intellectual level had to be restored.

Briand and the French government presented the Memorandum on the Organization of a System of Federal European Union on Mayday 1930. Meanwhile, things were changing. The Wall St crash of October ’29. And, in the same month, the anti-Nazi Stresemann died. Still, there were enough political leaders in Europe, also in Germany, who favored the idea of European collaboration. Moreover, the worsening economic situation made concerted action all the more urgent. The response of the 26 European states to the French memorandum was critical, but not dismissive. No government rejected the underlying idea.

Following Briand’s Memorandum, the so-called Commission of Enquiry for European Union was established by the League of Nations in September 1930. Its task was to research the possibilities of federal European union and make proposals about urgent issues. Thorough research was done. Between September 1930 and October 1931 they met for six sessions, each lasting a week. For example, the May 1931 session was attended by 68 prime ministers, ministers, diplomats and high officials of all nations.

It’s tempting to imagine how such a prewar European Union would have looked. It would show not only what could have been, but also what Europe has lost. Above all, it would reflect on the present state of Europe.

Briand concluded his September 1929 speech as follows: ‘Obviously,’ he said, ‘the new European association will be first of all economic, for that is the most urgent aspect of the question. Still, I am convinced that, politically and socially also, this federal link might do useful work, without affecting the sovereignty of any of the nations.’

That struggle between the economy and politics – Europe is all too familiar with. In his Memorandum the French prime minister again stressed that it was necessary to build the union on the base of morality, that is to say complete solidarity among the nations. Otherwise, it wouldn’t work.

Briand’s remark made sense. Without morality, no solidarity, no collective sense of responsibility, no empathy with each other. The union that Briand envisioned was linked with a large and deep-rooted European consciousness, with ideals, which Briand both wanted to use as a stimulus and to defend. That particular conviction is today more relevant than ever.

Therefore, the question what happened around 1930 is much more than reviving historical ghosts. One of the most interesting questions Briand’s démarche prompts is why it has been neglected for so long. Why did it never get the recognition it deserved after the Second World War, when the nascent EU was formed? Why isn’t it part of our collective knowledge? People need to share stories, traditions, memories to feel part of a community. The story of Briand’s project that could have changed the fate of millions of people should be one of Europe’s key stories.


We need your support


Social Europe is an independent publisher and we believe in freely available content. For this model to be sustainable, however, we depend on the solidarity of our readers. Become a Social Europe member for less than 5 Euro per month and help us produce more articles, podcasts and videos. Thank you very much for your support!

Become a Social Europe Member

What can we learn from it? Today only very few politicians dare to speak of ‘solidarity’, ‘responsibility’ or ‘morality’. This suggests a very poor knowledge and understanding of the past. When everybody seeks shelter again behind walls, barriers and barbed wire, the EU is clinically dead. The past shows a harsh truth for Eurosceptics and populist politicians nowadays: Europe does need much more political direction, on the basis of far-reaching solidarity. In a democratic, direct and decisive manner. If the EU wants to overcome current troubles, it must take a huge leap forward, finally realizing the dream of its founders, before and after the Second World War. Above all, we urgently need that widespread European consciousness of the Interbellum to prevent Europe from falling apart again.

Wim de Wagt

Dr Wim de Wagt is an independent art historian, writer and journalist. He has published numerous books and articles on art, architecture, cultural history, politics and Jewish history. In 2015 he wrote Wij Europeanen (We Europeans), about the forgotten history of Europe in the interwar period.

You are here: Home / Politics / When We Were True Europeans

Most Popular Posts

Visentini,ITUC,Qatar,Fight Impunity,50,000 Visentini, ‘Fight Impunity’, the ITUC and QatarFrank Hoffer
Russian soldiers' mothers,war,Ukraine The Ukraine war and Russian soldiers’ mothersJennifer Mathers and Natasha Danilova
IGU,documents,International Gas Union,lobby,lobbying,sustainable finance taxonomy,green gas,EU,COP ‘Gaslighting’ Europe on fossil fuelsFaye Holder
Schengen,Fortress Europe,Romania,Bulgaria Romania and Bulgaria stuck in EU’s second tierMagdalena Ulceluse
income inequality,inequality,Gini,1 per cent,elephant chart,elephant Global income inequality: time to revise the elephantBranko Milanovic

Most Recent Posts

energy transition,Europe,wind and solar Europe’s energy transition starts to speed upDave Jones
equality bodies,gender equality Setting standards for national equality bodiesEvelyn Collins
Pakistan,flooding,floods Flooded Pakistan, symbol of climate injusticeZareen Zahid Qureshi
reality check,EU foreign policy,Russia Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: a reality check for the EUHeidi Mauer, Richard Whitman and Nicholas Wright
permanent EU investment fund,Recovery and Resilience Facility,public investment,RRF Towards a permanent EU investment fundPhilipp Heimberger and Andreas Lichtenberger

Other Social Europe Publications

front cover scaled Towards a social-democratic century?
Cover e1655225066994 National recovery and resilience plans
Untitled design The transatlantic relationship
Women Corona e1631700896969 500 Women and the coronavirus crisis
sere12 1 RE No. 12: Why No Economic Democracy in Sweden?

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

The winter issue of the Progressive Post magazine from FEPS is out!

The sequence of recent catastrophes has thrust new words into our vocabulary—'polycrisis', for example, even 'permacrisis'. These challenges have multiple origins, reinforce each other and cannot be tackled individually. But could they also be opportunities for the EU?

This issue offers compelling analyses on the European health union, multilateralism and international co-operation, the state of the union, political alternatives to the narrative imposed by the right and much more!


DOWNLOAD HERE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

The macroeconomic effects of re-applying the EU fiscal rules

Against the background of the European Commission's reform plans for the Stability and Growth Pact (SGP), this policy brief uses the macroeconometric multi-country model NiGEM to simulate the macroeconomic implications of the most relevant reform options from 2024 onwards. Next to a return to the existing and unreformed rules, the most prominent options include an expenditure rule linked to a debt anchor.

Our results for the euro area and its four biggest economies—France, Italy, Germany and Spain—indicate that returning to the rules of the SGP would lead to severe cuts in public spending, particularly if the SGP rules were interpreted as in the past. A more flexible interpretation would only somewhat ease the fiscal-adjustment burden. An expenditure rule along the lines of the European Fiscal Board would, however, not necessarily alleviate that burden in and of itself.

Our simulations show great care must be taken to specify the expenditure rule, such that fiscal consolidation is achieved in a growth-friendly way. Raising the debt ceiling to 90 per cent of gross domestic product and applying less demanding fiscal adjustments, as proposed by the IMK, would go a long way.


DOWNLOAD HERE

ILO advertisement

Global Wage Report 2022-23: The impact of inflation and COVID-19 on wages and purchasing power

The International Labour Organization's Global Wage Report is a key reference on wages and wage inequality for the academic community and policy-makers around the world.

This eighth edition of the report, The Impact of inflation and COVID-19 on wages and purchasing power, examines the evolution of real wages, giving a unique picture of wage trends globally and by region. The report includes evidence on how wages have evolved through the COVID-19 crisis as well as how the current inflationary context is biting into real wage growth in most regions of the world. The report shows that for the first time in the 21st century real wage growth has fallen to negative values while, at the same time, the gap between real productivity growth and real wage growth continues to widen.

The report analysis the evolution of the real total wage bill from 2019 to 2022 to show how its different components—employment, nominal wages and inflation—have changed during the COVID-19 crisis and, more recently, during the cost-of-living crisis. The decomposition of the total wage bill, and its evolution, is shown for all wage employees and distinguishes between women and men. The report also looks at changes in wage inequality and the gender pay gap to reveal how COVID-19 may have contributed to increasing income inequality in different regions of the world. Together, the empirical evidence in the report becomes the backbone of a policy discussion that could play a key role in a human-centred recovery from the different ongoing crises.


DOWNLOAD HERE

ETUI advertisement

The EU recovery strategy: a blueprint for a more Social Europe or a house of cards?

This new ETUI paper explores the European Union recovery strategy, with a focus on its potentially transformative aspects vis-à-vis European integration and its implications for the social dimension of the EU’s socio-economic governance. In particular, it reflects on whether the agreed measures provide sufficient safeguards against the spectre of austerity and whether these constitute steps away from treating social and labour policies as mere ‘variables’ of economic growth.


DOWNLOAD HERE

Eurofound advertisement

Eurofound webinar: Making telework work for everyone

Since 2020 more European workers and managers have enjoyed greater flexibility and autonomy in work and are reporting their preference for hybrid working. Also driven by technological developments and structural changes in employment, organisations are now integrating telework more permanently into their workplace.

To reflect on these shifts, on 6 December Eurofound researchers Oscar Vargas and John Hurley explored the challenges and opportunities of the surge in telework, as well as the overall growth of telework and teleworkable jobs in the EU and what this means for workers, managers, companies and policymakers.


WATCH THE WEBINAR HERE

About Social Europe

Our Mission

Article Submission

Membership

Advertisements

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641

Social Europe Archives

Search Social Europe

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Follow us

RSS Feed

Follow us on Facebook

Follow us on Twitter

Follow us on LinkedIn

Follow us on YouTube