Robert Schuman

 On this day in 1886, one of the founders of the European Union we know today was born - Robert Schuman.

The diplomat and French foreign minister presented the groundbreaking Schuman Declaration on 9 May, 1950, which proposed the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community.

The vision was to make war between France and West Germany “unthinkable and materially impossible”, by pooling coal and steel production that could have been used for building weapons instead into a common market, uniting the continent.

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