On the Idea of “European Unity”

On the Idea of “European Unity”

The three political fathers of the idea of a United Europe—Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer, and Alcide de Gasperi—had each experienced excesses of nationalism that made them sense the urgency of devising a political solution for nationalistic confrontations. Schuman was a Lorrainer, de Gasperi came from the Trentino, and Adenauer was a Rhinelander. The Lorrainer came from a province that had become German in 1870, had reverted to being French in 1918, became German again in 1940 and, fina...