Office of the Historian

840.33/1–3052

No. 2
The Chairman of the Schuman Plan Conference (Monnet) to the Ambassador in France (Bruce)1

Paris, January 30, 1952.

My Dear David: As you know, the Dutch, the French and the German parliaments have approved the Schuman Plan by large majority and it appears that the process of ratification shld be completed in all the countries before the end of Feb.2

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During the negots, the dels of the six countries have repeatedly expressed the hope that a part of the funds voted by the Congress for Eur shld be earmarked for the coal and steel community, the development of the coal and steel production being one of the most urgent problems to solve in Eur.

In conversations on the Schuman Plan with members of the US admin, I had, as you will remember, the opportunity to mention to them the importance we attach to this possibility.

As chairman of the Schuman Plan conference, I want to call your attn to the importance of the matter now that the US admin is preparing its legislation and budget requirements for foreign assistance, for the FY 1952–1953.

I believe that the economic integration of Eur wld be greatly furthered if the Amer legislation cld be kept sufficiently flexible to allow the US admin to give immed consideration to the financial needs of the European coal and steel community as soon as it begins its operations.

I am sending the same letter to Mr. Averell Harriman.

  1. Transmitted to the Department of State in telegram 4595 from Paris, Jan. 30, for the personal attention of the Secretary of State and Harriman.↩

  2. The Second Chamber of the Netherlands Parliament ratified the Schuman Plan on Oct. 31, 1951, followed by French National Assembly approval on Dec. 13, 1951. For documentation concerning these ratification efforts in 1951, see Foreign Relations, 1951, vol. iv, pp. 86 ff.

    On Jan. 11, 1952, the Bundestag of the Federal Republic of Germany ratified the Schuman Plan in the third and final reading. Despite the need for Bundesrat action on the ratification legislation, McCloy reported that the “Bundestag vote is, for practical purposes, German ratification of plan.” (Telegram 1077 from Bonn, Jan. 11; 850.33/1–1152) For information concerning ratification of the Schuman Plan by Belgium, Italy, and Luxembourg, see Document 45.

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