75th Anniversary of the Schuman Declaration

That the Parliament celebrates the 75th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration, which was proposed by French Foreign Minister, Robert Schuman, on 9 May 1950, in the Salon de l'Horloge at the French Foreign Ministry, and which laid the foundation for the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and ultimately the European Union; recognises what it sees as Robert Schuman's significant contribution, as a Luxembourg-born French statesman, his courageous involvement in the French Resistance during the Second World War, and his narrow escape from deportation to the Dachau concentration camp; appreciates the vision behind the Schuman Declaration, to pool coal and steel production among European nations, making war between historic rivals France and Germany "not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible"; acknowledges the ECSC's founding members, which were France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg, and their role in establishing the first of a series of supranational European institutions; acknowledges what it sees as the ECSC's impact on raising standards of living and fostering a more united Europe; notes the development of the European common market concept at the Messina Conference in 1955, and its embodiment in the Treaties of Rome, signed on 25 March 1957; honours Robert Schuman's legacy as the first president of the predecessor to the current European Parliament and his recognition as the "Father of Europe", and calls for continued commitment to the principles of unity, peace, and cooperation that underpin the European Union.