Open University students to discuss the early years of the European Communities

A seminar of students from the Open University (Università dell'Età Libera) - a joint long-term initiative of the 'Comune di Firenze' and the University of Florence, in cooperation with the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence of the University  - will pay a half-day visit on 4 June to the Historical Archives of the European Union for a seminar on the Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950 and the early years of the European Union.

Under the pedagogic coordination of Giovanna Sani and Max Guderzo the visit is part of the course 'Dalla Comunità all’Unione: la scommessa europea e il sistema internazionale, 1945-2012', taught in two sections during the present and the next academic year. During the visit, the participants will learn that the initial enthusiasm of the Fathers of Europe that the Treaty of Paris in 1951 which jointly created the European Community for Coal and Steel soon had to face obstacles in developing a new supranational institution necessary for a political union with a common European defence system. The plans ended in a fiasco when the French National Assembly refused the approval of the Treaties that had already been signed by the respective six Governments in May 1952.  The seminar will then draw a line from those early successes and failures to the current Euro crisis and the debate surrounding a European Constitution.

During the visit, the twenty five seminar participants of different ages and professions will take a close look at some of the archival documents preserved at the Historical Archives of the European Union in Florence. The Archive has been chosen  by the European Institutions to build a central point for preservation and research on the history of European integration, based on the primary sources from the EU Institutions and their predecessor organisations and from European personalities and pro-European movements and associations. The visit will end with a visit to the gardens of Villa Salviati.

More information on the Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, University of Florence