Koncepcja integracji wspólnotowej Paula-Henriego Spaaka

Paul Henri Spaak is rightly counted among the European Founding Fathers. After a debacle of the European Defense Community project (30 August 1954) it was Spaak who became a fruitful source of new and efficient initiatives. He closely collaborated with J. Monnet and J.W. Beyen but formulation of a new model of community structure was his own achievement. Thereby Spaak fully deserves the name of the father of the Treaties of Rome, especially of the European Economic Community. Spaak was deeply convinced about the validity of international cooperation. Its efficiency required limitation of sovereignty. Yet Spaak represented a different understanding of the term “supranational” than Monnet. His view was closer to R. Schuman’s and K. Adenauer’s. He did not abandon the idea of a supranational organ but the community model did not have to comprise a powerful and dominating supranational institution. For him “supranationality” meant a majority mode of decisions-making. Due to such an assumption an organ comprising representatives of national governments could be recognized as supranational. Another modification referred to the scope of community remit. Spaak, just like K. Adenuer, eventually “converted” to a horizontal, i.e. comprehensive model. As to the final goal, he wished to create a federation. It should be broadly empowered in matters of foreign relations, military security and economic policies. Yet states would not disappear. The EEC and various forms of intergovernmental cooperation in the political sphere were measures serving the attainment of the goal.