Gstaad
The Gstaad Conference
The Gstaad Conference
TexteEstablishment of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU)
Memorandum on the organization of a parliament for Europe (New York, 12 February 1947)
TexteOn 12 February 1947, Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, the then President of the Committee for the Congress of Europe, issues a memorandum in New York in which he calls on Members of European national parliaments to agree to the establishment of a European Parliament.
Address given by Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi (Gstaad, 4 July 1947)
TexteOn 4 July 1947, Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, founder and President of the Paneuropean Movement, gives an address at the opening of the constituent session of the European Parliamentary Union (UEP) in Gstaad.
Address given by Leon Maccas (Gstaad, 4 July 1947)
TexteOn 4 July 1947, addressing the constituent session in Gstaad, Léon Maccas — MP for Athens, former Greek Minister and President of the Greek Parliamentary Committee for the European Federation — sets out the tasks to be accomplished by the European Parliamentary Union (EPU).
Report on the work of the European Parliamentary Conference (Gstaad, 4 and 5 July 1947)
TexteOn 5 July 1947, at the end of the constituent Conference in Gstaad, the European Parliamentary Union (EPU) draws up a report on its work and sets its objectives regarding the establishment of a European federation.
Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, I chose Europe
TexteIn his memoirs, Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, founder of the Paneuropean Union in Vienna in 1923, recalls the preparations for the establishment of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU) in 1947.
The first EPU conference in Gstaad
Opening address by Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi (Gstaad, 8 September 1947)
TexteOn 8 September 1947, Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi addresses the inaugural Congress of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU) in Gstaad and calls on the Western nations to commit themselves fully to the path towards European federalism.
Address given by Leon Maccas (September 1947)
TexteOn 8 September 1947, Leon Maccas, a Greek MP from Athens and a former Minister in the Greek Government, gives the inaugural address at the constituent meeting of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU) in Gstaad and outlines the implications of European unity.
Address given by Ronald William Gordon Mackay (Gstaad, 8 September 1947)
TexteIn his address to the inaugural Congress of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU), Ronald W. G. Mackay, a British MP and Vice-President of the EPU, outlines the unsuccessful attempts made hitherto to achieve European unity and calls on MPs in Europe to work towards a federation of the countries of Western Europe.
Declaration of European solidarity (Gstaad, 9 September 1947)
TexteOn 9 September 1947, at the end of its inaugural Congress in Gstaad, the European Parliamentary Union (EPU) adopts a Declaration of European Solidarity in which it affirms its determination to build a federal Europe.
Resolution adopted by the Gstaad Conference (Gstaad, 9 September 1947)
TexteMeeting at the first conference of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU) held in Gstaad from 8 to 10 September 1947, 114 members of Europe’s national parliaments adopt a resolution setting out the arrangements that need to be put in place for the creation of a European federation.
Cover page of Coudenhove-Kalergi’s report on the plan for a European Assembly (September 1947)
TexteIn September 1947, as the first congress of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU) is held in Gstaad, Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, founder of the Pan-European Union in Vienna in 1923, drafts a report concerning a plan for a European Assembly.
The Members of the Provisional Council of the EPU (Gstaad, 10 September 1947)
TableauList of the Members of the Provisional Council of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU) present at the inaugural Congress in Gstaad from 8 to 10 September 1947.
'Will we have a European Parliament?' from Le Monde (14 September 1947)
TexteOn 14 September 1947, in the French daily newspaper Le Monde, the French MP Édouard Bonnefous gives his opinion on the debates that took place during the first conference of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU) held in Gstaad from 8 to 10 September 1947.
Letter from Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi to Winston Churchill (19 December 1947)
TexteOn 19 December 1947, Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, Secretary-General of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU), informs the former British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, of the choice of the flag that is to symbolise the United States of Europe.
Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi
ImagePortrait of Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, founder in 1923 of the Pan-European Movement and Secretary-General, in 1947, of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU).
Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, I chose Europe
TexteIn his memoirs, Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, founder of the Paneuropean Union in Vienna in 1923, describes the atmosphere which prevailed in Gstaad at the opening of the Constituent Congress of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU), which he chaired, on 8 September 1974.
The work of the EPU
‘A preliminary parliament for the United States of Europe will meet in Interlaken’ from La Dernière Heure (23 August 1948)
TexteOn 23 August 1948, the Belgian daily newspaper La Dernière Heure reports on the Congress of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU) to be held in Interlaken under the chairmanship of Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi. In giving itself the status of preliminary parliament for the United States of Europe, the Congress seeks to lay the foundations for a European Constituent Assembly elected by national parliaments.
The Interlaken Plan (September 1948)
TexteIn September 1948, during its second Congress in Interlaken, the European Parliamentary Union (EPU) adopts a detailed programme for the establishment of the United States of Europe and of a European Parliament, a federal executive body and a European supreme court.
'Lights and shadows at Interlaken' from Common Cause (6 September 1948)
TexteOn 6 September 1948, in an article published in the American journal Common Cause, the Italian Socialist MP Piero Calamandrei describes the issues surrounding the second Congress of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU) that has just come to a close in Interlaken.
‘The European Parliamentary Union Congress' from Le Monde (7 September 1948)
TexteOn 7 September 1948, the French daily newspaper Le Monde discusses the impact of the debates which took place during the second European Parliamentary Union (EPU) Congress held in Interlaken from 1 to 5 September 1948.
‘The Congress of the European Parliamentary Union in Interlaken' from Cahiers du Monde Nouveau (October 1948)
TexteIn October 1948, Henri Brugmans, Dutch President of the Union of European Federalists (UEF) and Vice-President of the European Movement, gives an account of the debates and issues involved in the second Congress of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU), held from 1 to 5 September 1948 in Interlaken.
Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, I chose Europe
TexteIn his memoirs, Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, founder of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU), outlines how the members of the movement voted overwhelmingly in favour of the Interlaken Plan for a European federation at the second EPU Congress in September 1948.
Memorandum by the EPU on the structure of Europe (Gstaad, 17 October 1949)
TexteOn 17 October 1949, Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, Secretary-General of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU), presents a memorandum to the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe in which he defines his ambitions for a new political and economic structure for Europe.
First resolution adopted by the EPU Congress in Venice (20 September 1949)
TexteOn 20 September 1949, the European Parliamentary Union (EPU), meeting for the third time in Venice, adopts a resolution calling for political integration in Europe and for the powers of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe to be extended.
The work of the EPU
Second resolution adopted by the EPU Congress in Venice (22 September 1949)
TexteOn 20 September 1949, at the end of its third Congress in Venice, the European Parliamentary Union (EPU) adopts a resolution calling for the revival of trade and for the establishment of a coordinated monetary system in Europe.
Memorandum from the Pan-European Movement (Gstaad, 8 November 1950)
TexteOn 8 November 1950, Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, President of the Pan-European Movement and founder of the European Parliamentary Union (EPU), sends to the Governments of Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the Saar a memorandum in which he calls for the rapid establishment of a European Federation.