{"id":12897,"date":"2021-05-06T15:33:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T13:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/en\/?post_type=news&p=12897"},"modified":"2024-10-09T11:15:18","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T09:15:18","slug":"1st-robert-schuman-lecture-luxembourg-the-first-capital-of-a-united-europe","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.uni.lu\/en\/news\/1st-robert-schuman-lecture-luxembourg-the-first-capital-of-a-united-europe\/","title":{"rendered":"1st Robert Schuman Lecture: Luxembourg, the first capital of a united Europe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), prefigured by Robert Schuman\u2019s declaration on 9 May 1950, came into existence on 18 April 1951, when the representatives of six founding states \u2013 Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands \u2013 concluded the Treaty of Paris for a 50-year period. The institutional architecture of this first European Community shaped the current balance of powers in the European Union, with the High Authority (now the European Commission), a supranational executive; the Special Council of Ministers embodying the national interest; the Common Assembly (now the European Parliament) representing citizens; and the Court of Justice, an independent body.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July 1952, Luxembourg City was chosen as the provisional location of the ECSC. On 10 August 1952, the High Authority moved into the building that now houses the Spuerkeess bank. Later that year, on 10 December, the ECSC Court of Justice held its formal inaugural session at the Cercle Municipal, on the Place d\u2019Armes. The judges\u2019 chambers were housed in the Villa Vauban. From 1952 to 1954, the Special Council of Ministers regularly met in the great chamber of Luxembourg City Hall. Luxembourg City therefore became one of the seats of the European Communities, alongside Strasbourg, which hosted the Common Assembly, and Brussels from 1958 onwards following the creation of the European Economic Community and Euratom. The merger of the Community executive bodies in 1965 confirmed Luxembourg\u2019s role as Europe\u2019s legal and financial headquarters. It was only in 1992 that the Edinburgh European Council enshrined Luxembourg, Brussels and Strasbourg as \u201cpermanent capitals\u201d of the European Union. The ECSC Treaty marked the start of Luxembourg\u2019s European vocation as a founding state and leading player in the European integration process, and that of Luxembourg City as the \u201cfirst capital of a united Europe\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the run-up to Europe Day, looking back at the milestones in the history of the ECSC and examining Luxembourg\u2019s European destiny, the Europe Direct Information Centre at the University of Luxembourg<\/strong> and its partners:<\/p>\n\n\n\n