A SECOND SCHUMAN PLAN: FOR A COMMON DEFENCE AND POLITICAL UNION

I've always thought that Europe would be made in crises, and what would be the sum of the solutions we would bring to these crises.
Jean Monnet

It is impossible to separate economics and defence from general political structure. Mutual aid in the economic field and joint military defence must inevitably be accompanied step by step with a parallel policy of closer political unity.
Sir Winston Churchill, Opening speech to the Congress of Europe, The Hague, 1948

In view of the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and the 75th anniversary of the 9th May Declaration, the reconstituted Monnet Action Committee for the United States of Europe calls for launching a Second Schuman Plan, thus paving the way for a Common Defence and Security, and a European Federation, as envisaged already in 1941 by the Ventotene Manifesto.

The German poet Friedrich Hölderlin wrote: "Where danger grows, that which saves also grows...".
And indeed, a new European citizen´s spirit is emerging across the Continent. We witnessed it on the 15th of March 2025, from Rome to Tbilisi, in Budapest, Bucharest, Belgrade, and in many other cities across Europe, and also today in Brussels and other European capitals. Support for European integration is high according to the latest Eurobarometer. It is a popular sentiment to defend peace, democracy and multilateralism, against imperialism, authoritarianism, and trade wars, and in support of the Ukrainian resistance and the European ideal. Citizens understand that today the EU, like at the time of Brexit, is under threat from Putin and Trump, and its European minions. The European people is expressing a strong attachment to the European project and our common culture, but it is also calling for concrete actions to ensuring our own security and defence, our competitiveness, our social model, and stronger political unity and capacity to act.

The EU institutions, and particularly, its national governments, must provide an answer which is commensurate to the great geopolitical challenges we are facing, and the demands of the citizens. In fact, almost 75 years ago, the Schuman Declaration already stated that “World peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it”. This sentence strongly resonates in our time. The document also proposed an “action [to] be taken immediately on one limited but decisive point: (...) that Franco-German production of coal and steel as a whole be placed under a common High Authority, within the framework of an organization open to the participation of the other countries of Europe”.

We believe that the setting up of a European Common Defence is today the clear and decisive point to be tackled in the European construction. This step is now a necessity, in view of Trump´s transatlantic security disengagement. On the 12th of March 2025, the European Parliament called the European Council to activate the different provisions of article 42 of the Lisbon Treaty to the said effect.

Such an important decision will pave the way for the creation of an autonomous European Defence and Security System (EDSS), endowed with its own chain of command and in charge of territorial defence, acting as the European pillar of NATO or otherwise in compatibility with it. Such an EDSS will not be dependent on the will and whims of the current US President, and it will operationalize the mutual assistance clause foreseen in article 42.7 of the Treaty.

We also need a larger EU budget financed with Eurobonds and new own resources collected by the Union, to provide for our common defence and security needs and other European public goods, including the fight against climate change, among other critical challenges. A renewed European financial framework should include the creation of investment instruments allowing EU citizens to directly invest their savings for these purposes.

We must remind Member States that a true European defence and security framework cannot be reduced to the different national rearmament proposals currently on the table, which could also result in waste and inefficiencies if not properly coordinated at the EU level. Moreover, security is multidimensional and should include tackling hybrid threats, cybersecurity, espionage and sabotage, etc. Finally, there will not be a proper European Defence and Security Union without the required political, strategic, and operational dimensions (planning, command-and-control, etc.)

At the same time, the proposed step can generate strong political spill-over effects in European integration, including the opening of the process to reform the Treaties in accordance to the Parliament´s proposal of November 2023. We must emphasize that any viable EDSS also requires overcoming as soon as possible the national vetoes and the intergovernmental approach, thereby ensuring the proper parliamentary and democratic control of the said security architecture.

Therefore, we propose to all supportive Member States, the European Parliament, and the European Commission, call on the European Council to adopt the proposed "Act of Union". The said governments shall make it clear that they will proceed to activate the Permanent Structured Cooperation (PESCO), foreseen in article 46 TEU, for the establishment of the autonomous EDSS if there is no quick unanimous agreement among the Twenty-Seven Member States. This institutional PESCO shall remain open to all Member States willing to join.

At the most dangerous geopolitical moment in Europe since 1945 we must not fall below the ambition mustered on the 9th of May 1950. The EU must live up to Europe.

Brussels, 9th May 2025

The Monnet Action Committee for the United States of Europe

Signatories

Danuta HubnerFormer Commissioner and former Member of the European Parliament, Germany
Guy Verhofstadt,Former Prime Minister of Belgium and former Member of the European Parliament, Belgium
Monica FrassoniFormer Member of the European Parliament, Italy
Enrique Barón CrespoFormer President of the European Parliament, Spain
Lieven TaillieHonorary President of the European Association of Journalists, Belgium
Guillaume Klossawriter, President of Europa Nova, CIVICO Europa cofounder, France
Francesca Rattiformer European Parliament Vice Secretary General, CIVICO Europa cofounder, Italy
Slavoj ZizekPhilosophy, Slovenia
José Manuel García-Margallo, former Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Member of the European Parliament, Spain
Petras AuštrevičiusMember of the European Parliament, Renew Europe, Board Member of the Spinelli Group, Lithuania
Brando BenifeiFormer President of the Spinelli Group, Member of the European Parliament, S&D, Board Member of the Spinelli Group, Italy
Gabriele Bischoff, Member of the European Parliament, S&D, Board Member of the Spinelli Group, Germany
Damian Boeselager, Member of the European Parliament, Greens/EFA, Member of the Spinelli Group, Germany
Vivien Costanzo, Member of the European Parliament, S&D, Board Member of the Spinelli Group, Germany
Daniel Freund, Member of the European Parliament, Greens/EFA, Board Member of the Spinelli Group, Germany
Raquel Garcia Hermida-Van Der WalleMember of the European Parliament, Renew Europe, Board Member of the Spinelli Group, Netherlands
Sandro GoziFormer President of the Spinelli Group, Member of the European Parliament, Renew Europe, Board Member of the Spinelli Group, France
Gabrielle Bischoff, Member of the European Parliament, S&D, Vice-President of Europa Union Deutschland, Board Member of the Spinelli Group, Germany
Reinier van Lanschot, Member of the European Parliament, Greens/EFA, Board Member of the Spinelli Group, Netherlands
Nela RiehlMember of the European Parliament, Member of the Spinelli Group, Greens/EFA, Germany
Anna Strolenberg, Member of the European Parliament, Greens/EFA, Board Member of the Spinelli Group, Netherlands
Kai TegethoffMember of the European Parliament, Member of the Spinelli Group, Greens/EFA, Germany
Elmar Brok, Honorary President of Europa-Union Deutschland and former UEF President, Germany
Christian Moos, Secretary General of Europa-Union Deutschland, Germany
Andrew Duffformer President of the UEF, former Member of the European Parliament, co-founder of the Spinelli Group, United Kingdom
Jo Leinen, former President of the UEF, forme Member of the European Parliament, United Kingdom
Stefano Moscarelli, President of UEF Italy, Italy
Mercedes BressoFormer MEP, Former Governor of the Piedmont Region, Former UEF President, Italy
Roberto CastaldiDirector of CESUE, General Editor Euractiv Italia, Secretary General of UEF Italy, Italy
Alejandro Peinado GarciaUEF EB Member and Secretary General UEF Spain, Spain
Montserrat Oliván-VíuUEF FC Member, Spain
José-Luis Salazar-MáñezUEF FC Member, Spain
Liubba El Hadi HamedUEF FC Member, Spain
Angel LandabasoUEF FC Member, Spain
Luis Miguel ParizaUEF FC Member, Spain
Gloria VaraUEF FC Member, Spain
Daphne GogouUEF EB Member and President of UEF Greece, Greece
Theodoros TsikasVice-President UEF Greece, Greece
Neophytos Aristodemou, Secretary General UEF Greece, Greece
Velko Ivanov, Secretary General UEF Bulgaria, Bulgaria
Catherine VieilledentSecretary General UEF Groupe Europe, France
Melanie ThutUEF FC Member and JEF Deutschland President, Germany
Clara Föller, UEF FC Member and former JEF Deutschland President, Germany
David HornUEF FC Member, Germany
Francois LerayUEF EB Member, France
Domenico MoroUEF FC Member, Italy
Julia PreissUEF FC Member, Germany
Madalin BlidaruUEF FC Member and JEF FC Member, Romania
Alessia CentioniEuropean Women Association President, Italy
Tremeur DenigotCIVICO Europa co-President, France
Michele Fiorillo, philosopher, Citizens Take Over Europe cofounder, Italy
Cynthia Fleuryphilosopher and psychoanalyst, France
Pietro VimontCIVICO Europa cofounder, France

On behalf of the partners of the Action Committee for a United States of Europe

Domènec Ruiz Devesa, President of the Union of European Federalists, former Member of the European Parliament, Spain

Christelle Savall, President of the Young European Federalists, France

Philippe Laurette,President of the Association Jean Monnet, France

Miguel Ángel Martín RamosVice President of the Jean Monnet Association, Spain