The Foundation is delighted to announce the publication of the 222th “Red Book”, historic collection founded in 1957 by Professor Henri Rieben. This publication is in open access.
Jean Monnet’s resignation as President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), announced on 9 November 1954, came a few months after the French National Assembly had rejected the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community (EDC), thereby putting a brake on the project for European unification led by Jean Monnet. Although generally presented as a direct consequence of the failure of the EDC, this resignation is far from being reducible to this single explanation.
Drawing on the archives of the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe, as well as online sources from the Historical Archives of the European Union in Florence and the Virtual Centre on European Knowledge (CVCE), this book examines the reasons that led Jean Monnet to consider and then announce his departure, the reception of his decision, and the months leading up to his replacement as head of the High Authority. By comparing these sources with Jean Monnet’s memoirs, the author highlights the discrepancies between the narrative constructed in hindsight and the political, institutional and personal issues surrounding this event.
The study thus prompts a re-examination of a significant episode in Jean Monnet’s career and sheds new light on the early years of European integration. It also invites us to take a more nuanced view of a figure who has long been portrayed as someone whose career was guided by a continuous and carefully planned European trajectory.
The author, Adelina Osdautaj, studied at the University of Lausanne, where she obtained a Master’s degree in history, supplemented by a specialisation in public communication. She is currently a project officer at the Jean Monnet Foundation for Europe.