Monnet, Jean

(1888-1979)

   economist

   An architect of modern Europe, Jean Monnet was born in Cognac and during World War I represented France on the Inter-Maritime Commission, which arranged the purchases and transport of raw materials. From 1919 to 1923, he served as first deputy secretary-general of the League of Nations. From 1923 to 1938, he was in charge of stabilization loans and the economic reorganization of Poland and Romania, as well as the reorganization of railroads in China. At the beginning of World War II, he was appointed by the French and British governments to be president of the coordinating committee of the Allied war effort. In August 1940, as a member of the British council for war supplies, he left for Washington, D.C., to help coordinate the common war effort. In June 1943, he became part of the Committee of National Liberation and served in the Free French movement in Algiers and in London. As president of the French war supplies committee, he signed (1945) the lend-lease agreements with the united states. in 1946, Monnet was involved in the implementation of his plan for French economic recovery through systematic increases in production. A supporter of the concept of European unity, he was the initiator of the Declaration of May 9, 1950, which established the basis for the European Coal and Steel Community (CECA), also known as the schuman Plan. First president of the High Commission of the CECA (1952-55), Monnet left that post to devote himself fully to the goal of European unity. In 1955, he founded the Action Committee for a united states of Europe, which played a decisive role in implementing the principles of the Treaty of Rome and establishing the European Economic Community. For Monnet, European unity always remained a tangible possibility. His Mémoires were published in 1976. See also European union.