Jean Monnet Chair
This project aims at investigating, from an historical perspective, the different paths of the European integration process after the world war II. If it is possible to ascribe ECSC and EEC to the functionalist design of economic integration, the real attempt of political integration is instead represented by the Council of Europe. On this basis, the research will take as a case study the issue of fundamental rights, focusing mainly on the contribution of the Council of Europe to the definition and recognition of democratic and legal principles in the overseas territories of states parties, in spite of an almost total lack of real powers.
The Council of Europe is probably Europe’s most misunderstood organisation. Nonetheless the Council retained its pluralist vision of Europe and respect for fundamental rights, sharpened by the extreme violence of Nazi domination and war. While Europe embarked on the road towards union two years later, with the ECSC, then in 1957 with the EEC, there remained at the core of the Council something more deeply “political” than integration based on a common market and free trade. At a time when the European public is calling into question the legitimacy of EU institutions and the purpose of integration, it is useful to turn our attention to two issues poorly analyzed by historians: the Council of Europe’s activities and its relationships with ECSC and EEC.
The activities foreseen in the three years include research, teaching and the organisation of several events and outputs aimed at enhancing knowledge on EU studies in the academic context and among civil society. The students’ level of active participation through the virtual platform, the percentage of conference’s lecturers going on with the research activity, the attendance forms and the questionnaires for the general public and the visitors of the website will constitute the main indicators of achievement.