This paper provides a historical and legal overview of the development of the «European idea» from the beginning of the 19th century to the end of the First World War, considers new projects of European integration during the interwar period (1919-1939), analyzes the main features of the development of the «European idea» during the Second World War (1939-1945), characterizes the post-war period (1945-1950), which marked the beginning of a new movement for the unification of Europe. The methodological basis of the study consists of comparative-legal, historical, sys- temic and structural-functional methods, as well as methods of legal interpretation and institutional analysis. The author summarizes the analytical study made by the end of the 1940s with the conclusion that the real European integration can be implemented only with the joint application of both international legal instruments and means of domestic legal regulation. In this case, the necessary conditions guaranteeing integration are the following: voluntary limitation of sovereignty of member states, unification and transfer by them of some of their powers to a supranational body operating on the basis of common interests. In this regard, the four main provisions of the «communitarian method» elaborated by Jean Monnet, an achievement of the Schuman Plan of 1950, seem to be defining and essentially important: 1) federal purpose; 2) gradualism of integration processes; 3) integration as a way of solving social problems; 4) limitation of state sovereignty and creation of supranational authorities. It was on the basis of this method that a supranational level of political power was to emerge, the goal of which was the «common good of the peoples united». The practical implementation of the plan began with the creation of the ECSC (European Coal and Steel Community), which became the starting point for the formation of the future European Union.
|
