Was the Franco-British Union the foundation of the European Union?

[Jopa79]

The joint union between two independent sovereign states, the United Kingdom and France was a concept for the Franco-British Union during the early stages of WW2.

Especially the French hoped this two countries' wartime economies could form a postwar United States of Europe. So, is the European Union which we experience nowadays exactly like the hopes of the French and the British were during wartime, or was it intended to be found a real European Superpower, the United States of Europe?

 

[Captain Frakas]

I doubt it...

 

[Count Blue]

The base for the EU as we have it nowadays was the french german steel agreement after WWII, I believe.
That explains the economy centered point of that union and the little real political gravity it has.
Just my .02

 

[MelanzanaBill]

The base for the EU as we have it nowadays was the french german steel agreement after WWII, I believe.
That explains the economy centered point of that union and the little real political gravity it has.
Just my .02

Completly rigth. The UK even actively refused the offer stating it didn't do their national interest (seems I alredy heard it).

 

[Henry IX]

British EEC (the thing that later morphed into the EU) membership was refused (by the French) the first time they applied. The EU began as a Franco-German economic treaty and did not involve Britain at all.

The Franco-British Union was an idea briefly bandied about to try to prop up the French state in the disastrous aftermath of the German invasion. It was rejected by both sides as unworkable, undesirable and unconstitutional. It was a typical hair-brained Churchill scheme to try to make up for the fact that Britain was unable to supply the 40 fully equipped divisions required to stop the German advance and was recognised as such by the leadership of both sides.

 

[George Parr]

If one were to suggest something that preceedes the economic treaty between France and Germany as foundation the EU developed from, it would probably be the connection between Aristide Briand and Gustav Stresemann. Those two did a lot to (temporarily) improve the relationship between the two countries and did come up with ideas for a European Union, though it clearly wasn't something that could have been achieved at that point. Briand's EU as put forth by him in 1930 would have been a more losely connected union though.

 

[DarthJF]

France and French thinkers were the driving force behind the creation of the EU. Various ideas about a United Europe had been going around since the 19th century, but they never led to anything until the economic needs after WW2 combined with the idea of a European federation led to formation of ECSC.

Although it started as an economic project, European Coal and Steel Community was always envisioned as only the first step toward the distant goal of federal Europe. From the Schuman decleration in 1950:

By pooling basic production and by instituting a new High Authority, whose decisions will bind France, Germany and other member countries, this proposal will lead to the realization of the first concrete foundation of a European federation indispensable to the preservation of peace.

 

[Captain Frakas]

Various ideas about a United Europe had been going around since the 19th century

Arguably -but not exactly as it wasn't conceptually about Europe- even since at last the 15th century: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Treaty_on_the_Establishment_of_Peace_throughout_Christendom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_of_Poděbrady#The_message_of_peace

 

[Abdul Goatherd]

Especially the French hoped this two countries' wartime economies could form a postwar United States of Europe. So, is the European Union which we experience nowadays exactly like the hopes of the French and the British were during wartime, or was it intended to be found a real European Superpower, the United States of Europe?

Doubt it. In the war's aftermath, the only step in collaboration was in colonial matters, largely because Britain & France realized their interests there were opposed by the ROTW, and if they didn't hang together, others (directly or via the UN) would begin to butt into colonial matters. The Anglo-French accord of November 1945 envisaged a wide-ranging collaboration on political, economic and other matters, and even set up a mini-secretariat at Whitehall, but they never really got anywhere. There were some easy agreements like technical standards, medicine & veterinary disease, etc. but colonial economies were too rivalrous and political differences too vast to go any further.