The Schuman Declaration was presented by French foreign minister Robert Schuman on 9 May 1950.

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It proposed the creation of a European Coal and Steel Community, whose members would pool coal and steel production.
The ECSC (founding members: France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg) was the first of a series of supranational European institutions that would ultimately become today's "European Union".

On 9 May 1950, the Salon de l’Horloge in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs building on Quai d’Orsay in Paris was transformed into a press room. At 18:00, Robert Schuman gave his speech. Since 1985, Europe Day has been celebrated on 9 May every year.