Joseph Retinger's conception of and contribution to the early process of European integration

Abstract

The origins of the European Union are especially connected to its so-called founding fathers. One of them was Polish politician Joseph Retinger, who represented a functionalist point of view. This article aims to throw light on Retinger's contribution to uniting the Old Continent. The method applied in this article is a comparative analysis of Retinger's ideas with the early phases of integration. Many significant initiatives taken with a view to the future integration of Europe, such as the founding of the European League for Economic Co-operation (1946), the Congress of Europe held in The Hague (1948), the founding of the European Movement (1948), or the establishment of the Council of Europe (1949) to give just a few examples can all be associated with Retinger's activity. The author concludes that the importance of Retinger's European activities (concerning the early period after the Second World War) were so huge that he should be ranked among the pioneers of the modern European Union.

Keywords:

• history of international relations
• history of European integration
• founding fathers of EU
• Joseph Retinger

Notes

 1. Archive sources concerning Retinger's pro-European activity can be found at the Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum in London, the Polish Social & Cultural Association in London, and the J.H. Retinger Archives at the European Research Center at Cracow University of Economics.

 2. Spaak, Combats Inachevés, 24.

 3. Pomian, Joseph Retinger, Memoirs of an Eminence Grise, 228.

 4. Unfair slanders concerning Retinger's activities and their background have been fully described in: Grosbois “L'action de Józef Retinger”; Biskupski, “Spy, Patriot or Internationalist?”

 5. Werner, “Ku jedności Europy,” 110.

 6. Terlecki, Kuzynek diabła; Terlecki, Wielka awantura.

 7. Pomian, Joseph Retinger, Memoirs of an Eminence Grise, 54.

 8. Witkowski, Józef Retinger. Polski inicjator integracji europejskiej, 52–3.

 9. Pomian, Joseph Retinger, Memoirs of an Eminence Grise, 94–108.

10. “Poland and Czechoslovakia Plan New National Union. Move Is Seen As Forerunner Of New Order,” Inter–Allied Bulletin.

11. Archives of The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum In London, PRM 38c/3.

12. de Rougemont, “A Biographical Sketch,” 42; Grosbois, “L'action de Józef Retinger,” 64–5.

13. Pomian, Joseph Retinger, Memoirs of an Eminence Grise, 100.

14. Szumowski, “Koncepcje rozwoju stosunków polsko – czechosłowackich w emigracyjnej myśli politycznej.”

15. Wandycz, Czechoslovak – Polish Confederation and the Great Powers 1940–1943, 67.

16. Retinger's role as a meeting organiser can be clearly inferred from the report of the initial meeting between the Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers of the governments-in-exile: Archives of The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum In London, PRM 81/6/1; Grosbois, “L'action de Józef Retinger,” 64–79.

17. Retinger, “Inter-Allied Secretariat.”

18. “Josef Retinger. Profile,” The Observer, London, 9 May 1948.

19. Much information about Retinger's role in inspiring intergovernmental talks on European integration during the Second World War can be found in the archives of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This is thanks to the then Belgian Foreign Minister-in-exile Paul-Henri Spaak, who ordered all data concerning talks/plans for European integration to be collected by Belgian diplomatic posts. These archives (Archives du Ministère belge des Affaires étrangères – désormais AMAE) were studied with respect to Retinger's role in laying the foundations for European integration by Thierry Grosbois. See Grosbois “L'action de Józef Retinger en faveur de l'idée européene 1940–46,” 66.

20. Pomian, Joseph Retinger, Memoirs of an Eminence Grise, 104–5.

21. Grosbois, “L'action de Józef Retinger,” 70–1.

22. Spaak, Combats Inachevés, 24.

23. Karski, Wielkie mocarstwa wobec Polski 1919–1945. Od Wersalu do Jałty, 381.

24. “Report of the Secretary General on the activity of the Central and Eastern European Planning Board from January 1942 to 15 April 1943.” New York, April 1943. Archives of The Polish Institute and Sikorski Museum In London kol. 68/45.

25. Pomian, Joseph Retinger, Memoirs of an Eminence Grise, 209–10.

26. Pomian John to Pieczewski Andrzej, London, 23 December 2003. Source of letter: private collection.

27. Retinger, European Continent?

28. Pomian to Pieczewski. London, 23 December 2003.

29. Ibidem.

30. European League for Economic Co-operation , 50^th Anniversary of ELEC 1946 – 1996. In remembrance of Joseph Retinger Initiator of ELEC.

31. van der Velden, The Origins of The European League for Economic Co-Operation, 1.

32. Pomian, Joseph Retinger, Memoirs of an Eminence Grise, 210–11.

33. Pomian to Pieczewski. London, 23 December 2003.

34. van der Velden, The Origins of The European League for Economic Co-Operation, 1.

35. Compare: Pomian, Joseph Retinger. Memoirs of an Eminence Grise, 210–11 and van der Velden, The Origins of The European League for Economic Co-Operation, 10.

36. Pomian, Joseph Retinger. Memoirs of an Eminence Grise, 213.

37. J.H. Retinger was Secretary-General of the ELEC until 1949, when he was appointed Secretary-General of the European Movement.

38. “Independent League of European Co-operation: Basic Resolution and Programme,” 196.

39. van der Velden, The Origins of The European League for Economic Co-Operation, 1.

40. Kwilecki, Idea zjednoczenia Europy. Polityczno-socjologiczne aspekty integracji zachodnioeuropejskiej.

41. European Movement and The Council of Europe , 34.

42. Pomian, Joseph Retinger. Memoirs of an Eminence Grise, 213.

43. The UEM was also chosen for its president Winston Churchill, a figure respected throughout the whole of Europe, a man of enormous charisma, and thus a natural candidate for leader of the united movements.

44. Duncan Sandys, Winston Churchill's son-in-law, an influential journalist, one of the leaders of the United Europe Movement.

45. Lipgens, A History of European Integration.

46. Ibidem.

47. Pomian, Joseph Retinger. Memoirs of an Eminence Grise, 214.

48. The Conseil Français pour l'Unité Européenne is the French counterpart of the British United Europe Movement to the foundation of which Duncan Sandys contributed.

49. Retinger was invited to the UEF Congress taking place on August 27–30, 1947 in Montreux. Representing the UEM, Duncan Sandys also participated in the congress; See Witkowski, Józef Retinger, 100.

50. Mayne and Pinder, Federal Union: The Pioneers, 92, 98.

51. Pomian, Joseph Retinger. Memoirs of an Eminence Grise, 215.

52. Sandys, “Organizational Arrangements for The Conference. Note by the Chairman of the Provisional Executive Committee Duncan Sandys,” 11 December 1948.

53. Ibidem.

54. de Rougemont, “A biographical sketch,” 44.

55. “Mr. Churchill's Call to Europe,” The Times (London), May 8, 1948; “Organising Western Europe,” Sunday Times (London), May 9, 1948; “Mr. Churchill Calls for Europe Assembly,” Daily Telegraph (London), May 8, 1948; “Mr. Churchill on European Union,” Daily Telegraph (London), May 8, 1948.

56. As Denis de Rougemont wrote, 800 delegates included 20 former or future premiers, 50 ministers and 250 members of Parliament. See de Rougemont, “A biographical sketch,” 44–5.

57. European Movement and The Council of Europe, 36.

58. Mayne and Pinder, Federal Union: The Pioneers, 99.

59. Paul Ramadier – the former French Prime Minister at that time.

60. “Josef Retinger. Secretary–General of The Hague”, The Observer (London), 9 May, 1948.

61. European Movement and The Council of Europe, 36–8.

62. Ibidem, 38.

63. As Retinger recalled it, the most heated arguments were provoked within the Political Committee of the Congress of Europe in The Hague. Some insisted on the establishment of a federation and called for a radical and revolutionary programme, while other delegates developed a somewhat more pragmatic approach towards the matter discussed. It was thanks to Harold Macmillan's intervention that an accord was reached. The two opposing parties arrived on a compromise based on a more pragmatic formula. See Pomian, Joseph Retinger. Memoirs of an Eminence Grise, 222.

64. Congress of Europe . Resolutions, 43.

65. European Movement and The Council of Europe, 46–7.

66. At the Congress of Europe in The Hague, the International Committee of the Movements for European Unity put forward a “Cultural Report” which contained the philosophical assumptions of European integration: European concepts of man, diversity and divisions between nations and ideologies, human freedom and rights, a super-national court, European universalism, and a proposal to create a European Cultural Centre; See Cultural Report , Congress of Europe, 3–15.

67. The initiative to establish a European Cultural Centre was Retinger's. He put the idea forward at the Hague Congress, and later to the European Movement – and his efforts were rewarded. See de Rougemont, “A biographical sketch,” 47.

68. Congress of Europe, Resolutions, 50.

69. European Movement and The Council of Europe, 36.

70. Pomian, Joseph Retinger , Memoirs of an Eminence Grise, 222.

71. Assemblée Européenne, Memorandum présenté aux Gouvernements par le Comité International des Mouvements pour l'Unité Européenne, 18 Août 1948; A memorandum signed by the Chairman of the Committee Duncan Sandys and Secretary-General Joseph Retinger.

72. European Movement and The Council of Europe, 51.

73. Assemblée Européenne, Memorandum présenté aux Gouvernements par le Comité International des Mouvements pour l'Unité Européenne, 18 Août 1948.

74. de Rougemont, “A biographical sketch,” 45.

75. Witkowski, Józef Retinger, 106.

76. Wolański, “Ruch Europejski w latach 1948–1952. Geneza, struktury, inicjatywy polityczne,” 216.

77. In 1979, the Consultative Assembly was actually transformed into the European Parliament, whose representatives were chosen by direct election. Although limited, prerogatives of the Parliament have ever been on the increase.

78. Mayne and Pinder, Federal Union: The Pioneers, 102.

79. de Rougemont, “A biographical sketch,” 45.

80. European Movement and The Council of Europe, 38–9.

81. Churchill, Blum and Spaak accepted the function immediately, despite the latter holding the post of Prime Minister at that time. Also Prime Minister, Alcide de Gasperi accepted the honour only on Retinger's request. This has been reported in Pomian, Joseph Retinger, Memoirs of an Eminence Grise, 232.

82. European Movement and The Council of Europe, 39–41.

83. Pomian to Pieczewski. London, 23 December 2003.

84. Pieczewski, “Działalność Józefa Hieronima Retingera na rzecz Zjednoczonej Europy,” 183; Wolański, “Ruch Europejski w latach 1948–1952. Geneza, struktury, inicjatywy polityczne,” 215.

85. de Rougemont, “A biographical sketch,” 47.

86. Pomian, Joseph Retinger. Memoirs of an Eminence Grise, 234.

87. Archives of the Central and Eastern European Commission of the European Movement located at the J.H. Retinger Archives at the European Research Centre in Cracow.

88. Pieczewski, “Komisja do spraw Europy Środkowej i Wschodniej Ruchu Europejskiego (1949 – 1973) – głos emigracji w sprawie europejskiego zjednoczenia.”

89. Retinger, “Draft Notes on The European Movement.”

90. Aubourg, “Organizing Atlanticism: the Bilderberg Group and the Atlantic Institute, 1952 – 1963”, 92–3; Retinger, The Bilderberg Group .

91. Pieczewski, “Józef H. Retinger – pomysłodawca i współtwórca Grupy Bilderbergu.”

92. Pomian to Pieczewski, London, 22 September 2009.