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Kalergi, A European spirit must precede Europe's political unification
Page 3
The conclusion to be drawn from these two lessons is the reconciliation of the conquerors and the conquered within the framework of a strong European league.
A clear conception of the fact that the 1919 League of Nations has been a failure is an essential condition for the construction of the European league. For so long as the hope exists that the League of Nations can again be made efficacious many Europeans will prefer this existing organisation to one which has yet to be founded. Moreover, from a realistic political standpoint, the adherence of the Soviet Union to the League of Nations and the adherence of Britain's Dominions and India make the League appear, to France and Great Britain respectively as being preferable to Paneuropa. Thus the present-day community of the League States lacks every ideological, geographical, cultural, or historical foundation which could lead them to convert themselves into a federal union.
Lacking all physical power, the League of Nations could rely only upon its moral authority as the highest organisation of humanity. Its prestige sank step by step as its member states in Asia, America, and Africa conducted wars against each other which it could do nothing to stop. What remained of its moral authority was lost when three of its European members were annexed and occupied by a neighbour, and the League failed even to protest against these actions. It thereby lost its credibility, like a fire insurance company that refuses to pay the insurance to an insured householder whose house has been burnt down, although he has for years punctually paid his premium ....
The undeniable fiasco of the League of Nations has left the way free for the United States of Europe. At the same time, however, it has made it possible for antiEuropeans to argue that the League itself has failed to establish a European system of cooperation, security and peace, and that therefore any similar plan is impossible of execution.
Such critics forget that the idea of the League of Nations has as little to do with Paneuropa as it has with Pan-America; that Europe embraces only 4 per cent of the world's surface and only one-fifth of its population. It is therefore inconceivable how the two terms `European' and `international' can continually be used as interchangeable.
Cf. Proudhon, Principe Fédératif * Le mémorandum d'Alexis Leger * The Briand Memorandum * La Construction de l'Europe selon Jean Monnet * Plan Fouchet * L'Union Européenne selon Altiero Spinelli * Mitterrand and Kohl urge European Political Union
