Brussels, 19/05/2000 (Agence Europe) - On 19 and 20 May, the Paul-Henri Spaak Foundation, chaired by Etienne Davignon, sponsored -on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration- at the Palais d'Egmont in Brussels, a colloquium on "The Fathers of Europe Fifty Years Later: Perspectives on the European Commitment".
Introductory remarks were made on Friday afternoon by Etienne Davignon and work got under way with contributions by Professors Frank, Bossuat, Bitsch and Loth (of the Universities of Paris I, Cery-Pontoise, Strasbourg and Essen), who spoke on "The Fathers of Europe: A Complex Typology", the role of Jean Monnet, the Declaration of 9 May and "Konrad Adenauer, between Europe and Washington". Paul Collowald and Jacques-René Rabier then intervened as both "players and witnesses". Belgian Foreign Minister Louis Michel addressed participants during the dinner meeting.
On Saturday morning, Professors Varosi, Brouwer, Grosbois, Dumoulin and Ludlow (Universities of Florence, Nijmegen and Leiden, Artois, Louvain and London School of Economics) will be discussing "Alcide de Gasperi and the European Project", "Stikker, Beyen, Luns: The Attitude of the Netherlands", "Joseph Bech, the Representative of a Small Country and the Schuman Plan", "Paul van Zeeland and Paul-Henri Spaak: The Two Voices of Belgium", and "British Hesitation". Sir Michael Palliser, former Under-Secretary of State at the Foreign Office, will speak of the heritage of the Fathers of Europe.