On May 9, 1950, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman proclaimed the famous Schuman Declaration. It expressed his firm belief in initiating negotiations among European countries toward European unification. "Europe cannot be made all at once, nor will it be constructed in a single step; it will arise from concrete achievements that first create de facto solidarity. The union of nations requires the elimination of the age-old conflict between France and Germany: the action undertaken must primarily concern France and Germany." These were the minister's words, which clearly articulated a Franco-German rivalry still too shallowly buried under the ashes of the devastating World War that had just ended.

On the other side of the Rhine, German Chancellor Adenauer also aspired to strengthen a unified European political and economic identity. The still-fragile post-war German economy, in fact, was supported only by American intervention and would have benefited greatly from increasingly close ties with French power. Precisely for this reason, in March 1950—thus even before the Schuman Declaration itself—the Chancellor spoke to an American interviewer of a phantom political union with France, which "would give new life and a powerful boost to a very ailing Europe." The doors to this union were conceptually open to Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg, the other European countries that had founded the European Coal and Steel Community in 1951.

General de Gaulle's response to this proposal was swift, naturally expressing his support for a political union between the two nations, while implying, however, a greater natural importance for the French component. These intentions likely still live on today in European Community policies, which gradually push for the unification of the continent. However, at the time, this unifying drive, so clearly expressed in its strength and immediacy of intent, was nipped in the bud. This can be traced back to 1954, the year in which the French Parliament voted against the creation of the European Defence Community, a single European army desired by the ECSC countries in 1952 following the outbreak of the Korean War. This occurred because of France's reluctance to share its military power with other countries and likely prevented the true beginning of European unification.