ITALIAN CATHOLIC ELECTORAL UNION. — An organization formed after the suppression of the Opera dei Congressi (q.v.) on the basis of the encyclical *Il fermo proposito* (14 June 1905) and the modification of the Non expedit (q.v.), with the aim of coordinating and directing the Catholic forces in Italy during electoral competitions in which they were called to take an active part.
These aims were outlined in the first programmatic circular of 15 August 1906, which consequently recommended, through intense propaganda, the registration of Catholics on the electoral rolls (1907).
The U.E.C.I., which in 1911 numbered 177 associations and had its own representatives in every diocese, besides directing various administrative elections, also oversaw political ones, where dispensation from voting was granted while the Non expedit was still in force, in 1906, 1909, and 1913. In the general political elections of 1909, it issued the programmatic points to which Catholic participation in the polls and their votes for candidates were to be subordinated; these points were refined in the 1913 elections and expanded to seven postulates, thus constituting the so-called Gentiloni Pact (q.v.). Moreover, in 1912 the U.E.C.I. declared itself in favor of universal suffrage. Its work met with success.
Note: The translation is in English and not in Italian.
it is said, in their isolationism, to have disavowed Wilson, who had been the principal promoter and author of the Pact. The initiative, however, according to Briand, should be framed within the Pact, which allowed for the creation of regional agreements, so that the organization of a European Union tended to make the larger organization act more effectively, into which it would be inserted concentrically, seeking thus to restore unity of spirit to Europe, divided after the failure of the Locarno Pact and the Four-Power Pact. Briand’s project was less advanced than those advocating a European federation; it did not touch upon state sovereignty. The European states, for the purpose of periodically examining their particular interests in common, would form a European Conference, and, as an executive body, a Permanent Committee and a Secretariat, always within the framework of the League of Nations. In the memorandum sent to the various governments, when Briand had to provide examples, he confined himself to economic and social issues (customs, industrial unions and cartels, public works, communications, labor, hygiene, finance, intellectual cooperation), merely hinting at political matters in the form of inter-parliamentary relations that already had some tradition. Thus, it can be said that Briand’s proposal aimed to achieve political construction through an economic coalition, thereby overcoming the objections raised by some states in their responses regarding the need to begin with economic issues. A territorial objection was raised by Italy and Germany: namely, that the exclusion of Russia and Turkey from Europe was inadmissible. Germany and Hungary themselves pointed out that to achieve the European Union, it was necessary to eliminate the inequalities created by the peace treaties. More serious and even insurmountable objections came from Great Britain, Switzerland, and other states, which argued that this would create an unnecessary duplication of the League’s organs; indeed, Great Britain insinuated that the European Union, far from fostering unity of spirit, might instead accept, if not actively provoke, new hostilities. When Briand’s project, eloquently defended by its author, was discussed in Geneva (September 1930), Scialoja pointed out the difficulties of immediate realization, suggesting it would be better to begin with a study commission. Motta was more radical, while Brüning (Germany) and Schober (Austria) insisted that the new Union should concern itself solely with economic problems. The Assembly accepted Scialoja’s view and appointed a Study Commission for the European Union. This met in January 1931 under Briand’s presidency, with the participation of 27 states, and in its meetings agreed on the need to invite the USSR and Turkey but focused consistently on the economic crisis. When, in the Assembly of the League of Nations in September 1931, the issue of organizing the European Union was addressed, it was decided to create only a Study Commission, also including non-European states, and with this decision the Union was shelved.
It was thus evident that the problem was premature in a Europe that felt morally divided. The new attempt at German hegemony was crushed by the combined force of two extra-European powers: the Eurasian force of the USSR and that of the USA, which were compelled to abandon isolationism by Roosevelt’s policies. When the accounts of victory were settled, Roosevelt and Churchill accepted Stalin’s thesis of dividing Europe into two zones, leaving the influence of the USSR over the area east of the Stettin–Trieste line.
II. The Defense of the West and the Realization of the New European Union
With Eastern Europe fallen under Soviet domination, all of Europe west of the Yalta line remained indefensible, and it was more a question of the West than of Europe; hence, the paramount need was for a defense of the Atlantic, which the USA ultimately had to give an American stamp to, also concluding agreements on their own with Spain, excluded from Western defense due to the anti-French policy of certain states. Under these conditions, the movement for European unity reappeared, with a marked tendency toward a federal solution. Equally present, as in the 1920–30 decade, were counter-considerations from those who argued that current possibilities were limited, both territorially and morally. Morally, Europe was at the height of division, especially because of the decisions of Yalta and the peace treaties of 1947. Territorially, because very few states were willing to form a Union, and indeed it emerged far more limited than the Europe participating in Atlantic defense, comprising only Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and West Germany (provided it overcame opposition), while the two Iberian states, integral and fundamental parts of Western Europe, remained outside. This second attempt at a European Union arose with the support of America and also of Great Britain, which, however, limited itself to a guarantee function, again emphasizing its character as a British Commonwealth based on and with global interests. Even in practical achievements, the Union followed a new method. The Council of Europe collaborates with the Atlantic Community, of which it is essentially an episode, particularly in the field of defense. Thus, it begins with a basic agreement of an economic-industrial nature and another of a defensive character, in the awareness that Europe will be built on concrete achievements.The European Coal and Steel Community, established by the Treaty of Paris on 18 April 1951, aims to create a common market, managed and guided by a Community with legal personality, organized with a High Authority (9 members) assisted by a Consultative Committee (30 to 51 members), under the supervision of an Assembly (18 members each for Germany, France, and Italy; 10 for Belgium and the Netherlands; 6 for Luxembourg), with a mediating body between the High Authority and governments represented by the Council of Foreign Ministers, and a Court (7 members) that ensures respect for the law in the interpretation and application of the treaty and implementing regulations.
The European Defence Community (EDC) was established by the same States through the Treaty of Paris of 27 May 1952, in the spirit of the UN Charter and with purely defensive aims against any aggression. The EDC has a supranational character, comprising common institutions, budget, and armed forces (European Defence Forces). Powers of action and control are entrusted to a Commissariat (9 members). For control purposes, the same Assembly of the Coal and Steel Community is used, while the harmonisation of the Commissariat’s actions with the Governments is entrusted to a Council of representatives of the Member States. The Court of Justice is shared with the Consortium and must perform the same functions in relation to the EDC pact. The Consortium’s pact ultimately becomes a foundational pact for the future developments of the Organisation, and indeed it was deemed appropriate to entrust to these two bodies also the elaboration of the general construction of the Union, which currently operates in a provisional form through the representations of the Member States and the Council of Foreign Ministers, rendering any discussion of the current situation unnecessary. It is therefore a limited initial construction, both territorially and institutionally, which arises within the framework of the UN, of which 4 of the Unionist States are members; Italy and Germany are excluded.
The relationship linking the EDC to the Atlantic Community is conventionally determined by a series of protocols that extend the guarantees against aggression to Great Britain and link European defence to the Atlantic defence through a coordination of the EDC with NATO, clearly illustrating the nature and scope of European defence as episodic compared to Atlantic defence, albeit with the tendency—encouraged by the U.S.—to render European defence autonomous.
These two complex agreements of Paris represent only the beginning of the regulation of the European Union, which should find further developments in the Consortium for Agriculture (the so-called “green pool”), the structure of which is under discussion (Paris Conference, March 1953), and above all in the Treaty for the European Community, submitted on 9 March to the Council of Foreign Ministers for the examination of the young.
UNIONE GIURISTI CATTOLICI ITALIANI (U. G. C. I.): V. OPERE CATTOLICHE COORDINATE ALL'AZIONE CATTOLICA ITALIANA.