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Robert Schuman (1886–1963), French statesman and 'founding father' of European integration, once declared: Nous devons faire l'Europe non seulement dans l'intérêt des pays libres, mais aussi pour pouvoir y accueillir les peuples de l'Est qui, délivrés des sujétions qu'elles ont subies jusqu'à présent, nous demanderont leur adhésion et notre appui moral. [We must make Europe not only in the interest of the free countries, but also to be able to welcome the peoples of the East who, freed from the subjection that they have suffered until now, will ask to join us and request our moral support. (my translation)] During the enlargement of the European Union (EU) to include the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, which I helped to plan in the European Commission in Brussels, I often quoted this far-sighted remark of Schuman. Before 1989 he was practically the only politician in the West to predict that one day we would welcome into the EU the Europeans who were separated from us by the Iron Curtain. But I had a problem: I could not discover the source of the quotation. It was not in Schuman's published writings, and although the secondary sources dated it to 1963, I could not find a reference to the original documentary source. This irritated me, and I even began to wonder whether the quotation was authentic. Since much of the literature concerning Schuman is hagiographic in nature, maybe one of his followers had invented it. However, I recently discovered that the quotation was first published in 1963, just after Schuman's death, in an article dedicated to him,1 and that in fact he made the remark in a speech in Luxembourg on 3 November 1956, of which I have obtained a transcript.2 It is clear from other remarks in the speech—whose text has not previously been published—that Schuman's appeal to Europe to "welcome the people of the East" was a response to the events in Budapest of October-November 1956, of which reports were reaching the West when he made the speech. Together with the discovery of the true date and source of the quotation, I found that Schuman had a particular interest in Hungary, beginning with visits to Budapest in the 1930s and continuing in the postwar period. So in this article3 I will: - describe briefly Robert Schuman's life, his visits to Hungary, and his relations with Hungarians in France - reproduce the relevant extracts from his speech of 1956, of which only a few phrases have been published before - conclude with some reflections on Schuman's vision of European integration.

How should we judge the success of the EU's enlargement policy? What can Spain expect to achieve in this field during its EU Presidency in 2010? The EU's 'strategy for enlargement' is essentially reactive: not driven by a grand design on the part of the existing members, but by pressure from countries wanting to join. The criteria for evaluating the success of the policy are two-fold: (1) for the period before membership they are similar to normal criteria for foreign policy; but (2) for the period after accession they are more complex, since each expansion affects the composition and identity of the EU itself. The last round in 2004 and 2007, when the EU grew from 15 to 27 members, was a considerable success on both sets of criteria. In the current round the EU is dealing with prospective members whose situation and prospects are very different: Turkey, the countries of the Western Balkans and Iceland. The phenomenon of 'enlargement fatigue' should not deter the EU from pursuing its expansion in a rational way. During its EU Presidency in the first half of 2010 Spain is not expected to achieve a major breakthrough in enlargement policy, but should ensure that steady progress is made in preparations for membership by the countries concerned.

A review essay on a book by Christina J. Schneider, Conflict, Negotiation and European Union Enlargement (Cambridge University Press, 2008).

Examines the process of enlarging the European Union to include Central and Eastern European countries.