From social market economy to planned economy and back again -: 50 years of European Coal and Steel Community from the point of view of German steel industry

The most important achievement of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) is-apart from the considerable overall advantages for national European economy-rather political than economic. Many years of improving integration and the resulting intercultural understanding have brought lasting peace and general prosperity to Europe. The political structures of the European Union today were influenced directly by the visions of the founding fathers of the ECSC contract. The ECSC is the nucleus of the European Union. It is therefore not the foundation or agreement itself which representatives of the German steel industry regard as a particular mistake but, on the contrary, the violation of the spirit and agreement especially during the late seventies and early eighties. As long as there was room for markets to expand the pillars of the ESCS no duties or quotas, no subsidies, no discrimination and a joint export policy-were sufficiently considered. But when growth slackened and the battle for distribution became fiercer, these basic decisions were disregarded more and more and the vaults of the ESCS threatened to cave in. The European steel industry experienced a serious crisis which was only overcome in the mid-nineties. Today, an international comparison shows extremely competitive structures as a result of hard work. This was, however, only achieved by means of a socially acceptable cut-back of more than 550000 jobs.