HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE EUROPEAN CONSTITUTIONAL ORDER

for modernisation 19 Jean Monet, they crafted together with a few of their colleagues almost in secrecy and with little cooperation with other involved parties the declaration. 20 It is only immediately before the announcement that they reach out to German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer for endorsement. 21 The foundational goal of the Schuman Declaration is stated at the beginning of the preamble: “World peace cannot be safeguarded without the making of creative efforts proportionate to the dangers which threaten it” . This brings us to the idea of conflict prevention as one of the fundamental goals of the upcoming European Project. Furthermore, because this is the first sentence of the declaration, this goal is of the utmost importance to the newborn European community. Nevertheless, it is not just World peace that is the goal of the community. The declaration further states that the creation of what is about to be the EEC serves “the aim of contributing to raising living standards and promoting peaceful achievements”. Therefore, the aim concerns war prevention and living standards. It is significant because the increase in living standards fulfills various goals in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in articles 22–30. 22 The further declaration elaborates on the “improvement of the living conditions of workers working in coal and steel industries”. This is another clear mark that the declaration concerned the well-being of people who work in this unified market, fulfilling Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In the Schuman declaration, the scope of the European Project would focus on fulfilling human rights goals such as raising living standards or improving the living conditions of workers. Here, there was hardly a consensus on the materiality and concrete obligations the contracting parties would provide, which can be seen not only in the lack of concrete policies of the EEC in its foundation days but also in the general lack of consensus on the content of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a non-binding document with the eventual split of the binding instruments into two separate multilateral treaties International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, latter with significantly slower accession of the UN member states. 23 However, it could also be argued that not just these individual human rights are protected but also the general protection of human rights, such as the right to personal autonomy and the right to life, to prevent conflict. Since this is the foundational document, the origins of the European Project are, to a certain extent, based on the protection of certain human rights.

19 Ibid, p. 10. 20 Ibid, pp. 11–12. 21 Ibid, p. 13. 22 UNITED NATIONS. Universal Declaration of Human Rights . Art. 22–30.

23 UNITED NATIONS. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [online]. United Nations Treaty Collection [cit. 2024-06-15]. Available at: https://treaties.un.org/doc/treaties/1976/03/19760323%20 06-17%20am/ch_iv_04.pdf.

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