History
The Belgian Council of the European Movement, founded in 1949, has played an important role in the European integration, especially under the inspiration of Presidents like Paul-Henri Spaak and Jean Rey, respectively Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the ECSC and of the European Commission.
A difficult financial situation and the European Parliament elections by universal suffrage in 1979 (which was, for some, an ideal link between the Community and its citizens) led the Belgian scuttling. The association was then dissolved when the European idea had progressed and its function to encourage the Belgian authorities to adopt a pro-European was less necessary.
In 1992, in the wake of Danish and French referendums on the Maastricht Treaty, and in opposition to 'Eurosceptics' who showed Europe as the cause of all evils, some political figures such Willy De Clercq(†), have revived the Movement European - Belgium. Because of a widening gap between European integration and public opinion, its action has become absolutely relevant and necessary.
Read more about this topic: European Movement Belgium
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“The history of any nation follows an undulatory course. In the trough of the wave we find more or less complete anarchy; but the crest is not more or less complete Utopia, but only, at best, a tolerably humane, partially free and fairly just society that invariably carries within itself the seeds of its own decadence.”
—Aldous Huxley (1894–1963)
“Don’t give your opinions about Art and the Purpose of Life. They are of little interest and, anyway, you can’t express them. Don’t analyse yourself. Give the relevant facts and let your readers make their own judgments. Stick to your story. It is not the most important subject in history but it is one about which you are uniquely qualified to speak.”
—Evelyn Waugh (1903–1966)
“I am ashamed to see what a shallow village tale our so-called History is. How many times must we say Rome, and Paris, and Constantinople! What does Rome know of rat and lizard? What are Olympiads and Consulates to these neighboring systems of being? Nay, what food or experience or succor have they for the Esquimaux seal-hunter, or the Kanaka in his canoe, for the fisherman, the stevedore, the porter?”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)