On 9th May 1950, when Europe was divided by the Iron Curtain and Latvia occupied by the totalitarian Soviet Union, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman proposed a plan to deepen cooperation between European countries by pooling the coal and steel industries, then the mainstays of arms production. This initiative, which became known as the Schuman Declaration, marked a new path to peace and solidarity in Europe, making war between the countries involved practically impossible.
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