An Architect of the European Union

Today, few realise that Ernst Albrecht was a European of the first hour: “Hans von der Gröben, the chairman of the committee that negotiated the contract for a comprehensive European Economic Community, was a German and appointed me secretary. Each one of those more than 200 articles was written by me and then translated into the other three languages.”

Looking back on the negotiations, Ernst Albrecht is “incredibly grateful” for the privilege of working toward European unification for 17 years: “The war experience was formative in my own life. I had witnessed the horror of the bombings and, at the end of the war, learned of the atrocious crimes committed by the Nazis. It convinced me that this sort of thing should never be allowed to happen again, and so I began preparing for European cooperation even during my student days.”

Shaping the EU of the Future

The Treaties of Rome involved creating a union between six partners: Italy, France, Germany and the Benelux countries. When the Iron Curtain was drawn aside, the European union of states grew to 27 members. Albrecht sees this as a new challenge: “A process of adjustment will be needed in the years ahead,” the experienced politician says, while taking a confident, optimistic view of Europe’s future: “It’s only logical: people who lived under Communist rule for decades, as in Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, have to get used to our Europe first. But it will come. Our unified Europe will play a good role in this new world, which will be wonderful when that time comes.”