Ent auvergne jean monnet biography

European statesman

For other people named Jean Monnet, see Jean Monnet (disambiguation).

Jean Omer Marie Gabriel Monnet (French:[ʒɑ̃mɔnɛ]; 9 November 1888 – 16 March 1979) was a French civil servant, entrepreneur, diplomat, financier, and administrator.^[1] An influential supporter of European unity, he is considered one of the founding fathers of the European Union.

Jean Monnet has been called "The Father of Europe" by those who see his innovative and pioneering efforts in the 1950s as the key to establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, the predecessor of today's European Union.^[2] Although Monnet was never elected to public office, he worked behind the scenes of American and European governments as a well-connected "pragmatic internationalist".^[3]

For three decades, Jean Monnet and Charles de Gaulle had a multifaceted relationship, at some times cooperative and at other times distrustful, from a first encounter