Federalists, inspired by Altiero Spinelli, have long pushed for EU Treaty reform. Despite their proposed constitutions never being ratified, their ideas have significantly influenced European integration and contributed to shaping the constitutional development of the European Union over time
History
Churchill’s “United States of Europe” (1946)
In 1946, Churchill gave a notable speech at the University of Zurich, calling for the creation of a ‘United States of Europe’.
The Ventotene Manifesto, 1941
The Ventotene Manifesto (Italian: Manifesto di Ventotene), officially entitled For a Free and United Europe. A Draft Manifesto (Per un’Europa libera e unita. Progetto d’un manifesto), is a political statement written by Altiero Spinelli, Ernesto Rossi, and Eugenio Colorni.
Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi, Europe must unite (1938)
In 1938, amidst the emergence of totalitarian governments in Europe, Count Richard Coudenhove-Kalergi of Austria-Czechoslovakia, the founder of the Paneuropean Movement in 1923, reflected on the potential impact of the Paneuropean Union
Briand, Aristide: Memorandum on the organization of a regime of European federal union (1929)
In a speech on September 5, 1929, to the League of Nations Assembly in Geneva, the French Prime Minister, also the Minister for Foreign Affairs, advocated for the eventual creation of a ‘federal link’ among European countries.