Monnet wrote his great proposal of the European Coal and Steel Union during a two-week cross country skiing holiday on the Alps in the winter of 1950. He made his skiing trip alone, with only a guide helping him to find his way. European integration can only be understood against its historical background and especially the two world wars.
The Community was founded on the necessity of ending the historical antagonisms between the great European powers. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  Jean Monnet stressed that there could be no peace in Europe, if states continued to be structured around the sort of national sovereignty that leads to politics of privilege and economic protectionism.