They understood that building barriers between countries would make them more vulnerable and less secure, not least due to their geographical proximity; and that withdrawing behind one’s borders would make governments less effective. De Gasperi’s vision of how this joint process should be shaped was articulated in various speeches he gave in those years.
Common challenges should be addressed via supranational instead of intergovernmental strategies. Speaking to the assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community in 1954, De Gasperi noted that “…from 1919 to 1939, some seventy international treaties were concluded – and all became mere pieces of paper when it came to their implementation” because of the lack of “joint control of common resources”.