[FR] Letter to Robert Schuman, the Mystery of a Gesture

In France, it is customary to continue addressing someone who was once a member of the government as ‘Minister’ for the rest of their life. This is seen as an indelible mark of their time in office or as a consolation for no longer being in the loop. But you have been dead for a long time, fifty-six years and counting, and your title, preserved for posterity, is more illustrious than that of any French Minister of Finance, Foreign Affairs or Justice, or even Prime Minister, positions which you held in turn. You are counted among the “Fathers of Europe”. The first among them, since your declaration of 9 May 1950 is considered to be the birth certificate of European integration.