Full name:

Altiero Spinelli

Date and place of birth:

31 August 1907, Rome, Kingdom of Italy

Date and place of death:

23 May 1986 (aged 78), Rome, Italy

Education:

• Spinelli joined the Italian Communist Party at 17 years old.
• He was expelled from school due to his anti-fascist activities in 1924. Despite this, he continued his education independently, deeply engaging with Marxist and liberal ideas.
• In 1927 he was arrested by the fascist regime for his political activities and spent the next 16 years in prison and internal exile. During this time, Spinelli studied political theory, economics, and history extensively, preparing for his future work on European integration.

Career:

• After the Second World War: Spinelli established the federalist movement in Italy.
• In the 1960s: Spinelli, as a government adviser and researcher, established the Institute of International Affairs in Rome.
• From 1970 to 1976: Spinelli was a member of the European Commission.

Contribution to Europe:

• The Ventotene Manifesto
  • During his time on Ventotene, Spinelli studied the work of many federalists and eventually came up with one of the first documents "arguing for a European constitution".
  • The document was initially called "Towards a free Europe" and states that any victory over fascist powers would be useless, it led to nothing more than establishing another version of the old European system of sovereign nation-states, but just in different alliances.
  • The Manifesto would have made it impossible to enter into war ever again.
• Movimento Federalista Europeo (Federalist Movement of Europe)
  • After he was released from prison in 1943, Spinelli's writings have served as the programme for Movimento Federalista Europeo, which has been created by him in the same year.
  • In the 1940s and 1950s, Spinelli strongly supported a united Europe and criticised the slow progress toward integration. He argued that organizations like the OECD and the Council of Europe, which kept full national sovereignty, weren't enough.
  • In need of further integration, he persuated Alcide de Gasperi to push for the forming of a European Defence Community, even though it failed.
• The Crocodile Club
  • In 1979, Altiero Spinelli was elected as a member of the European Parliament (MEP).
  • As an MEP, he seized the opportunity to push his Federalist vision for Europe.
  • In 1980, he founded "The Crocodile Club", along with other Federalist-minded MEPs.
  • The Crocodile Club pushed for a new European treaty, proposing that the Parliament should create a committee to draft what would essentially be a European Constitution.
• The Spinelli Plan
  • On 14 February 1984, the "Spinelli Plan" or the "Draft Treaty Establishing the European Union" was approved after his proposal was adopted by the European Parliament with an overwhelming majority.
  • Even though parliaments didn't approve the treaty, it paved the way for the Single European Act in 1986 and the Maastricht Treaty in 1992, which created the EU. Spinelli's passion convinced President Mitterrand to change France's stance on Europe.

Vision for Europe:

• Spinelli envisioned a Europe where sovereign nation-states would be united under a supranational government to ensure lasting peace and prevent the recurrence of wars.

Institute of Altiero Spinelli:

• Altiero Spinelli Institute for Federalist Studies

Useful links:

• The official site of EU
• His life - PDF document
• Wikipedia

Image References:

• Profile picture
• First image
• Second image
• Third image