The Paul-Henri Spaak Foundation or Fondation Paul-Henri Spaak located in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

(

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

) was founded in 1973, one year after the death

Paul-Henri Spaak Paul-Henri Charles Spaak (; 25 January 1899 – 31 July 1972) was an influential Belgian Socialist politician, diplomat and statesman who thrice served as the prime minister of Belgium and later as the second secretary general of NATO. Nicknam ...

, to continue his work on

European integration European integration is the process of political, legal, social, regional and economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe, or nearby. European integration has primarily but not exclusively come about through the European Union ...

and

transatlantic relations Transatlantic relations refer to the historic, cultural, political, economic and social relations between countries on both side of the Atlantic Ocean. Sometimes it specifically means relationships between the Anglophone North American count ...

. The Foundation organises conferences and seminars, which are published and possesses a major part of Paul-Henri Spaak's

archive An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located. Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...

s. Viscount

Étienne Davignon Étienne, Count Davignon (; born 4 October 1932) is a Belgium, Belgian former diplomat, top civil servant, businessman, and former vice-president of the European Commission, also known as an active participant in organization of the murder of P ...

is the president of the Foundation.

Background

In 1945, Paul-Henri Spaak was elected chairman of the first session of the General Assembly of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

. In 1956, he was chosen by the Council of the

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental transnational military alliance of 32 member states—30 European and 2 North American. Established in the aftermath ...

and he held this office from 1957 until 1961. Paul-Henri Spaak was one of the

Founding fathers of the European Union Founding may refer to: * The formation of a corporation, government, or other organization * The laying of a building's foundation * The casting of materials in a mold See also * Foundation (disambiguation) * Incorporation (disambiguation) ...

and the first

President of the European Parliament The president of the European Parliament presides over the debates and activities of the European Parliament. They also represent the Parliament within the European Union (EU) and internationally. The president's signature is required for Euro ...

(Common Assembly).

Sources

Paul-Henri Spaak archive

External links

Paul-Henri Spaak Foundation
{{Authority control Foundations based in Belgium Organizations established in 1973