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Tandis que les Suisses, soutenus par les Autrichiens et les Italiens, souhaitent la mise sur pied d’une « entente organique entre les partis de même inspiration », les Belges avec l’appui des Hollandais et surtout des Français l’excluent absolument, préférant à cette dernière une forme d’association plus souple réunissant plus des personnalités que des partis. Le congrès fondateur de Chaudfontaine près de Liège (31 mai-2 juin 1947) marque le triomphe de la thèse belge.
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In 1945, a Christian Democrat Information Service was apparently established in view of preparing for the postwar period. A first international conference of leaders from European democratic parties of Christian inspiration was convened in Lucerne in late February 1947 at the initiative of the Swiss conservative party. While the Swiss, with the support of the Austrians and Italians, wanted to create an “organic agreement between parties of the same inspiration,” the Belgians, with the support of the Dutch and especially the French, absolutely excluded this possibility, preferring instead a kind of more flexible association bringing together personalities more than parties. The founding Congress in Chaudfontaine near Liège (May 31-June 2, 1947) marked the triumph of the Belgian approach. The New International Teams (NEI) created at the time aimed at “establishing regular contacts between social personalities of popular Democratic inspiration.” Unlike other European groups, the Popular Republican Movement (MRP) refused to join as a party. The second congress held at Luxembourg in late January 1948 represents an important date in the brief history of the NEIs. A German delegation, led by the former burgomaster of Cologne (and future Chancellor of the Federal Republic) Konrad Adenauer, was welcomed there for the first time. “The solution to the German problem depends on the general restoration of Europe, and vice versa. To achieve these two solidary goals, we must first and foremost recapture or preserve fidelity to the heritage of Christian civilization,” stated the final motion of the Congress. After joining the Coordination Committee of European Unity Movements, the NEIs took part with full rights in the major Congress of Europe, held in The Hague in May 1948. They did not play a prominent role there, as their spokesperson, the Dutchman Emmanuel Sassen, was content at the final session with proposing the implementation of limited institutions in specific domains, but all the same endowed with a “real authority.” Held once again in the Dutch capital three months later, the third congress, which was on the subject of “the political and economic unification of Europe,” revealed the profound differences between a federalist (minority) and unionist (majority) branch. The congress decided on “the convening of a European Assembly” that was of a “purely advisory [nature], with no decision-making or legislative power,” in line with governmental projects being prepa
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