"According to Schuman, Europe is a continent where dialogue is preferred to armed conflict, and where resources are shared so that 'any war... becomes not only unthinkable but materially impossible'."
Partnership for Peace and Prosperity: a Peace plan inspired by the Venerable Schuman
The Venerable Schuman Legacy Foundation has advocated since 2022 a Peace plan inspired by the Venerable Robert Schuman, in which the Prosperity of all is the engine of Peace and the best security guarantee for all. Its core concept, resources placed in common, carries a formidable track record: 75 years of Peace among the Member States of the European Union, today 27 countries and 450 million persons living in prosperity.
The plan rests on the law that Europe gave itself for Peace. Article 3(1) of the Treaty on European Union states that "the Union's aim is to promote peace, its values and the well-being of its peoples"; Article 21(2)(c) commits the Union to "preserve peace, prevent conflicts and strengthen international security, in accordance with the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter". On that ground, the Foundation's Peace plan for Ukraine proposes to unleash the prosperity of the Northern Hemisphere through three instruments:
- 1
Free trade
Free trade in four markets: energy; natural resources; information technologies; intellectual property.
- 2
Shared ownership
Shared ownership of the logistics of the energy markets: pipelines, storage, terminals and interconnectors co-owned, at market price, by the parties they serve, so that every party holds a stake too valuable to lose.
- 3
Mutual security
A non-aggression and mutual assistance clause in defence.
An agreement within the Northern Hemisphere to enable the Prosperity of all through these markets allows the belligerents to cease fire and to open sound negotiations.
A Schuman-inspired path to Peace, in four steps
Concrete achievements first, as on 9 May 1950: each step creates the interest in the next.
- 1
Common Targets for Prosperity
- Instrument: a short, binding Memorandum of Understanding between Ukraine, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom, the European Union and the United States of America.
- Common, specific targets for Prosperity for All.
- An Article 5-type clause of mutual assistance.
All conditioned on the end of the war
- 2
A total ceasefire between the belligerents
- For the time needed to negotiate the treaties.
- The reconstruction of Ukraine initiated at once, as a common responsibility of all parties.
Negotiations under the Memorandum
- 3
A Peace Treaty between Ukraine and the Russian Federation
- The United Kingdom, the European Union and the United States of America as parties.
- The method of Peace through Prosperity written into the Treaty: gradual implementation of four free trade agreements, in energy, natural resources, information technologies and intellectual property.
Peace through Prosperity, by treaty
- 4
Partnership for Peace and Prosperity
- Instrument: the Partnership for Peace and Prosperity in operation, Peace and Prosperity unleashed.
- Shared markets and co-owned logistics across the Northern Hemisphere.
- Reconciliation projects between the peoples, in culture, science, faith and youth.
Resources shared, war materially impossible
The Foundation offers its good offices and the private settings in which it operates for each step; the decisions belong to the parties.
Independence, international law and human rights
The Foundation is independent and impartial in its views: it fosters solutions that serve all populations, first of all those most affected by armed conflicts. It receives, in a private capacity, all parties to the conflicts, in the hope of creating Unity between them around the Venerable Schuman's concepts.
The Foundation upholds international law and the territorial integrity of every country recognised by the United Nations (Charter of the United Nations, Article 2(4)), and the rights and freedoms guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights, which its Preamble names "the foundation of justice and peace in the world": first among them the right to life (Article 2) and the peaceful enjoyment of possessions (Article 1 of Protocol No. 1), on which every shared ownership rests.
From Europe to the Northern Hemisphere
As the Founders of Europe did, the Foundation holds that the core solution, sharing resources, enshrined in binding European law since the Treaty of Paris of 18 April 1951 and, for nuclear materials, in Article 86 of the Euratom Treaty, can be extended to the entire Northern Hemisphere and unleash Peace and Prosperity for all, beginning with Ukraine. Such are the "creative efforts", proportionate to the dangers which threaten Peace, that the Declaration of 9 May 1950 calls for and that the Holy Father affirmed in Metz must be made.
Prosperity for all: what the energy markets alone bring
Energy is the first of the four markets, and the one the Foundation has measured. Free trade and shared ownership in energy alone bring about USD 2.5 trillion a year to the European Union, the United States of America, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and Türkiye together. Every party gains; the three other markets add to these figures.
What each party gains every year
In USD billion a year at full effect, and in share of each economy.
What each European country gains every year
The European Union's USD 1,220 billion a year, country by country.
Who receives the ten-year gain
- European Union 50 %
- United States of America 20 %
- Russian Federation 11 %
- Ukraine 10 %
- United Kingdom 6 %
- Türkiye 3 %
Where the prosperity comes from
- Energy prices back to competitive levels
- Industry and investment recovering
- The fragmentation of the continent reversed
- Part of the rearmament returned to productive investment
- The productivity of a larger market
Sources of the economic figures
European Commission (in 't Veld 2019; quarterly gas market reports; Draghi report 2024) · International Monetary Fund (Staff Discussion Note 2023/001; Working Papers WP/22/143 and WP/22/145; World Economic Outlook) · World Trade Organization (World Trade Report 2023) · Bank of Finland, BOFIT (2022) · World Bank, Ukraine Rapid Damage and Needs Assessment (February 2026) · European Defence Agency, NATO and SIPRI (defence expenditure) · Kiel Institute, Ukraine Support Tracker · Eurostat · Energy Information Administration of the United States of America · Bank of Russia and Russian Ministry of Finance · Office for National Statistics and Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (United Kingdom) · Campos, Coricelli and Moretti (2019); Frankel and Romer (1999); ifo Institute for the Bertelsmann Stiftung (2016) · Venerable Schuman Legacy Foundation, Peace dividend model (October 2026), central scenario. Long-run level effects on GDP, by channel, each bounded by a published estimate; market channels reach full effect over 5 years, productivity channels over 10; 4 % nominal growth.
References.
Leo XIV, address at the Robert Schuman Conference Centre, Metz, 28 September 2026 · Schuman Declaration, 9 May 1950 · Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community, Paris, 18 April 1951 · Treaty on European Union, Article 3(1) and Article 21(2)(c) · Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, Article 86 · European Convention on Human Rights, Preamble, Article 2, and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 · Charter of the United Nations, Article 1(1) and Article 2(4).