View source for Paneuropean Union

{{distinguish|European Union|Pan-European identity}}
{{redirect-distinguish|Pan-Europe|Pan-European (disambiguation){{!}}Pan-European}}
{{short description|Oldest European unification movement}}
{{Infobox organization
| name = International Paneuropean Union
| image = International Paneuropean Union flag.svg
| image_border = 
| size = 200px
| alt = 
| caption = The stars from the [[flag of Europe]] have been added to the Paneuropean flag in 1955.<ref> This flag variant was displayed at the [[Death and funeral of Otto von Habsburg|funeral procession for Otto of Habsburg]] in 2011.</ref>
| map = Former Flag of the International Paneuropean Union.svg
| msize = 200px
| malt = 
| mcaption = Original flag (1922)
| abbreviation = PEU
| motto = 
| formation = {{start date|1923}}
| extinction = 
| type = [[International organisation]]
| status = [[NGO]]
| purpose = [[European integration|European unification movement]]
| headquarters = [[Strasbourg]]
| location = France
| region_served = [[Europe]]
| membership = 
| language = 
| leader_title = President
| leader_name = [[Pavo Barišić]]
| main_organ = General Assembly
| parent_organization = 
| affiliations = 
| num_staff = 
| num_volunteers = 
| budget = 
| website = {{URL|http://www.international-paneuropean-union.eu/}}
| remarks = 
}}

The '''International Paneuropean Union''', also referred to as the '''Pan-European Movement''' and the '''Pan-Europa Movement''', is an international organisation and the oldest [[European integration|European unification movement]]. It began with the publishing of [[Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi]]'s manifesto ''Paneuropa'' (1923), which [[Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi#Pan-European political activist|presented the idea of a unified European State]]. The Union's General Secretariat is located in [[Munich]], but maintains branches across Europe.

Since February 2025, the President of the Union is [[Pavo Barišić]], while [[Alain Terrenoire]] serves as the Honorary President.<ref>[https://pavobarisic.eu/index.php/en/news-1/258-fourth-president-of-the-pan-european-union Fourth President of the Pan-European Union]</ref> The current vice president is [[Walburga Habsburg Douglas]], a former member of the [[Swedish Parliament]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.riksdagen.se/sv/ledamoter-partier/ledamot/walburga-habsburg-douglas_0181728423812 | title=Walburga Habsburg Douglas (M) - Riksdagen }}</ref>

==History==
[[File:Paneur grenzübergang 130609.JPG|thumb|right|The Austrian-Hungarian border crossing where the [[Pan-European Picnic]] took place in 1989]]
Coudenhove-Kalergi, a member of the Bohemian [[Coudenhove-Kalergi]] family and the son of [[Heinrich von Coudenhove-Kalergi|an Austro-Hungarian diplomat]] and [[Mitsuko Aoyama|a Japanese mother]], was the organisation's central figure and President until his death in 1972.{{cn|date=September 2024}}

As [[French prime minister]] and follower of the Paneuropean Union [[Aristide Briand]] delivered a widely recognized speech at the [[League of Nations]] in [[Geneva]] on 5 September 1929 for a [[federal Europe]] to secure Europe and settle the historic [[Franco-German enmity]].<ref name="Schulz 2010 g046">{{cite web | last=Schulz | first=Matthias | title=Der Briand-Plan und der Völkerbund als Verhandlungsarena für die europäische Einigung zwischen den Kriegen | publisher=IEG(http://www.ieg-mainz.de) | date=December 3, 2010 | url=http://ieg-ego.eu/de/threads/europaeische-netzwerke/politische-netzwerke/europa-netzwerke-der-zwischenkriegszeit/matthias-schulz-briand-plan-und-voelkerbund-in-der-zwischenkriegszeit | language=de | access-date=November 16, 2023}}</ref><ref name="Nelsson 2019 n549">{{cite web | last=Nelsson | first=Richard | title=Aristide Briand's plan for a United States of Europe | website=the Guardian | date=September 5, 2019 | url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/from-the-archive-blog/2019/sep/05/aristide-briands-plan-for-united-states-of-europe-september-9 | access-date=November 16, 2023}}</ref>

The organisation was prohibited by [[Nazi Germany]] in 1933, and was founded again after the [[Second World War]].<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42555262|jstor = 42555262|title = Coudenhove-Kalergi's Pan-Europe Movement on the Questions of International Politics during the 1920s|last1 = Kövics|first1 = E.|last2 = Boros-Kazai|first2 = Mary|journal = Acta Historica Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae|year = 1979|volume = 25|issue = 3/4|pages = 233–266}}</ref> [[Winston Churchill]] lauded the movement's work for a unified Europe prior to the war in his famous Zurich speech in 1946.<ref>Michael Gehler; Wolfram Kaiser, Helmut Wohnout: ''Christdemokratie in Europa im 20. Jahrhundert: Christian democracy in 20th century Europe.'' Böhlau Verlag Wien, 2001, {{ISBN|3205993608}}, Seiten&nbsp;595.</ref><ref>Trevor C. Salmon; William Nicoll: ''Building European Union: a documentary history and analysis.'' Manchester University Press, 1997, {{ISBN|0719044464}}, Seite&nbsp;26.</ref> The French branch was founded by [[Georges Pompidou]] and [[Louis Terrenoire]], subsequently French President and Minister for Information respectively, with the support of [[Charles de Gaulle]]. [[Otto von Habsburg]], the head of the [[Habsburg dynasty]] and former Crown Prince of [[Austria-Hungary]], became involved with the Paneuropean Union in the 1930s, was elected its Vice President in 1957 and became its International President in 1973, after Coudenhove's death. 

The organisation was much reviled by the communist regimes of the [[Eastern Bloc]]. The organisation became renowned for its role in organising the [[Pan-European Picnic]], an important event during the [[Revolutions of 1989]].

As of 2023, the Paneuropean Union Parliamentary Group in the [[European Parliament]] consists of over 120 members from nearly all of the [[Member state of the European Union|EU Member States]] and meets regularly during the sessions of the Parliament in Strasbourg.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=http://www.international-paneuropean-union.eu/#/EN/History_of_PEU|title=Paneurope|website=www.international-paneuropean-union.eu}}</ref>

==Ideology==
{{Christian democracy sidebar |expanded=organizations}}
The organisation believes in a strong, politically and militarily, united Europe while supporting [[Humanism|humanist]] and [[Christian values|Christian]] values. The EPU is committed to uniting the diverse peoples of Europe, promoting peace, [[liberty]], and [[rule of law]], and for developing stronger [[democracy]] and [[human rights]] across Europe. The organisation supports the [[enlargement of the European Union]] and encourages all [[List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Europe|European countries]] to gain full [[EU]] membership. The EPU advocates the EU to become an independent, self-sufficient, and peaceful [[Potential superpower#European Union|superpower]]. The EPU also believes in maintaining a European [[Common Security and Defence Policy]], and establishing a [[European army]] alongside strong cooperation with [[NATO]].<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite web | url=https://paneuropa.org/grundsaetze | title=Grundsätze }}</ref>

==Member organisations==
As of July 2023, the Paneuropean Union consists of member organizations in 32 countries across Europe:<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.international-paneuropean-union.eu/#/EN/Member_Organisations|title=Member Organisations|publisher=Paneurope}}</ref>
{{div col}}
* [[Albania]]
* [[Andorra]]
* [[Armenia]]
* [[Austria]]
* [[Belgium]]
* [[Bosnia and Herzegovina]]
* [[Bulgaria]]
* [[Croatia]]
* [[Czech Republic]]
* [[Estonia]]
* [[Finland]]
* [[France]]
* [[Germany]]
* [[Hungary]]
* [[Italy]]
* [[Kosovo]]
* [[Latvia]]
* [[Luxembourg]]
* [[Montenegro]]
* [[Netherlands]]
* [[North Macedonia]]
* [[Poland]]
* [[Portugal]]
* [[Romania]]
* [[San Marino]]
* [[Serbia]]
* [[Slovakia]]
* [[Slovenia]]
* [[Spain]]
* [[Sweden]]
* [[Switzerland]]
* [[Ukraine]]
{{div col end}}

==Presidents==
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center"
|-
! {{abbr|No.|Number}}
! class="unsortable" |Image
! Name
! Term
! Notes
|-
! 1
| [[File:Graf Richard Nikolaus von Coudenhove-Kalergi (1894–1972) ~1930.jpg|100px]]
| [[Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi]]<br>{{small|Count of [[Coudenhove-Kalergi]]<br>(1894–1972)}}
| 1923–1972
| Elected the first international president in 1926
|-
! 2
| [[File:Otto von Habsburg, MEP (1912–2011).jpg|100px]]
| [[Otto von Habsburg]]<br>{{small|MEP for [[Germany]]<br>(1912–2011)}}
| 1973–2004
| Former Crown Prince Otto of Austria-Hungary
|-
! 3
| [[File:Alain-Terrenoire.jpg|100px]]
| [[Alain Terrenoire]]<br>{{small|MEP for [[France]]<br>(born 1941)}}
| 2004–2025
| Former Member of Parliament and MEP, France
|-
! 4
| [[File:Barisicpavo.jpg|100px]]
| [[Pavo Barišić]]<br>{{small|(born 1959)}}
| 2025–present
| Former [[Ministry of Science and Education (Croatia)|Minister of Science and Education]], Croatia
|}

==Individual members==
The Paneuropean Union lists the following as historical members:<ref>Richard Vaughan, ''Twentieth-Century Europe: Paths to Unity'', [[Taylor & Francis]], 1979, {{ISBN|0064971724}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.international-paneuropean-union.eu/#/EN/History_of_PEU|title=Pan-Europa – The parent idea of a united Europe|publisher=Paneurope}}</ref>
{{div col|colwidth=15em}}
* [[Konrad Adenauer]]
* [[Raymond Barre]]
* [[Léon Blum]]
* [[Aristide Briand]]
* [[Paul Claudel]]
* [[Benedetto Croce]]
* [[Albert Einstein]]
* [[Sigmund Freud]]
* [[Charles de Gaulle]]
* [[Alfons Goppel]]
* [[Otto von Habsburg]]
* [[Gerhart Hauptmann]]
* [[Bronisław Huberman]]
* [[Bruno Kreisky]]
* [[Paul Löbe]]
* [[Salvador de Madariaga]]
* [[Heinrich Mann]]
* [[Thomas Mann]]
* [[Johan Ludwig Mowinckel]]
* [[Fridtjof Nansen]]
* [[José Ortega y Gasset]]
* [[Georges Pompidou]]
* [[Rainer Maria Rilke]]
* [[Arthur Schnitzler]]  
* [[Kurt Schuschnigg]]
* [[Franz Josef Strauß]]
* [[Richard Strauss]]
* [[Gustav Stresemann]]
* [[Paul Valéry]]
* [[Franz Werfel]]
* [[Stefan Zweig]]
{{div col end}}

== See also ==
{{Portal|Europe|European Union|Politics}}
* [[European integration]] – mainly through the European Union and the Council of Europe
* [[Euroscepticism]] – opposition to the process of political European integration
* [[PanEuropa Armenia]] – the Armenian branch of Paneuropean Union
* [[Pan-European identity]]
* [[Politics of Europe]]
* [[Pro-Europeanism]]
* [[European Federation|United States of Europe]]

== References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Paneuropean Union}}

* {{official website|http://www.international-paneuropean-union.eu/}}
* [https://www.facebook.com/people/International-Paneuropean-Union/100079037683808/ Paneuropean Union] on Facebook
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20190423192809/http://www.coudenhove-kalergi-society.eu/ European Society Coudenhove-Kalergi]
* Archival sources on the [http://archives.eui.eu/en/fonds/181668?item=PAN/EU Paneuropean Union] at the [http://www.eui.eu/Research/HistoricalArchivesOfEU/Index.aspx Historical Archives of the EU] 
* ''[https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/006068403 Pan-Europa]'' by Richard N. Coudenhove-Kalergi

{{Christian Democracy}}
{{Europe_topics_(small)|state=collapsed}}
{{regional organizations}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Anti-communist organizations]]
[[Category:Anti-nationalism in Europe]]
[[Category:Christianity and political ideologies]]
[[Category:Cross-European advocacy groups]]
[[Category:Democracy movements]]
[[Category:Eurofederalism]]
[[Category:European integration]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1923]]
[[Category:Organisations based in Munich]]
[[Category:Pan-Europeanism]]
[[Category:Politics of Europe]]
[[Category:Pro-Europeanism]]
[[Category:Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi]]
[[Category:1923 establishments in Europe]]