The genesis of a supranational representation. The formation of political groups at the Common Assembly of the ECSC, 1952-1958

The article examines the increasing role of political groups (Christian Democrats, Socialists and Liberals) in the life of the first Community representative Assembly. The task of the Common assembly of the ECSC was to represent the peoples of the member states of the Community. If the weight of national delegations was very strong at the beginning, the need for aggregation on a political basis was felt with increasing intensity, and political groups were officially recognised in June 1953 and given a financial contribution, although, in the hemicycle, members continued paradoxically to seat by alphabetical order. The article analyses the organization of the three groups and the way they tried to harmonize the interests of the national components by a supranational approach. Particular attention is given in the article to the development of political cleavages: were these cleavages limited to sectoral aspects, or did they concern the fundamental goals of the Community and the way to conceive the relationship between the institutions? The main sources of the article are the records of the Common Assembly in the Historical Archives of the European Union in Florence and in the Archives of the European Parliament in Luxembourg, the records of the Socialist Group located in Florence, and the records of the Christian Democratic group in the Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, in St. Augustin (Bonn).