The sense of belonging to a common European cultural and spiritual family, which entails brotherhood and respect for man’s personal freedom, needs to be fostered constantly. Such a spirit will encourage the willingness to share personal interests with those of others and the practice of solidarity. This in turn will foster the openness necessary for a unification of interests.
"Schuman stressed the importance of a 'European spirit' that needed to permeate this European enterprise".
The importance of the individual
Schuman would likely have objected to the federalist failure to focus on the main reason of European unification, which is not the economy nor integration for its own sake, but the person and the common European heritage with the consequent solidarity through specific deeds.
Referring this concept of man and solidarity to the Schuman Plan, meant that the Plan would lead to a unity in diversity in which the human person with his transcendence is of great importance and is at the base of the effective solidarity among the Europeans.
For all this to happen in the right way Schuman stressed the importance of a ‘European spirit’ that needed to permeate this European enterprise and that was to be found in the European cultural heritage with its Christian roots in which the human person played a pivotal role.