to German industry. Schuman aimed to prevent coal and steel firms from acting as cartels which could restrict supply by national market. The Schuman Plan would mean the pooling of markets and the expansion of production. This was viewed as a force for peace in Europe, since the single market would make a war between France and Germany "materially impossible." Schuman promoted initiatives to unite Europe while he was the Prime Minister of France (1947–48) and foreign minister from 1948–52. He spoke about the principles of sharing European resources in a supranational union at the signing of the Statute of the Council of Europe in London, 5 May 1949. Aims and drafting In drafting the Schuman Declaration, Jean Monnet had input from Paul Reuter, a consultant in international law to the French foreign ministry and Professor of Law at Aix-en-Provence; and Etienne Hirsch. (The draft documents of the Declaration were published by the Jean Monnet Foundation.) The Schuman proposal was agreed on after the French cabinet discussion on 9 May 1950. Earlier in the day, Schuman had been assured that it had the support of German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer. The Schuman Declaration says "The coming together of the nations of Europe requires the elimination of the age-old opposition of France and Germany." The French government "proposes that Franco-German production of coal and steel as a whole be placed under a common High Authority, within the framework of an organization open to the participation of other countries of Europe." The pooling of coal and steel production should allow for a common foundation for economic development and "will make it plain that any war between France and Germany becomes not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible." Importantly, by pooling basic production and by instituting the new High Authority — whose decisions bind France, Germany and other member countries — "this proposal will lead to the realization of the first concrete foundation of a European federation indispensable to the preservation of peace." The Declaration had several aims: the birth of Europe as a political entity to make war between member states impossible to encourage world peace to form an anti-cartel agency in the coal and steel industries of member countries to revitalize the European economy as a whole starting with the coal and steel sectors to offer production in coal and steel to the world without distinction or exception, with the aim of raising