# Altiero Spinelli Back to [[Economic Freedom and Prosperity]] · [[Case Studies/EU Treaty Referendums 2005-2009|Case study]] **Role:** Italian federalist (1907–1986) ◻. With Ernesto Rossi he wrote the 1941 "Ventotene Manifesto" while confined by the Fascist regime ✔ (via search summary, [CVCE](https://www.cvce.eu/content/publication/1997/10/13/316aa96c-e7ff-4b9e-b43a-958e96afbecc/publishable_en.pdf)). - The manifesto argues that absolute national sovereignty leads states to dominate others and to war, and calls for a European federation ✔ (via search summary). This is the strongest textual basis for the post's "nations caused the wars, so nations had to be dissolved" line. It is one strand of postwar thinking, not the founding text of the EU. - The 1950 Schuman Declaration is a different, functional approach: pool coal and steel so war between France and Germany becomes "not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible" ✔ ([EU history page](https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/history-eu/1945-59/schuman-declaration-may-1950_en), via search summary). - **In X research:** see [[Users/@brivael/Post Analyses/Post Analysis - brivael on Globalism as an Ideology That Won (2026-11-01)|post analysis]] row 2 of the claim table. Whether Spinelli's manifesto is "the founding belief" of the EU is a judgement; I did not find evidence that @brivael cites him. Key: ✔ confirmed this session · ◻ standard knowledge, not opened this session · ⚠️ unconfirmed.