Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev promoted the idea of a "Common European Home."

The "Common European Home" was a concept created and espoused by former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. Image File history File links Mikhail_Gorbachev. ... Image File history File links Mikhail_Gorbachev. ... The President of the Soviet Union was the largely ceremonial Head of State of the USSR from 1990 to 1991. ... Mikhail Sergeyevich Gorbachyov (Gorbachev) (help· info) (Russian: ; pronunciation: ) (born March 2, 1931), was leader of the Soviet Union from 1985 until 1991. ...

Gorbachev first presented his concept of "our common European home" or the "all-European house" when visiting Czechoslovakia in April 1987. In his main address in Prague he declared:

We assign an overriding significance to the European course of our foreign policy.... We are resolutely against the division of the continent into military blocs facing each other, against the accumulation of military arsenals in Europe, against everything that is the source of the threat of war. In the spirit of the new thinking we introduced the idea of the "all-European house"... [which] signifies, above all, the acknowledgment of a certain integral whole, although the states in question belong to different social systems and are members of opposing military-political blocs standing against each other. This term includes both current problems and real possibilities for their solution.^[1]

At the time, Eastern European analysts viewed this rhetoric as a way for Gorbachev to prevent an outright revolt of Eastern European countries from the Soviet bloc.^[1] Jim Hoagland wrote that Gorbachev's "Common European Home" and Bush's "Europe Whole and Free" were competing concepts describing the same situation: an economic and ideological collapse of Soviet power concurrent with the European Community gaining new dynamism and economic clout.^[2] Jim Hoagland is an American journalist and two-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize. ... The European Community (EC), most important of three European Communities, was originally founded on March 25, 1957 by the signing of the Treaty of Rome under the name of European Economic Community. ...

On 12 June 1989 Gorbachev arrived in Bonn, and held private talks with Chancellor Helmut Kohl and President Richard von Weizsacker. The following day, Kohl and Gorbachev signed a joint declaration supporting national self-determination, mutual reduction in nuclear and conventional forces, and a "Common European Home" in which Canada and the United States have a role. He also stated that by appropriating Charles de Gaulle's "Europe, from the Atlantic to the Urals" geographical definition, Gorbachev was attempting to keep the Soviet Union presence prescribed.^[3] June 12 is the 163rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (164th in leap years), with 202 days remaining. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX in Roman) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bonn is a city in Germany (19th largest), in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia, located about 20 kilometres south of Cologne on the river Rhine in the north of the Siebengebirge. ... The German head of government has been known as the Chancellor (German: Kanzler) ever since the creation of the post. ... Dr. Helmut Kohl (full name Helmut Josef Michael Kohl) (born April 3, 1930) is a German conservative politician and statesman. ... The Federal President (German: Bundespräsident, formerly Reichspräsident) is Germanys head of state. ... Dr. Richard Freiherr von Weizsäcker (  listen?, born April 15, 1920) is a German politician (CDU). ... Self-determination is a principle in international law that a people ought to be able to determine their own governmental forms and structure free from outside influence. ...

In his July 6, 1989 speech before the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, Gorbachev declared: July 6 is the 187th day of the year (188th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 178 days remaining. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX in Roman) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Palace of Europe in Strasbourg The Council of Europe (French: Conseil de lEurope, German: Europarat) is an international organisation of 46 member states in the European region. ... City motto: – City proper (commune) Région Alsace Département Bas-Rhin (67) Mayor Fabienne Keller (UMP) (since 2001) Area 78. ...

The philosophy of the "Common European Home" concept rules out the probability of an armed clash and the very possibility of the use of force or threat of force – alliance against alliance, inside the alliances, wherever. This philosophy suggests that a doctrine of restraint should take the place of the doctrine of deterrence. This is not just a play on words but the logic of European development prompted by life itself.^[2]

On November 29, 1989, Gorbachev, en route to the upcoming Malta summit with President George H.W. Bush, arrived in Italy. He gave a speech the next day at the Rome city hall in which he sketched out the notion of the "Common European Home" as commonwealth of sovereign and economically interdependent nations. He then also proposed a 1990 meeting of CSCE, and met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican the following day.^[3] November 29 is the 333rd (in leap years the 334th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX in Roman) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The presidential seal was first used by president Hayes in 1880 and last modified in 1959 by adding the 50th star for Hawaii The President of the United States of America (often abbreviated to POTUS) is the head of state of the United States. ... Order: 41st President Vice President: Dan Quayle Term of office: January 20, 1989 – January 20, 1993 Preceded by: Ronald Reagan Succeeded by: Bill Clinton Date of birth: June 12, 1924 Place of birth: Milton, Massachusetts First Lady: Barbara Pierce Bush Political party: Republican George Herbert Walker Bush, KBE (born June... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni (Left-Wing Democrats) Area  - City Proper  1285 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2. ... // Definition and linguistics The original phrase common wealth or the common weal is a calque translation of the Latin term res publica (public thing), from which the word republic comes, which was itself used as a synonym for the Greek politeia as well as for the republican (i. ... Look up Sovereign in Wiktionary, the free dictionary The adjective sovereign is used to refer to a state of sovereignty. ... Interdependence is a dynamic of being mutually responsible to and dependent on others. ... The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is an international organization for security. ... Pope John Paul II (Latin: ), born Karol Józef WojtyÅ‚a (May 18, 1920 – April 2, 2005) reigned as pope of the Roman Catholic Church for almost 27 years, from October 16, 1978 until his death, making his the second-longest pontificate. ...

At the time, analysts such as Robert D. Hormats saw the nascent European Community as primely positioned to take on the role of a Common European Home due to its "moral, political and social – as well as economic – strength."^[4] Ronald D. Asmus noted that "Gorbachev's vision of a Common European Home was predicated on the belief that reform in Eastern Europe could be controlled and that reformist communist parties would continue to play an important role in their countries' politics, including in the G.D.R."^[5] Finally, Coit D. Blacker wrote that Soviet leadership "appeared to have believed that whatever loss of authority the Soviet Union might suffer in Eastern Europe would be more than offset by a net increase in its influence in western Europe."^[6] The European Community (EC), most important of three European Communities, was originally founded on March 25, 1957 by the signing of the Treaty of Rome under the name of European Economic Community. ...

References

1. ^ ^a b Milan Svec. "The Prague Spring: 20 Years Later." Foreign Affairs. Summer 1988.
2. ^ ^a b Jim Hoagland. "Europe's Destiny." Foreign Affairs. 1989/1990.
3. ^ ^a b "Chronology 1989; East-West Relations." Foreign Affairs. Fall 1989-1990. pp. 230
4. ^ ^a Robert D. Hormats. "Redefining Europe and the Atlantic Link." Foreign Affairs. Fall 1989.
5. ^ ^a Ronald D. Asmus. "A United Germany." Foreign Affairs. Spring 1990.
6. ^ ^a Coit D. Blacker. "The Collapse of Soviet Power in Europe." Foreign Affairs. 1990.

Foreign Affairs is an American journal of international relations. ...

See also

• "New world order": a slogan used by Gorbachev and Bush to describe the nature of the post-Cold War international system.