EMILE NOEL, who died in Italy on August 24th, was in one sense an unlikely person to be described as an architect of European integration. His self effacement was legendary and he courted anonymity throughout his long career. However, in a lifetime as a high official serving the European cause, he contributed more to its progress than some others who will pay more prominent places in our history books.
Nor was his style that of Jean Monnet, someone with whom he was for a time a close collaborator. Monnet achieved a great deal through a capacity to network at the highest political levels Emile Noel, on the other hand, was too reserved to relate intimately to political figures. He was happy to influence events through the classic skills of a higher civil servant.
Emile Noel was born in Constantinople on November 17th, 1922. He graduated in physics and mathematics from the Ecole Normale Supericure in Paris and then joined the Council of Europe in 1949. From 1952 to 1954, during the difficult period leading up to the failure of the European Defence Community, he was director of the Secretariat of the Constitutional Committee of the ad-hoc Assembly which was responsible for the production of a blueprint for a European Political Community. Later he served as chef de cabinet to Guy Mollet, the president of the Consultative Assembly from 1954-1956.
When Mollet became Prime Minister of France in 1956 Emile Noel went with him initially as chef de cabinet. Throughout this period he had been closely associated with Monnet and helped to maintain a vital connection between Monnet and the government in Paris. In March. 1958 he became the first executive secretary of the Commission of the European Economic Community under the first and one of its two great Presidents, Walter Hallstein. Later, following the merger of the three executives (ECSC, EEC, EAEC) in 1967, Emile Noel was appointed secretary general of the single commission headed by Jean Rey. He continued in this post right up to 1987, when he became president of the University Institute in Florence.
During his long period in public service, he demonstrated many of the best attributes of the French civil service and, throughout, his commitment to Europe and to the integrity of his role was total. Roy Jenkins was to describe him later as having a character that was "far too delicate, ironical and complex" to be understood perfectly. Few who knew him would disagree with that description. Nor would they be surprised at Jenkins' account of their first meeting.
He met Emile Noel on a platform of the Gare du Nord in Paris. When he asked Emile on which side of the platform the train that they were to take was situated, "he crossed his wrists in front of his body, assuming the posture worthy of an El Greco painting. Only by looking carefully could I see that one hand extended further than the other on that side was our train. The sign was clear but it required attention to interpret it.
Another president of the commission under whom he served, Gaston Thorn, wrote of him that he was "Europe's prime witness, the conscience of the commission .... a man whose talent and this may come as a surprise to some whose passion was not always easily restrained". That passion was masked, but it helped to direct a formidable intelligence and unfailing energy in the advancement of the process of political and economic integration of our, continent.
His skills were often displayed in the margin of European Council meetings, when his pen provided carefully phrased compromises that permitted progress when none appeared possible. Sometimes he did not decline the use of creative ambiguity, but he never betrayed the responsibility of the commission as guardian of the treaties. All of this was done with a degree of courtesy and a gentleness of manner that endeared him to those with whom he collaborated.
Emile Noel was a friend to Ireland. He had a deep affection for our country, and whilst maintaining with punctilious concern the propriety of his office he assisted in Ireland in whatever way he could over many years. I recall with gratitude the good counsel that he readily provided in difficult moments of internal commission politics and the wisdom of his advice regarding the taking of a portfolio. Others will recall his association with our universities, virtually all of which maintained connections with him.
During his period as the president of the European University Institute in Florence, he had a clear idea of the role that it should play. This may not have entirely accorded with the views of all other interested parties, for Emile Noel was above all a pragmatist rather than an academic. Whilst there, he resided in an apartment high above the wonderful Piazza della Signoria. I remember once being on the roof of the building with him and looking down on a place that has witnessed historic events. He stood in silence for some moments, and then reflected on how the states of Italy had later come together and that Europe would do likewise. Although a man of profound humility, I hope that at the end of his life he felt a sense of legitimate pride at which he had helped to achieve it was a great deal. May he rest in peace.