How an 18th-century French abbot still sways the EU
Saint-Pierre described a union of nations in clunky prose to make Brussels proud
![](https://www.economist.com/cdn-cgi/image/width=1424,quality=80,format=auto/sites/default/files/images/print-edition/20210821_EUD000_0.jpg)
THE “Project for Bringing About Perpetual Peace in Europe” did not receive rave reviews when published in 1713. Voltaire thought the author, the Abbot of Saint-Pierre, was deluded. “The peace…will no more be realised than among elephants, rhinoceroses, wolves, or dogs,” he wrote. Showing less understanding of nature than of politics, he added: “Carnivorous animals will always tear one another to pieces at the first opportunity.”
This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “The EU: 1713 edition”
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