Posted on 09 September 2013
During her research stay at the Historical Archives of the European Union, Laura Ulrich, holder of the Postgraduate Research Grant on European Public Finances of the European Court of Auditors talked about her Master’s thesis entitled “Towards Europe – the political role of Heinrich Aigner and the proposal for a European Court of Auditors". During her interview she highlighted the important role played by Heinrich Aigner as a European politician and as the initiator of the establishment of the European Court of Auditors. Ms Ulrich is a ‘Magister’ Student at the Institute of Bavarian History, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and a research assistant at the Institute of Bavarian History.
Who was Heinrich Aigner?
Heinrich Aigner was a Bavarian politician and representative of the Bavarian political party Christian Social Union (CSU). As a member of the German Bundestag from 1957 to 1980 he was nominated in 1961 member of the “European Parliamentary Assembly”. From 1979 until his death in 1988 he was an elected member of the European Parliament.
The biographical study on Mr. Aigner presents an exciting research subject because it allows us to examine the role and the contribution of an individual to the process of European Integration. It also shows how a German politician, or more precisely a Bavarian politician, became motivated to enter European politics based on an idealistic concept of a united Europe. The role of Bavarian politicians in the development of Europe has not yet been examined and l hope my research will help to fill this gap.
How would you describe Mr Aigner?
Born on 25 May 1924 in Erbach in Bavaria Mr. Aigner was known for his strong and determined personality. He started his career as lawyer and obtained a PhD from the University of Erlangen. By character he was an optimist, open-minded and very much in love with life. A former colleague described him once quite adequately as “sympathisches Schlitzohr”.
As member first of the Junge Union, then of the Christian Social Union, he was conservative with strong Christian beliefs. He was a pro-European Federalist by nature and believed firmly in the ideal of a united Europe.
From his regional Bavarian background, how did Mr Aigner become a European politician?
Mr Aigner took part in the Second World War and was for a period made a prisoner of war. There he came to believe that a united Europe was needed to prevent any further outbreaks of war. When he was nominated to represent the German Bundestag at the European Parliamentary Assembly he had already gathered considerable experience in financial questions from his time as member of the German parliament. So it was an obvious step for him to commit himself to financial and budgetary questions on the European level.
What was Aigner’s role in the development of a budgetary control system and the Court of Auditors for the European Communities?
The European Court of Auditors determines Heinrich Aigner’s role as follows: “…at the initiative of Mr Heinrich Aigner, the President of the European Parliament's Budgetary Control Committee, who since 1973 had strongly argued the case for a Community-level external audit body, the European Court of Auditors was established by the Treaty of Brussels of 22 July 1975.” (ECA website)
Thus, we could consider him as the founder of the European Court of Auditors. However, his role in the process of the establishment of the European Court of Auditors has not yet been researched in-depth, and my master thesis should make a contribution to this research gap.
What were Aigner’s main contributions and how did he mark the political development of the European Communities?
He was specifically active in the control of the finances and he fought for more rights in legislation and for direct elections to the European Parliament. While these developments went ahead in small steps, they were nevertheless important for European Integration. Mr. Aigner issued a strong call for more rights for the European Parliament and the establishment of budgetary controls of the European Communities through a Court of Auditors.
Also, he was an activist and made his voice for a united Europe for the people in his home country and his region. He was an active member of the Pan-European Union and established an association of the Pan European Union for Bavaria in Munich. As Chairman of this Union he organised an enormous congress and pro-European manifestation in view of the European direct elections in 1979. This event brought together about 15.000 participants.
How does the Research Grant of the European Court of Auditors and your stay at the Historical Archives of the European Union help with your research?
The personal papers of Heinrich Aigner have been deposited at the Hanns-Seidel Foundation in Munich, but the Historical Archives of the European Union provide a lot more historical documents on Aigner’s role as member of the European Parliament and on the establishment of the Court of Auditors. So it is absolutely necessary to consult the holdings of the Historical Archives of the EU in Florence to help in reconstructing Aigner’s biography and his various activities related to the inception of the budgetary control system and the European Court of Auditors.
Consult the archival fonds of the European Court of Auditors
Postgraduate Research Grant on European Public Finances
The Postgraduate Research Grant on European Public Finances is organised and financed every year by the European Court of Auditors in Luxembourg to enhance research on the history of the Court and the EU financial system at the Historical Archives of the European Union in Florence. The grants are intended to enable researchers to expand their research by accessing and consulting the collections available at the Historical Archives in Florence to which the Court has entrusted its historical archives as well as those of the Audit Board (1958-1977).