Hello and welcome to EU Untangle, the podcast that untangles EU policy and politics.

I'm your host, Victor Aguilar, and today I'm joined by my colleague, Martina Dom Ladovats.

Hello, hi.

It's Martina's first time behind the mic, but not her first time on the pod.

She has been working with us already for a while, and we're super happy to have her as a co-host today.

The episode that we have for you will revisit the life of one of the founding parents of the European Union, Robert Schumann.

And trust me, there is plenty of things that bear Schumann's name.

There is a roundabout, a whole neighborhood, a metro station, and the European Parliament's

traineeship program is also named after Robert Schumann, the Schumann traineeship. And there is also

the Schumann declaration itself, of course. But it all begs the question, who was Schumann?

Who was this person whose name is all over the place, at least in Brussels,

the European capital? And what was his main contribution to the EU? Well, Victor, before jumping

into Schumann's life, we want to make it clear who we're talking about. Because, for example,

if you try to Google him, your first result might be the other famous Robert Schumann.

Wait a second, there is another famous Robert Schumann.

Oh, yes, yes.

We're, of course, talking about a German composer who lived in 19th century.

Hmm.

Interestingly, they're not related.

And even their last name is written slightly differently.

For example, double N for a German composer, is typical for Germany, while last name

spelled with one N is usually a French adaptation to German last name, which is the name of our Robert Schumann.

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