On 5 May 1949 in London, Robert Schuman, French Foreign Minister, signs the Statute of the Council of Europe.

Robert Schuman, the initiator of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

Group photograph taken at the signing of the Treaty of Paris establishing the European Coal and Steel Community. From left to right: Paul van Zeeland (B), Joseph Bech (L), Joseph Meurice (B), Carlo Sforza (I), Robert Schuman (F), Konrad Adenauer (BRD), Dirk Stikker (NL) and Johannes van den Brink (NL).

‘Refused!’ In 1954, Pierre Mendès France, French Prime Minister, refuses any form of participation by German forces in a European Defence Community (EDC), despite pleas from the US Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, and the British Foreign Secretary, Anthony Eden.

'Hallo, over here!' In 1954, even if re-armed West Germany cannot accede to the abandoned European Defence Community, the doors of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) remain wide open to the West German troops.