On 21 April 1956, in Brussels, the Committee of Heads of Delegation of the Intergovernmental Committee established by the Messina Conference adopts the Spaak Report on the Common Market and Euratom.

On 21 April 1956, the Secretariat of the Intergovernmental Committee established by the Messina Conference and chaired by Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian Foreign Minister, publishes the Report of the Heads of Delegation on the Common Market and Euratom, known as the Spaak Report.

On 21 April 1956, commenting on the publication of the Spaak Report, the Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs at the Quai d’Orsay draws up a note which outlines the advantages and disadvantages for France of participation in a European Common Market.

On 27 April 1956, Lambert Schaus, Luxembourg Ambassador in Brussels, sends a letter to Luxembourg Prime Minister Joseph Bech in which he outlines the various amendments that the Luxembourg delegation proposes should be made to the Spaak Report. These amendments were proposed on the basis of discussions in the Council of Government and observations made by the various ministerial departments.

In April 1956, as part of the work of the Intergovernmental Committee established by the Messina Conference, the European Committee for Economic and Social Progress launches an appeal for economic integration in Europe through the establishment of a Common Market.

In 1956, the National Council of French Employers (CNPF) draws up a note in which it records its observations regarding the proposal for a Common Market as set out in the Spaak Report.

In 1956, the National Council of French Employers (CNPF) draws up a report in which it analyses the various points in the Spaak Report on the establishment of a Common Market between the six Member States of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

At the conference held from 25 to 28 March 1987 in Rome to mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), Pierre Uri, former Director of the ‘General Economy’ Department of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), outlines the approach taken, in the spring of 1956, towards the drafting of the final report, by the Heads of Delegation of the Six, on the Common Market and Euratom (‘Spaak Report’).

In his memoirs, Johannes Linthorst Homan, former Head of the Netherlands Delegation during the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom, recalls the work done by the Spaak Committee which, in April 1965, published the report which served as the basis for the Venice Conference held on 29 and 30 May.

Paul-Henri Spaak, President of the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) from 1952 to 1954 and President of the Intergovernmental Committee which, between July 1955 and June 1956, laid the foundations for the future European Economic Community (EEC) and European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom).

On 11 May 1956, basing its actions on the Spaak Report, the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) adopts a resolution in which it sets out its wishes with regard to the establishment of a Common Market and Euratom.

On 11 May 1956, Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian Foreign Minister and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Committee established by the Messina Conference, attends the debates of the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) on the Spaak Report and responds, in particular, to the criticisms of the French delegate, Michel Debré.

From 27 to 29 April 1956, with the help of the Socialist Movement for the United States of Europe (SMUSE), the European Congress of Labour — attended by Paul-Henri Spaak, Sicco Mansholt, Guy Mollet and Jean Monnet — holds a meeting in Paris, at the end of which it adopts a resolution in which it expresses its support for the establishment of a Common Market and emphasises its agricultural, social and institutional implications.

In 1956, Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian Foreign Minister, delivers a lecture to the members of the Royal Belgian Union in Luxembourg, during which he discusses, at length, the economic and political situation in Europe and the arguments in favour of a revival of European integration.

On 14 May 1956, Walter Hallstein, State Secretary at the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), delivers an address to the members of the American Club in Bonn in which, referring in particular to the Spaak Report, he endorses the strategy of ‘small steps’ to relaunch the process of European integration.

On 18 May 1956, the International Confederation of Christian Trade Unions (ICCTU) analyses the report officially submitted on 6 May in Paris by the Committee of Heads of Delegation to the six Foreign Ministers of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) on the establishment of a European Economic Community (EEC) and a European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom).

On 23 June 1956, in connection with the ongoing analysis of the report submitted by the experts to the foreign ministers of the Six on the establishment of a Common Market, the General Directorate of Economic and Financial Affairs within the French Foreign Ministry drafts a note that identifies a series of questions raised in the Spaak Report.

At the conference held from 25 to 28 March 1987 in Rome to mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), Count Jean-Charles Snoy et d'Oppuers, former Head of the Belgian Delegation to the Intergovernmental Committee established by the Messina Conference and to the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom, outlines the position adopted by the United Kingdom and its Chancellor of the Exchequer, Harold Macmillan, on the Report of the Heads of Delegation to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Six on the Common Market and Euratom, commonly known as the Spaak Report.

On 31 March 1956, commenting on the forthcoming publication of the Spaak Report, L’Écho de l’Industrie, the official publication of the Federation of Luxembourg Industrialists (Fedil), speculates on the possible means of reviving European integration.

On 29 April 1956, Félix Gaillard, head of the French delegation to the Intergovernmental Committee established by the Messina Conference, grants an interview to French daily newspaper Le Monde in which he outlines the main thrust of the Spaak Report on the revival of the European integration process.

On 3 May 1956, the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit welcomes the proposals set out in the Spaak Report on further European integration, in particular in the economic field.

On 6 May 1956, as the Spaak Report is published, the daily newspaper La Libre Belgique analyses some of the aspects associated with the Common Market in greater detail, particularly customs duties, quotas and the labour force. While emphasising the importance of taking action, the article presents the structure of the future institutions of the Common Market and hopes that it will not fall prey to ‘excessive bureaucracy’.

On 6 May 1956, the French daily newspaper Le Monde comments on the economic and political implications of the Common Market as envisaged in the Spaak Report, which was drawn up from July 1955 by the Intergovernmental Committee established by the Messina Conference, and was officially submitted that day to the Foreign Ministers of the Six.

On 12 May 1956, L’Écho de l’Industrie, the official publication of the Federation of Luxembourg Industrialists (Fedil), outlines the implications of the Spaak Report for Luxembourg and speculates on the future of European economic integration.

On 14 May 1956, the conservative daily newspaper La Libre Belgique describes the reservations of French employers over the conclusions of the Intergovernmental Committee meeting in Brussels, particularly with regard to customs duties and the omission of the question of the overseas countries and territories. For the Belgian daily newspaper, this reaction from French employers shows that French opposition will prove to be the greatest obstacle in establishing a European Common Market.