In an interview conducted on 26 March 1997 in Brussels during the commemorative events held to mark the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), Jean-François Deniau, former member of the French delegation to the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom, explains the agreement adopted during the Val Duchesse negotiations on trade relations between the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and the German Democratic Republic (GDR).