On 26 April 1956, Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian Foreign Minister and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Committee established by the Messina Conference, sends a letter to his German, French, Italian, Luxembourg and Netherlands counterparts in which he proposes the adoption of rules so that a Euratom Member State might depart from the principle according to which European States are committed to the development of nuclear energy and the nuclear industry for peaceful purposes.