In this interview, Edmund Wellenstein, Secretary-General of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) between 1960 and 1967, explains the conditions in which the Community executive bodies were merged between 1965 and 1967, particularly identifying the need to defend the historical prerogatives of the High Authority.

In this interview, Edmund Wellenstein, Secretary-General of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) between 1960 and 1967, describes how the High Authority reacted to the political crisis known as the ‘empty chair’ crisis, which took place from 1965 to 1966.

Am 10. August 1952 eröffnet der luxemburgische Regierungschef Joseph Bech in Luxemburg die erste Sitzung der Hohen Behörde der EGKS mit einer Rede, in der er über den Verlauf der Regierungsverhandlungen im Vorfeld des am 18. April 1951 in Paris unterzeichneten Vertrages berichtet.

Der Niederländer Dirk Spierenburch (links), Mitglied der Hohen Behörde der Europäischen Gemeinschaft für Kohle und Stahl (EGKS), und René Mayer (rechts), Präsident der Hohen Behörde, im Gespräch.

On 27 June 1956, the day after the start of the Val Duchesse negotiations, the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) drafts a note that analyses the impact of labour costs on competition and on the cost price of production, based on the experience of the ECSC. One of the main arguments put forward in France against the policy of European economic integration is that social security charges, employee contributions and taxes in France are higher and therefore weigh more heavily on cost prices than in other European countries. This situation would lead to distortions of competition in an overall Common Market and would put the French economy at a disadvantage.

On 11 November 1950, Paul Leroy-Beaulieu, Head of the General Directorate of Economic and Financial Affairs at the French High Commission in Germany, drafts a short note on the attitude that the British might adopt were the International Authority for the Ruhr (IAR) to cease to exist following the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

On 20 October 1949, six months after the establishment of the International Authority for the Ruhr (IAR), the Allied High Commission for Germany promulgates the law on the privileges and immunities of the IAR.

Am 19. Februar 1955 analysiert die französische Tageszeitung Le Monde die Alternativen, die die Hohe Behörde der EGKS in Betracht zieht, um die wirtschaftliche Stabilität des Kohlesektors in Europa zu gewährleisten.