During the Second World War, Jean Monnet, a member of the French Committee for National Liberation in Algiers, reflects on how to restore lasting peace and ensure the economic reconstruction of Europe once the war is over.

Jean Monnet in front of the Lycée Fromentin, seat of the Provisional Government of the French Republic in Algiers in 1943.

From 1950, the Frenchman Jean Monnet, Commissioner-General of the French National Planning Board, played an active role in the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), serving as President of the ECSC High Authority in Luxembourg from 1952 to 1955.

During a visit to the United States in April 1948, Jean Monnet sends a letter to Robert Schuman in which he confirms the United States' desire to help with the reconstruction of Western Europe in order to curb Soviet expansion.

Le dimanche 16 avril 1950, Jean Monnet retrouve Paul Reuter et Etienne Hirsch à Montfort-l'Amaury, près de Paris. Ensemble, ils précisent l'idée d'un pool charbon-acier européen et rédigent un premier texte. Vingt-cinq ans plus tard, Jean Monnet se souvient avec précision de cette journée.

Jean Monnet and his close colleagues who were involved in the drafting of the Schuman Plan. In the background from left to right: Étienne Hirsch (standing), Pierre Uri, Jean Monnet and Jean Ripert.

On 3 May 1950, Jean Monnet drafts a discussion paper on the need for France to initiate cooperation between the countries of Europe.

On 23 May 1950, in Bonn, Jean Monnet outlines to members of the Council of the Allied High Command the origins and the political and economic scope of the Schuman Plan.

On 22 September 1950, Jean Monnet, Commissioner-General of the French National Planning Board, speculates on the methods for organising the European continent whilst providing a suitable response to the question of the economic, political and military reconstruction of West Germany.

As US High Commissioner in Germany from 1949 to 1952, John McCloy gives considerable support to the Schuman Plan. From left to right: Harry S. Truman, President of the United States, John McCloy and Dean Acheson, US Secretary of State, in discussion at the White House on 23 January 1950.

On 22 January 1972, in an interview for RTL radio in Paris, Jean Monnet refers to the origins of the Schuman Plan.

In this interview granted to RTL radio journalists in Paris on 22 January 1972, Jean Monnet discusses his career and outlines the evolution of his commitment to Europe, which began in the interwar period.

On 11 November 1980, in an interview granted to journalist Roger Massip, Bernard Clappier, former Head of the Private Office of French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman, describes the circumstances in which the Schuman Plan was prepared in 1950 and outlines the role played by Jean Monnet.

On 10 and 11 May 1970, in an interview given to journalist Georges Suffert, Jean Monnet, Commissioner-General of the French National Planning Board in 1950, describes how the French plan for a coal and steel pool was developed and outlines his working method.

In extracts from Jacques Delors’ foreword to the book by Pascal Fontaine, Jean Monnet, l’Inspirateur, published in 1988, the former President of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995 pays tribute to Jean Monnet, considered as the founding father of a united Europe.

Jacques-René Rabier, Head of Jean Monnet's Private Office at the French National Planning Board from 1947 to 1952, describes Jean Monnet's personality and the way in which he worked.

Jacques-René Rabier, Head of Jean Monnet's Private Office at the French National Planning Board from 1947 to 1952, describes Jean Monnet's pro-European convictions from their origins to the drafting of the Schuman Plan.

Jacques-René Rabier, Head of Jean Monnet's Private Office at the French National Planning Board from 1947 to 1952, describes Jean Monnet's personality and the way in which he worked.

In this interview, Jacques-René Rabier, Head of the Private Office of Jean Monnet at the French National Planning Board from 1947 to 1952, explains his personal experience of the preparations for the Schuman Plan within the National Planning Board. He also describes the atmosphere when Robert Schuman, French Foreign Minister, made his declaration on 9 May 1950 in the Salon de l'Horloge at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris, a declaration that Jacques-René Rabier witnessed at first hand.

Pierre Gerbet, Emeritus University Professor at the Paris Institute of Political Science, outlines the originality of the method — sometimes referred to as the ‘small steps’ approach — of gradual and sectoral integration advocated by Jean Monnet, the man behind the plan for a European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1950.

During this interview in February 2004, Archduke Otto von Habsburg-Lothringen, President of the International Paneuropean Union, describes Jean Monnet's personality and his ‘step-by-step' approach to the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

In this interview, Leo Tindemans, former Prime Minister of Belgium and Minister for Foreign Affairs, discusses the personality of Jean Monnet as well as his working methods whilst in the Action Committee for the United States of Europe.

In this interview, Edmund Wellenstein, who served as Director-General for European Affairs in the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1950 to 1952 then senior official at the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) until 1967, describes the personality and political philosophy of Jean Monnet, first President of the ECSC High Authority.

Portrait of Jean Monnet.

On 10 June 1947, the European Coal Organisation publishes a report on the situation of the coalfields in Europe and proposes measures to alleviate manpower shortages and to improve the outdated methods of coal production and distribution.

On 5 July 1947, the European Coal Organisation draws up an estimate of the financial investment requested to revive Western Europe's coal sector.

In 1949, the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe publishes a report in which it recommends a series of measures to enable the European steel industry to retain a competitive position on the world steel market.

In his memoirs, Robert Schuman, former French Foreign Minister, recalls the reasons behind his commitment to a European coal and steel pool and his decision to take on the political responsibility for such a project.

Dans ses Mémoires, Jean Monnet rappelle pourquoi les secteurs de l'industrie lourde du charbon et de l'acier ont été choisis pour mettre fin aux tensions franco-allemandes et pour concrétiser la construction européenne.

Le charbon et l'acier se devaient d'être pour Jean Monnet, commissaire général au Plan de modernisation et d'équipement, les premiers supports susceptibles d'établir une communauté concrète d'intérêts, ouvrant la voie à la mise en place d'une autorité supranationale dotée de véritables pouvoirs.

‘Mum, Dad, the coalman is here. I haven’t got any money … You haven’t got any money. So who called the coalman …?’ On 10 August 1950, the German cartoonist, Ernst Maria Lang, illustrates the fears of German industry in the light of Jean Monnet’s commitment to a European coal and steel pool.

View of the Völklingen Ironworks in the Saar, a site specialising in iron and steel production.

Lorraine, the French region with a long tradition in the steel industry, is directly concerned by the pooling of coal and steel production in Europe.

Following the end of the Second World War, coal output increases its share in the national economies of Western Europe.

Map illustrating the size of the coalfields and heavy industry regions in some of the Member States of the European Coal and Steel Community in March 1951.

Transporting iron ore by funicular in front of the ARBED steel complex in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.