On 31 August 1954, the French communist newspaper L'Humanité hails the decision of the French National Assembly not to ratify the Treaty instituting the European Defence Community (EDC) as a victory for the French people.

In August 1954, while Egon Bahr was working in Berlin as editor-in-chief of Radio in the American Sector (RIAS) he attended debates in the French National Assembly on ratification of the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community (EDC). He comments on the refusal of the National Assembly to ratify this Treaty as well as on this decision's consequences for the European integration process.

Maps indicating the successive stages of European political, economic and military integration between 1948 and 1952.