On 1 February 1956, citing Belgium’s special situation resulting from its stocks of Congolese uranium, the daily newspaper La Libre Belgique attacks the proposed supranational Euratom Community advocated by the Action Committee for the United States of Europe (ACUSE).

On 6 March 1956, Jean Monnet, President of the Action Committee for the United States of Europe (ACUSE), sends a letter to Hendrik Oosterhuis, Chairman of the Dutch Trade Union Federation and member of ACUSE, in which he comments on the US decision to sell part of its enriched uranium abroad in order to encourage the development of the peaceful use of atomic energy and emphasises the repercussions of this action for European industry in view of the debates on the establishment of Euratom.

In March 1956, the Federation of Belgian Industrialists (FIB) publishes a report on the implications of European cooperation on nuclear power, emphasising the consequences of this policy for the Belgian energy market.

On 16 March 1956, Paul Struye, Belgian Senator, addresses the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and states that, under no circumstances, must the accession of Belgium to the future European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom) lead to the loss of the country’s preferential diplomatic arrangements relating to the mining of Congolese uranium deposits.

On 17 March 1956, the Belgian Catholic journal La Relève expresses its reservations about the report drawn up by the Federation of Belgian Industrialists (FIB) on the prospects for European cooperation in the field of nuclear power.

On 26 July 1956, to facilitate negotiations, the Governments of the Federal Republic of Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands reach agreement on an arrangement concerning the provisional measures to be taken ahead of the establishment of Euratom, with the aim of preventing the countries concerned from implementing measures contrary to the aims of the treaty before it comes into force. The products and equipment covered by the arrangement include fissile material, radiation detectors and special devices for separating uranium isotopes.

On 18 October 1956, in connection with the Intergovernmental Conference at the Château de Val Duchesse, Christian Calmes, Secretary-General of the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom, drafts a memorandum in which he defines the implications of and the difficulties inherent in the supply of fissile material in the future European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom).

On 6 November 1956, a Franco-German group of experts draws up a list of proposals on the Common Market and Euratom, particularly concerning the question of supplies for Euratom. The following day, German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer informs the heads of the German and French delegations to the Intergovernmental Conference in Val Duchesse that the proposals contained in this report are binding.

On 13 November 1956, Maurice Faure, French State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Head of the French Delegation to the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom, sends a telegram to Maurice Couve de Murville, French Ambassador to Germany, in which he informs him of the substance of a letter sent by Guy Mollet, President of the French Council of Ministers, to Konrad Adenauer, German Chancellor, outlining the importance that he places on the establishment of the proposed Euratom Community.

On 1 February 1957, the Secretariat of the Euratom Group of the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom analyses the conditions for owning fissile material in the future European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom).

On 22 February 1957, the German economic daily newspaper Handelsblatt considers the question of supplying Euratom with fissionable material.