On 13 September 1983, Gaston Thorn, President of the European Commission, gives an address in which he discusses the institutional issues connected with the resolution which the European Parliament is to adopt the following day on the substance of the preliminary draft Treaty on European Union.

On 14 September 1983, the European Parliament adopts by a large majority a resolution on the substance of the preliminary draft Treaty on European Union.

On 14 February 1984, by a very large majority (237 votes to 31, with 43 abstentions), the European Parliament adopts the draft Treaty on European Union, also known as the ‘Spinelli draft’, which has the ultimate aim of establishing a federal European Union.

On 14 February 1984, the European Parliament adopts a resolution concerning the draft treaty establishing the European Union.

On 14 February 1984, Gaston Thorn, President of the Commission reaffirms the institution's support for the setting up of a future European Union.

On 15 February 1984, the Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir analyses the content of Altiero Spinelli’s Draft Treaty establishing the European Union, adopted the day before in Strasbourg by the European Parliament.

On 19 March 1984, the Spanish daily newspaper El País describes Altiero Spinelli, author in the European Parliament of the Federalist-inspired draft Treaty on European Union.

In a speech to the European Assembly on 24 May 1984, François Mitterrand, President of the French Republic and President-in-Office of the European Council, proposes holding a conference in order to study plans for a European Union.

On 26 May 1984, the German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung describes the goals of French President François Mitterrand's European policy and examines the impact of the speech he gave to the European Parliament in Strasbourg on 23 May 1984.

On 26 May 1984, the French newspaper Le Monde considers the national and European consequences of the speech given to the Strasbourg European Parliament on 23 May 1984 by French President François Mitterrand.

On 23 October 1985, the European Parliament adopts a resolution on the proceedings of the IGC on the European Union in which it criticises the refusal of the IGC to take account of the draft treaty drawn up by the European Parliament.

Altiero Spinelli (1907–1986), European federalist and rapporteur for the Institutional Committee of the European Parliament charged with drawing up, between 1981 and 1984, a Draft Treaty on European Union.

Italian Euro-MP, Altiero Spinelli, photographed in 1984 in front of the ‘Crocodile' restaurant in Strasbourg where the foundations were first laid for a parliamentary project in favour of a federal Europe.