In October 1951, the Socialist parties of the Member States of the European Coal and Steel Community send a questionnaire to their respective governments on the economic and social objectives of the new Community.

On 30 January 1952, the East German daily newspaper Tägliche Rundschau severely criticises the Schuman Plan and denounces what it sees as the capitalist policies of Western countries in connection with the iron and steel industry.

On 9 August 1952, on the eve of the inauguration of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in Luxembourg, the Luxembourg daily newspaper Luxemburger Wort outlines the political, social and economic role of the ECSC.

On 25 February 1953, referring to the opening of the common market in coal on 10 February, the German weekly magazine Der Spiegel pays tribute to the European vision of Jean Monnet.

Georges Berthoin, Head of the Private Office of Jean Monnet then René Mayer in their capacity as President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in Luxembourg from 1952 to 1956. He was particularly involved in the introduction of the ECSC’s institutional structure, the implementation of the market in coal and steel, the establishment of the European tax and the creation of the Official Journal.

On 10 July 1953, the Informationsdienst des Bundespresseamtes highlights the discrepancies between the objectives established by the Schuman Plan and the achievements of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

In a radio address given on 14 July 1953, Johannes Linthorst Homan, Director of European Integration in the Netherlands Ministry of Economic Affairs from 1952 to 1958, emphasises the need for greater economic cooperation in Europe.

On 8 October 1953, at the Annual General Meeting of the Dutch Employers’ Confederation, Dirk Spierenburg, Member of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), outlines the current situation and prospects of the organisation.

On 25 November 1953, the German weekly news magazine Der Spiegel casts a critical eye on the effects of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) on German output.

On 2 February 1954, during his speech to the academic authorities of the Catholic University of Louvain who had awarded him an honorary doctorate, Joseph Bech recalls the first years of the ECSC and the criticisms to which European political and military unification gave rise.

On 1 October 1954, at the congress of the Dutch Trade Union Confederation in Amsterdam, Dirk Spierenburg, Member of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), gives an address in which he outlines the important role of the ECSC and considers the High Authority’s main powers and responsibilities.

On 30 November 1954, Jean Monnet, President of the High Authority, gives an initial assessment of the activities of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) to the Common Assembly meeting in extraordinary session.

In March 1955, the Information Service of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community publishes a brochure giving details of the economic, political and social activities of the ECSC.

On 9 June 1955, during a radio broadcast on the occasion of his resignation from the post of President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), Jean Monnet emphasises the importance of the Common Market and of the United States of Europe for the future of all Europeans.

On 11 June 1955, in Luxembourg, René Mayer (left) officially succeeds Jean Monnet (right) as President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

René Mayer, President of the High Authority of the ECSC from 1955 to 1957.

On 12 May 1995, Franz Etzel, German Vice-President of the High Authority, assesses the achievements of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) five years after the Schuman Declaration paved the way for its establishment.

On 14 May 1957, René Mayer, President of the ECSC High Authority, presents the Annual Report of the European Coal and Steel Community to the Common Assembly.

On 14 May 1957, having presented to the Common Assembly the activity report of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), René Mayer, President of the High Authority of the ECSC, outlines to Jacques Navadic, a journalist working for RTL Luxembourg, the political lesson to be learned from the ECSC’s first four years of operation.

In 1956, La Voix Fédéraliste, a magazine published by the European Movement, offers an initial assessment of the establishment of the sectoral Common Market and of the activities of the High Authority of the ECSC.

In November 1958, the French daily newspaper Le Figaro publishes a table comparing the economic and demographic situation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) with that of the United States, the Soviet Union and the United Kingdom.

Table comparing the production volumes of the main sectors of economic activity in Western Europe, the United States and the Soviet Union.

In this interview, Georges Berthoin, Principal Private Secretary (from 1952 to 1956) to Jean Monnet and then to René Mayer during their respective Presidencies of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community, discusses the establishment of the first European tax in December 1952 and the implementation of the common market for coal and steel in Europe from 1953.

In this interview, Max Kohnstamm, Secretary of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) from 1952 to 1956, recalls the economic and political significance of the loan granted in 1954 by the United States to the High Authority.

In this interview, Edmund Wellenstein, senior official at the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) between 1953 and 1967, recounts how he accompanied Jean Monnet, Franz Etzel and Dirk Spierenburg on their trip to the United States to negotiate the first loan from the US to the High Authority.

On 11 April 1953, the President and the Members of the High Authority submit to Paul-Henri Spaak, President of the ECSC Common Assembly, the first general report of the High Authority on the activities of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

On the day before the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in Luxembourg takes up its duties, the Luxembourg daily newspaper Luxemburger Wort publishes an article by Albert Coppé, Vice-President of the High Authority, in which he outlines the economic and social role of the Schuman Plan.

These archive images illustrate the production of coal, iron ore and steel in the Member States of the European Coal and Steel Community.

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

On 30 April 1953, the eve of the opening of the European common market in steel, Jean Monnet, President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), activates the first casting of European steel in the Belval steelworks in Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg.

View of the ARBED steel works in Esch/Terres Rouges, Luxembourg.

Workman manipulating a hot rolled steel bar produced by a rolling mill at the ARBED plant in Esch/Belval.

Front elevation of the ARBED (Aciéries réunies de Burbach-Eich-Dudelange) rolling mill in Luxembourg.

On 19 February 1955, the French daily newspaper Le Monde considers the solutions put forward by the High Authority with a view to maintaining the economic stability of the European coal sector.

Table showing trends of coal and steel output in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and the Saar between 1936 and 1958.

Table showing the output of the industrial basins of the Community in 1961, illustrating the predominance of the Ruhr basin.

Table showing trends, by basin, in coal and coke output in the industrial basins of the present-day European Community between 1913 and 1961.

Tableau illustrant l'évolution des prix des principales sortes de charbon entre 1953 et 1962.

In this interview, Hubert Ehring, former Legal Adviser for the coal and steel pool to the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), recalls the stance taken by Ludwig Erhard, German Minister for Economic Affairs, and West German industrial circles on the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

On 10 December 1951, the French daily newspaper Le Populaire considers the problems faced by the coal and steel market in Europe in the early 1950s.

On 11 December 1951, the French daily newspaper Le Populaire outlines how the European coal and steel market would develop if the Schuman Plan did not exist and reminds its readers of the principles underlying the market.

On 16 and 17 July 1952, representatives of the mining and metallurgy unions of the six Member States of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) meet in Paris to examine the issues raised by the establishment of the common market in coal and steel. The discussions focus on the distribution of seats for workers’ representatives within the ECSC Consultative Committee.

On 7 February 1953, three days before the European common market in coal and iron ore is introduced, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reports on the fixing of coal prices within the ECSC.

On 10 February 1953, the German daily newspaper Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung reports on German fears about the common market in coal and steel.

On 25 September 1953, the French daily newspaper Le Figaro makes an initial assessment of competition policy in the coal and steel sectors.

On 9 July 1954, the French daily newspaper Le Figaro uses the example of France and the Federal Republic of Germany to highlight the difficulties involved in the establishment of a system of fair competition on the coal market within the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

On 9 July 1954, the Luxembourg daily newspaper Luxemburger Wort criticises the lack of fiscal harmonisation among the ECSC Member States and its negative impact on competition policy.

On 31 December 1957, the German daily newspaper Deutsche Zeitung analyses the impact of policies designed to counter the influence of industrial cartels within the European Common Market and raises the issue of the difficulty of regulating cartels.

Aerial view of the ARBED steel plant in Esch/Terres Rouges, Luxembourg.

In this interview, Hubert Ehring, former legal adviser for the coal and steel pool at the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG), looks back at the difficulties involved in the application of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), with particular regard to the abolition of export subsidies.

In this interview, Edmund Wellenstein, senior official at the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) between 1953 and 1967, emphasises the importance of the 1947 General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) for the ECSC, which initially lacked a common customs tariff.

On 19 August 1952, the German newspaper Die Welt reports on the struggle undertaken by France and the Federal Republic of Germany to regulate the markets and to increase their productivity of iron, steel and coal within the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

On 11 May 1955, in Strasbourg, Franz Etzel, Vice-President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), addresses the Common Assembly and emphasises the need for a reorganisation of Western Europe’s coal industry.

On 23 November 1955, in Strasbourg, Franz Etzel, Vice-President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), outlines to the Common Assembly the first stages of the Community programme for the reorganisation of the Belgian, French and German coal cartels.

In this interview, Edmund Wellenstein, senior official at the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) between 1953 and 1967, discusses the nature of relations between the High Authority and European industrial circles in the light of the policy imposed by the Allies after the Second World War for the dismantling of cartels.

In 1952, Léon Boutbien, former member of the Resistance and French MP, reflects on the social aspects of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

On 22 July 1955, the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) adopts a resolution which lays down the broad guidelines for European social policy.

On 25 August 1956, the German newspaper Industriekurier outlines the wage policies of the six countries of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and reports on the implications of a common social policy.

In April 1958, the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) publishes a report entitled The application of the Treaty establishing the ECSC during the transitional period which includes an appraisal of the activities of the High Authority relating to the construction of worker accommodation.

On 16 November 1954, André Renard, Deputy Secretary-General of the General Federation of Belgian Workers (FGTB), Regent of the National Bank of Belgium (BNB) and President of the Consultative Committee of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), gives an address in Brussels to the Royal Society for Political Economy (SREP) in which he calls for concerted action from the trade unions to build a strong economic and social Europe.

Table showing the size of the active workforce in the coal and steel industry by Member State of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the number of foreign workers employed in these States and the income of European workers in the steel industry from 1953 to 1961.

Safety in the workplace, retraining of the workforce and equal rights for workers and their families are examples of the pillars of the European social policy which the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) has been pursuing from the 1950s onwards.

In this interview, Georges Berthoin, Principal Private Secretary (from 1952 to 1956) to Jean Monnet then to René Mayer during their respective Presidencies of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), outlines the relations between the High Authority and European employers and trade unions in connection with the implementation of the common market for coal and steel.

In this interview, Georges Berthoin, Principal Private Secretary (from 1952 to 1956) to Jean Monnet and then to René Mayer during their respective Presidencies of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), outlines the relations between the High Authority and European trade unions in connection with the implementation of the Schuman Plan.

On 26 September 1956, the German daily newspaper Saarbrücker Zeitung reports on the debates taking place in Luxembourg at the European conference on mining safety, organised by the ECSC High Authority in response to the Marcinelle tragedy which resulted in the deaths of 262 pit workers in Belguim on 8 August 1956.

Workmen operating near a blast furnace at the ARBED steel works in Esch/Belval (Luxembourg).

In 1956, a delegation of trade-union representatives from the six Member States of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) travels to the United States for an initial study mission on the readaptation and re-employment of workers hit by unemployment.

In March 1960, the monthly publication Communauté européenne announces the retraining of 110 000 workers as a result of aid provided by the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

In the 1960s, the coal crisis led to factory closures and to widespread unemployment. In order to remedy the situation, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) embarks on a programme of social action aimed particularly at retraining mineworkers.

On 2 February 1952, the free trade unions in the six Member States of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) lay down precise guidelines with regard to the construction of workers’ accommodation.

In 1952, Robert Schuman, French Foreign Minister, attends the launch of works for the building of a European village in Spiesen, in the Saar region.

Sent to Jean Monnet, President of the ECSC High Authority, this memorandum from the three working parties on housing shortages summarises the situation and the means to counter the housing shortage for manual workers in the six Member States.

In November 1954, the High Authority publishes its second report on the activities of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in which it outlines its plans to build low-cost housing.

On 23 May 1955, the German daily newspaper Die Welt reports on the housing situation of workers in the coal and steel areas of Lorraine and the Ruhr.

The first ‘European village’ is established in 1957 near Aachen. The welfare objective of the High Authority of the ECSC is to contribute to the construction of workers’ dwellings and houses, thereby improving the living conditions of workers in the coal and steel sectors.

In April 1961, the monthly review Communauté européenne announces a new programme for workers’ housing, the fourth undertaken by the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).