Protocol (No 34) on the financial consequences of the expiry of the ECSC Treaty and on the Research Fund for Coal and Steel, annexed to the Treaty establishing the European Community by the Treaty of Nice of 26 February 2001.

The Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) expires on 23 July 2002. By Decision of 27 February 2002, the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States, meeting within the Council, provide for temporary management of the ECSC funds by the European Commission in the context of their transfer to the European Community (EC).

At its final session held on 26 June 2002, the Consultative Committee of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) adopts a Resolution by which it expresses both its satisfaction at the efforts made to preserve the achievements of the ECSC after the expiry of the ECSC Treaty and also its concern about the means used to secure the benefit of the ECSC legacy, particularly with regard to welfare and employment.

The expiry of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community on 23 July 2002 leads to the dissolution of the ECSC Consultative Committee. The Economic and Social Committee (ESC), as the ‘natural successor' to the Consultative Committee, takes over its powers and responsibilities regarding structured dialogue in the coal and steel sectors. A new ‘consultative commission' is created within the ESC with a view to dealing with industrial issues linked to the former ECSC sectors and, in general, those linked to industrial conversion in any other economic sector, particularly in the light of enlargement.

The final working session of the Consultative Committe of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) is held on 26 June 2002 in Luxembourg. Its responsibilities are transferred to the Economic and Social Committee (ESC). When the ECSC Treaty expires on 23 July 2002, the financial reserves of the first European Community are to be used for research in the coal and steel industries.

Address by Göke Frerichs, President of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC), on the occasion of the formal session of the Consultative Committee of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) of 27 June 2002. Following the expiry of the ECSC Treaty, the work of the ECSC must be continued by the EESC.

On 27 June 2002, Enrico Gibellieri, the last President of the Conultative Committee of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), delivers an address on the occasion of the formal session to bring the Committee's work to a close and to mark the expiry of the ECSC Treaty 50 years after it came into force.

Photo taken during the formal session to bring the ECSC Consultative Committee's work to a close and to mark the expiry of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community 50 years after it came into force.

On 27 June 2002, Jacques F. Poos, Member of the European Parliament, gives a speech during the formal session of the ECSC Consultative Committee held in the European Centre Hemicycle on the Kirchberg Plateau, Luxembourg, to mark the expiry of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community.

On 27 June 2002, Enrico Gibellieri, final President of the ECSC Consultative Committee, gives the closing address at the formal session of the Consultative Committee of the ECSC in the Chamber of the European Centre in Kirchberg, Luxembourg, on the occasion of the expiry of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community.

ECSC flag lowering ceremony on 23 July 2002 in Brussels, on the occasion of the expiry of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community 50 years after its entry into force.

On 23 July 2002, in Brussels, the flag of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) is lowered during a ceremony held in the presence of Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, and of Enrico Gibellieri, the last President of the ECSC Consultative Committee, to mark the expiry of the Treaty of Paris which established the ECSC for a period of 50 years. Later, at a reception at the Egmont Palace, Romano Prodi pays a warm tribute to the work of the first European Community and to individual former officials of the High Authority.

In February 2003, the site of the former Bois du Cazier colliery in Marcinelle, Belgium, closed since 1967, is reopened following its conversion into the Museum of Industry. Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, attends the preview of the exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the ECSC.

Contribution by Pierre Pescatore, former Judge of the Court of Justice of the European Communities, to a joint publication produced by the European Commission in 2002 on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). In his text, Mr Pescatore explains, by means of a historical review of the founding Treaties, the principles and concepts which determined the structure of the ECSC and which subsequently provided the foundations of that of the European Economic Community (EEC).

The preface to the 2001–2002 ECSC Consultative Committee yearbook summarises the latest achievements of the Committee under the Presidency of Enrico Gibellieri, whose mandate ends on 23 July 2002 with the expiry of the ECSC Treaty.

On 10 October 2001, on the occasion of his election as the final President of the ECSC Consultative Committee, Enrico Gibellieri summarises the activities of the Committee over the past 50 years and announces that it will be his task to ensure that they can continue with other instruments in a new context, after the expiry of the ECSC Treaty in July 2002.

On 6 March 2002, in view of the crisis affecting the American steel industry and President George Bush’s decision to cut steel imports into the USA, Enrico Gibellieri, President of the ECSC Consultative Committee, maintains that the instruments of the ECSC Treaty (a few months prior to its expiry) stand as a model for crisis-management in the large industrial sectors in any part of the world.

Briefing note for the press conference given by Enrico Gibellieri, President of the ECSC Consultative Committee, on 24 June 2002, reviewing 50 years of the ECSC Treaty and the importance of the ECSC’s achievements for the future of the European Union.

In a welcoming address to Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, President of the Italian Republic, given in Rome on 16 July 2002, a few days before the expiry of the ECSC Treaty, Enrico Gibellieri, President of the Consultative Committee, refers to the heritage left by the 50 years of the ECSC Treaty, with particular regard to the development of European industry, the management of social crises and research and innovation.

In this note, Enrico Gibellieri, who served as the last President of the Consultative Committee of the ECSC from 10 October 2001 to 23 July 2002, reviews the advances made in the fields of social policy over 50 years in Europe as a result of the instruments provided by the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), particularly the instruments for sectoral dialogue and those for the improvement of living and working conditions.