In this interview excerpt, Joseph Weyland, Deputy Director in the Protocol and Administrative Affairs Directorate of the Luxembourg Foreign Ministry from 1972 to 1976, discusses his appointment to this post at the suggestion of Gaston Thorn, Luxembourg Foreign Minister from 1968 to 1980, Prime Minister from 1974 to 1979 and President of the European Commission from 1981 to 1985. He recalls the main issues he worked on at this time, particularly the reorganisation of the treaties department and the question of reparations for Luxembourg citizens who were forced to enrol in the German army during the Second World War.

In this interview excerpt, Joseph Weyland, Deputy Director in the Protocol and Administrative Affairs Directorate of the Luxembourg Foreign Ministry from 1972 to 1976, discusses his participation, during the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the European Communities, in the Paris Conference on International Economic Cooperation (CIEC) and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Nairobi in 1976. The main aim of these two conferences, held during the oil crisis, was to stabilise the prices of commodities.