On 30 October 1950, Albert Wehrer, Luxembourg diplomatic representative in Bonn, sends a report to Joseph Bech, Luxembourg Foreign Minister, in which he outlines the procedure that should be followed so that Luxembourg will be in a favourable position regarding the question of the seat of the institutions of the Coal and Steel Community.

Dans ses Mémoires, Jean Monnet évoque les raisons pour lesquelles la ville de Luxembourg fut choisie pour accueillir les institutions de la CECA.

On 9 August 1952, on the eve of the session inaugurating the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in Luxembourg, the Luxembourg daily newspaper Luxemburger Wort notes the historic importance of this date both for Luxembourg and for European integration.

‘The Schuman Plan flag flies over the City of Luxembourg’. On 10 August 1952, as the High Authority is established in the capital of the Grand Duchy, the Schuman Plan flag flies over the City of Luxembourg.

On 10 August 1952, in an address given at the Luxembourg City Hall during the inaugural session of the ECSC High Authority, Jean Monnet, the first President of the High Authority, thanks the city for its hospitality and for the efficiency of the services that it has provided.

Document submitted by Luxembourg City Council to the European Committee of Experts on Urban Planning, on the occasion of their visit to Luxembourg on 19 and 20 March 1958.

On 26 July 1960, an internal report by the Luxembourg Government emphasises the importance of the merger of the executive bodies of the three European Communities.

On 16 May 1961, Pierre Pescatore, Political Director in the Luxembourg Foreign Ministry, drafts a summary note on the progress in the ongoing negotiations on the plan to merge the Community executive bodies, in a bid to clarify Luxembourg’s position on this matter.

At the end of a Council of Ministers of the Six, the Luxembourg Minister for Foreign Affairs, Eugène Schaus, explains the position of the Grand Duchy on merging the executives.

On 5 January 1964, the daily newspaper La Libre Belgique ponders on the location of the future executives of the European Communities.

On 27 January 1964, Pierre Werner, Minister without portfolio and leader of the Luxembourg Government, issues a statement on the problem of merging the European executives and on its implications for Luxembourg.

On 4 February 1965, Pierre Werner, Luxembourg Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, grants an interview to the Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir in which he outlines Luxembourg’s current and future priorities with regard to the merger of the Community’s executive bodies and the relocation to Brussels of certain departments currently based in Luxembourg.

On 22 February 1965, the Belgian daily newspaper Le Soir outlines the implications for the city of Luxembourg, as the seat of several Community institutions, of the future Treaty merging the executive bodies of the European Communities.

On 8 April 1965, in Brussels, the Foreign Ministers of the Six sign the Treaty which provides for the merging of the executive bodies of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC). After ratification by the national parliaments of the Six, the Merger Treaty — establishing a Single Council and a Single Commission in Brussels for the three Communities — will enter into force on 1 July 1967.

On 8 April 1965, in Brussels, Pierre Werner (right), Luxembourg Prime Minister, accompanied by Albert Borschette (left), Luxembourg Permanent Representative to the European Communities, signs the Treaty merging the Executives (a Single Council and a Single Commission) of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom).

On 8 April 1965, in Brussels, Pierre Werner, Luxembourg Minister of State and President of the Government, signs the Treaty merging the executive bodies (single Commission and Council) of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC).

Final act of the Treaty merging the executives of the European Communities.

Decision of the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States on the provisional location of certain institutions and departments of the Communities. In a meeting held on 8 April 1965 in Brussels, the Representatives of the Governments of the Member States decided provisionally to locate the institutions and other bodies of the European Communities in Strasbourg, Brussels and Luxembourg.

In a speech delivered in 1966, Pierre Werner, Luxembourg Prime Minister, refers to the merging of the executives and the location of certain institutions in Luxembourg.

On 21 October 1966, Pierre Werner, Prime Minister of Luxembourg, outlines to his compatriots the scope of the Treaty which provides for the merging the executive bodies of the three European Communities after it had been ratified by the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies.

Diagram illustrating the merger of the executives that resulted from the entry into force on 1 July 1967 of the Treaty of 8 April 1965 establishing a Single Council and a Single Commission of the European Communities.

The final meeting of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) is held in Luxembourg on 28 June 1967. Three days later, the Treaty which provides for the merging of the three executive bodies enters into force. Henceforth, one Single Commission represents the ECSC, the EEC and the EAEC.

On 18 April 1978, the British newspaper Financial Times reports on Luxembourg’s vocation as the permanent capital of the European institutions.

This article by Marcel Mart, President of the European Court of Auditors from 1984 to 1989, concerns Luxembourg’s participation in the struggle for the seat of the European institutions, and forms part of the collection of essays published in 1993 in honour of Pierre Werner.

On 1 April 1993, at the Cercle municipal in Luxembourg, the ECSC Consultative Committee commemorates the 40th anniversary of its first session, held on 26 January 1953 at Luxembourg town hall. Jacques Santer, Luxembourg Prime Minister from 1984 to 1995, delivers a speech during the ceremony.

In this interview, Guy de Muyser, diplomat in the Luxembourg Foreign Ministry from 1956 to 1969 and from 1980 to 1991, looks back on the negotiations associated with the seat of the Court of Justice of the European Communities in Luxembourg and the constant involvement of Pierre Werner, Minister of State and President of the Luxembourg Government from 1959 to 1974 and from 1979 to 1984, to make Luxembourg a permanent seat of the European institutions.

On 9 May 1953, following a ceremony commemorating the ‘Schuman Declaration’ Jean Monnet (left), President of the High Authority, and Robert Schuman (right), MP for the département of the Moselle, leave the seat of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in Luxembourg.

Former home of the ECSC Consultative Committee, Luxembourg.

Designed by the architect Pierre Bohler, the Debating Chamber of the European Parliament, situated on the rue du Fort Thüngen in Luxembourg, was formally opened in 1979 as a venue for the holding of plenary sittings until 1981. Since 1981, the Chamber has been an integral part of the Kirchberg Conference Centre.

Aerial view of the premises occupied by the European Parliament Secretariat in the Kirchberg district of Luxembourg.

The Commission’s Jean Monnet Building, Luxembourg.

The ‘Villa Vauban’ in Luxembourg, seat of the Court of Justice of the European Coal and Steel Community from 1952 to 1959.

In 1959, the Court of Justice of the European Communities was based in a building located on rue de la Côte d'Eich, Luxembourg, until the 'Palais' of the Court was constructed in 1972 on the Kirchberg plateau.

The ‘Palais’ of the Court of Justice, completed in 1972, was the first European institution building to be built on the Kirchberg plateau in Luxembourg.

Former building of the European Court of Auditors, 29 rue Aldringen, Luxembourg.

View of the new building of the Court of Auditors, 12 rue Alcide de Gasperi, on the Kirchberg Plateau, Luxembourg. Inaugurated on 7 June 1988, the European Communities acquired ownership of this building on 4 January 1990.

From 1968 to 1980, the European Investment Bank (EIB) held its offices in the building at 2, Place de Metz, Luxembourg. This building, which had been the seat of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) from 1952 to 1968, was purchased in 1968 by the Caisse d'Épargne de l'État de Luxembourg and leased to the EIB until 1980, when the EIB moved to its own premises on the Kirchberg Plateau.

The building of the European Investment Bank in Luxembourg since 1980.