Group photograph taken at the signing of the Treaty of Paris establishing the European Coal and Steel Community. From left to right: Paul van Zeeland (B), Joseph Bech (L), Joseph Meurice (B), Carlo Sforza (I), Robert Schuman (F), Konrad Adenauer (BRD), Dirk Stikker (NL) and Johannes van den Brink (NL).

On 31 August 1954, the day after the refusal by the French National Assembly to ratify the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community (EDC), the Italian Communist daily newspaper L’Unità gleefully heads its front page with: ‘The EDC is dead’.