On 19 January 1956, commenting on the negotiations in progress on Euratom, the philosopher Raymond Aron publishes an article in the French daily newspaper Le Figaro in which he sets out the difficulties standing in the way of European cooperation on nuclear issues.

On 16 November 1956, drawing economic and political lessons from the Suez Crisis and from the oil shortages which it caused in Europe, the Foreign Ministers of Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands appoint a committee of ‘Three Wise Men’ — the German Franz Etzel, the Frenchman Louis Armand and the Italian Francesco Giordani — to draw up a report on the amount of nuclear energy that could be produced quickly in the six countries and on the resources to be implemented to that end.

‘A tonic: iron/coal/atom — … time for another nuclear pill!’ On 17 January 1956, in the German weekly magazine Rheinischer Merkur, the cartoonist Party depicts the benefits of nuclear energy for the recuperation of a sick and weakened Europe.

On 4 May 1957, the Three Wise Men (Franz Etzel from Germany, Louis Armand from France and Francesco Giordani from Italy) submit to the Six their report on the objectives of the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom).