Methodology


The subject file ‘Pierre Werner and the European integration process: from the Schuman Plan to the Fontainebleau Summit’ is the result of a thorough exploration of the previously unpublished archives of the Werner family, 1 to which the CVCE has been given exclusive access. These archives shed new light on the major events in the European integration process in which the Luxembourg statesman was involved (particularly the Werner Report 2). Non-exhaustive research in other archives — both public and private, Luxembourgish and international — has added to the variety of our sources. All these multilingual resources are published by the CVCE, in their original language version if possible (particularly if this is French, English or German), with a precise indication of the source and an explanatory caption to set the document in context.


The historical accounts recorded by the CVCE with Luxembourg and European figures who share their memories and thoughts on Pierre Werner, his achievements and his views on the European integration process represent one of the project’s real strengths.


The subject file contains some 300 multimedia primary sources (texts, audiovisual archives and images). This volume of material guarantees a comprehensive, reasonable illustration of the subject and ensures a balanced distribution of documents between the various sections and sub-sections. Documents are selected and produced in such a way that they provide a useful addition to the explanatory synopses. The choice of other documents is based on the following quality considerations: diversity in terms of type (institutional documents, correspondence, biographies, comments from doctrine/academic literature, press articles, etc.), discipline (legal documents, economic analysis, etc.), geographical and linguistic origin, and format (texts, images, sound and video recordings, diagrams, etc.).


The corpus has been written in French. In the long term, full English and German versions will be developed.


The explanatory texts offer a clear, simple, educational presentation of the role played by Pierre Werner in the European integration process. They are objective, logical, comprehensive, broad in perspective and interdisciplinary (history, law, political science and economics). The texts can be read at several different levels, depending on the knowledge and level of specialisation of the teachers and students.


The bibliographical references are the works used by the author in the production of the subject file, as well as information sources (books, scholarly articles, monographs, websites, etc.) which shed further light on the subject. As a whole, the bibliographical references used are of high academic quality and also reflect a level of interdisciplinarity and linguistic diversity.

1The Pierre Werner family archives are an integral and vital part of this subject file. They contain a wealth of documents gathered by Pierre Werner from the 1950s onwards, including manuscripts, handwritten notes and comments on official documents, exchanges of letters with various figures, diplomatic correspondence, institutional texts, graphs, diagrams and statistics, as well as a large number of press articles on the European integration process and on economic and monetary questions. This material is accompanied by reports, speeches and public statements on a range of subjects made by Pierre Werner or published during his career. It also includes a collection of images containing many photos and original snapshots, together with a series of sound and video recordings.

2With regard to sources, particular attention should be paid to the documentary resources published by the CVCE, including those in the research corpus ‘A rereading of the Werner Report of 8 October 1970 in the light of the Pierre Werner family archives’.

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