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 18 April 1951, in Paris, Konrad Adenauer (Federal Republic of Germany), Paul Van Zeeland and Joseph Meurice (Belgium), Robert Schuman (France), Carlo Sforza (Italy), Joseph Bech (Luxembourg) and Dirk Stikker and Johannes van den Brink (Netherlands) sign the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

The Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) is signed on 18 April 1951 in Paris and enters into force on 23 July 1952. This Treaty is concluded for a period of 50 years from the date of its entry into force.

Dans ses Mémoires, Jean Monnet évoque l'épisode de la signature, le 18 avril 1951 à Paris, du Traité instituant la Communauté européenne du charbon et de l'acier (CECA).

Jean Monnet recalls the beginnings of the ECSC, with its common institutions and its desire to be an open Community.

Jean Monnet, President of the ECSC High Authority, makes a statement at the press conference held in Luxembourg on 9 February 1953 at the opening of the transitional period leading to a common market in coal and steel.

On 10 February 1953, the first trainload of German coal crosses the French frontier without having to pay the traditional customs duties. This event marks the opening of the transitional period prior to the establishment of a common market in coal and steel and is welcomed in a statement made by Jean Monnet, President of the ECSC.

In this interview, Georges Berthoin, Principal Private Secretary (from 1952 to 1956) to Jean Monnet and then to René Mayer during their respective Presidencies of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community, discusses the establishment of the first European tax in December 1952 and the implementation of the common market for coal and steel in Europe from 1953.

On 12 May 1955, Franz Etzel, the German Vice-President of the High Authority, reviews the progress of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) five years on from the Schuman Declaration and calls for greater economic integration.

In March 1954, Paolo Emilio Taviani, Italian Defence Minister, summarises the first five years of operation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and emphasises its economic and social benefits for Italy.

On 14 May 1957, having presented to the Common Assembly the activity report of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), René Mayer, President of the High Authority of the ECSC, outlines to Jacques Navadic, a journalist working for RTL Luxembourg, the political lesson to be learned from the ECSC’s first four years of operation.

On 9 May 1970, while reporting on the 20th anniversary of the Schuman Declaration, the French daily newspaper Le Monde outlines the successes and failures of the activities of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

At the second Hague Congress held from 8 to 10 October 1953, the European Movement presents a report on the concept of a common market and how to proceed with the implementation thereof.

On 25 March 1957, meeting in the Hall of the Horatii and Curiatii in the Capitol in Rome, the representatives of the six Member States of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) sign the Treaties establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom). From left to right: Paul-Henri Spaak and Baron Jean-Charles Snoy et d’Oppuers (Belgium), Christian Pineau and Maurice Faure (France), Konrad Adenauer and Walter Hallstein (Federal Republic of Germany), Antonio Segni and Gaetano Martino (Italy), Joseph Bech and Lambert Schaus (Luxembourg), Joseph Luns and Johannes Linthorst-Homan (Netherlands).

The Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) is signed in Rome on 25 March 1957 and enters into force on 1 January 1958.

On 3 July 1957, commenting on the ratification debates in the French National Assembly, Pathé Journal (Paris) outlines the economic and agricultural importance of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (EEC), signed by the six Member States of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in Rome on 25 March 1957.

In its 9 and 10 February 1958 edition, the French daily newspaper Le Monde publishes an extract from a paper written by Jacques Rueff, former Judge at the Court of Justice of the European Communities, on the ‘socio-liberal philosophy’ of the European Economic Community (EEC).

In June 1957, the French Embassy in New York publishes an information document on the Common Market to send to its American correspondents.

In a speech to the Americans during the World Fair held in Seattle in 1962, the President of the Commission of the European Economic Community (EEC), the German Walter Hallstein, describes the EEC and its various institutions.

The Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom) is signed in Rome on 25 March 1957 and enters into force on 1 January 1958.

In June 1957, the French Embassy in New York publishes an information document on Euratom to send to its American correspondents.

Drawing a political and economic lesson from the Suez Crisis and the problems of the oil shortage which it caused as from late 1956, the Six decide to create Euratom which seeks to make nuclear power a cheap and abundant source of energy.

In a speech to the Americans during the World Fair held in Seattle in 1962, the President of the Euratom Commission, the Frenchman Pierre Chatenet, describes the EAEC and its various institutions.

As the 1962 Annual Report of the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom) is presented, Pierre Chatenet, French President of the Euratom Commission, replies to questions put by journalist Jacques Danois in Brussels on the importance of nuclear energy for the economic development of Europe.

Emanuele Gazzo, rédacteur en chef de l'Agence Europe, soulève dans son éditorial du 9 juillet 1964 les problèmes institutionnels à résoudre pour que l'accord sur la fusion des exécutifs puisse être signé.

Pages showing the signatures to the ‘Merger Treaty' (8 April 1965).

Signing on 8 April 1965 in Brussels of the Treaty establishing a Single Council and a Single Commission for the three European Communities.

On 8 April 1965, in Brussels, Maurice Couve de Murville, French Foreign Minister, signs, on behalf of France, the Treaty establishing a Single Council and a Single Commission of the three European Communities.

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).

The Treaty establishing a Single Council and a Single Commission of the European Communities (known as the Merger Treaty) merges the executive bodies of the three European Communities.

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.