In this interview excerpt, Francis Gutmann, Policy Officer in the Directorate of Economic and Financial Affairs (Economic Cooperation) at the French Foreign Ministry from 1955 to 1957 and a member of the French delegation to the Brussels Conference on the Common Market from 1956 to 1957, discusses how the general public and the French Government perceived the work for the revival of European integration, particularly after the Intergovernmental Committee established by the 1955 Messina Conference and chaired by Belgian Foreign Minister Paul-Henri Spaak published a report by the heads of delegation on the Common Market and Euratom, known as the Spaak Report.

In this interview excerpt, Francis Gutmann, Policy Officer in the Directorate of Economic and Financial Affairs (Economic Cooperation) at the French Foreign Ministry from 1955 to 1957 and a member of the French delegation to the Brussels Conference on the Common Market from 1956 to 1957, outlines the working method of the French delegation during the negotiations at the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom held at the Château de Val Duchesse.

In this interview excerpt, Francis Gutmann, an official in the French Foreign Ministry from 1951 to 1957 and Secretary-General of the French Ministry of External Relations from 1981 to 1985, describes the atmosphere during the negotiations at the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom at the Château de Val Duchesse. Francis Gutmann also emphasises the fundamental role played in these negotiations by Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian Foreign Minister from 1954 to 1957, and the determination of Joseph Luns, Netherlands Foreign Minister from 1956 to 1971.