In this interview, Étienne Davignon, former Member of the Commission of the European Communities with special responsibility for the Internal Market, Industrial Affairs and the Customs Union, describes the steel crisis facing the Member States of the European Communities in the late 1970s. He also explains the implementation of the ‘Davignon Plan’ established in 1977 by the European Commission for the industrial restructuring of the steel industry through the application of some procedures of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).