Transcription of the interview with Philippe de Schoutheete, Belgian Permanent Representative to the European Union from 1987 to 1997, carried out by the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe (CVCE) on 4 March 2010 in the studios of the Council of the European Union in Brussels. The interview, conducted by Hervé Bribosia, Research Coordinator at the CVCE, particularly focuses on the following subjects: the beginnings of Philippe de Schoutheete’s diplomatic career and cooperation between the Benelux countries, France’s European policy from 1958 to 1961, various eminent Belgian figures in the 1950s, the 1966 Luxembourg Compromise, Pierre Harmel, NATO, WEU, the prospect of Spanish accession to the European Communities, the Tindemans Report, European affairs in the Belgian Foreign Ministry, the 1982 Belgian Presidency and the Stuttgart Declaration of June 1983.