On 26 April 1955, Jean Rivière, French Ambassador to Brussels, sends French Foreign Minister Antoine Pinay a telegram in which he reports on a meeting he had with Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian Foreign Minister, concerning the question of the European revival.

On 25 March 1957, during the ceremony held in Rome to mark the signing of the Treaties establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian Foreign Minister and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom, delivers an address in which he emphasises the historic importance of the event and pays tribute to those who worked towards a united Europe before him.

On 12 October 1956, Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian Foreign Minister and President of the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom, forwards to the Conference’s Committee of Heads of Delegation a memorandum in which he sums up the French and German memorandums regarding the establishment of a European Economic Community (EEC) and a European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom).

‘One, two, three.’ On 17 February 1957, referring to the negotiations held in Val Duchesse by the six Member States of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) on the Common Market and Euratom, the cartoonist, Fritz Behrendt, emphasises the role played by Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian Foreign Minister and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Conference, to revive European integration and lead the negotiations to a successful conclusion under the curious eye of US and Soviet observers.

On 12 September 1952, the French daily newspaper Le Monde comments on the appointment of Paul-Henri Spaak as President of the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community in Strasbourg.

On 30 January 1957, Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian Foreign Minister and Chairman of the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom, assesses the progress made in the negotiations between the Six on the possible association of the overseas countries and territories (OCTs) with the European Economic Community (EEC).

‘… if you carry on going nowhere like that, you Father Christmases! …*' On 11 December 1951, given the United Kingdom's refusal to take part in the Schuman Plan, and disappointed at the ineffectiveness of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe in furthering the European unification process, Paul-Henri Spaak resigns from his post as President of the Consultative Assembly. * Editor’s note: We have put the words ‘Father Christmases’ into Mr Spaak’s mouth to add a touch of Christmas spirit to our front page.

In August 1950, Paul-Henri Spaak, President of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, Paul Reynaud, Winston Churchill and Robert Schuman attend the Assembly’s second sitting, held in Strasbourg.

View of part of the Belgian delegation on 28 January 1957 in Val Duchesse for the negotiations of the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom. From left to right: Albert Hupperts, Joseph Van Der Meulen (sitting behind) and Paul-Henri Spaak.