On 14 September 1952, Soviet radio broadcasts a programme which harshly criticises the Schuman Plan and the role played by the United States in the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

On 9 August 1952, on the eve of the session inaugurating the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in Luxembourg, the Luxembourg daily newspaper Luxemburger Wort publishes an article by Lambert Schaus, a former Luxembourg Minister, analysing the limitation of national sovereignty under the Schuman Plan.

The residents of Saarbrücken prepare themselves for the possible location of the institutions of the European Coal and Steel Community in their town. 'Adapt! Adapt! That's the motto now!'

The issue of where to locate the permanent seats of the institutions of the European Coal and Steel Community remained undecided for a long time. According to the cartoonist of the satirical newspaper Der Tintenfisch, one must prepare for all eventualities: ‘The Sculpture Department of the Federation of Plastic Arts may have an interesting proposal for your town …'

On 11 June 1951, Peter Zimmer, Mayor of Saarbrücken, sends a letter to Robert Schuman, Chairman of the Conference on the European Union of Coal and Steel, in which he proposes that Saarbrücken be chosen as the seat of the Community institutions.

On 23 June 1954, the City of Liège sends an open letter to the Belgian Government in which it submits its application to become the seat of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

On 30 January 1952, Charles Frey, Mayor of the City of Strasbourg and President of the Temporary Strasbourg Committee for the European Movement, informs Jacques-Camille Paris, Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, that he is willing to propose Strasbourg as the seat of the European institutions.

In the summary record of its meeting of 26 November 1954, the Permanent Committee for Consultation on Foreign Policy of the Benelux countries expresses its opposition to the Franco-German bilateral arrangement to transfer the ECSC’s seat to the City of Saarbrücken.

On 29 June 1954, the City of Liège officially submits its application to become the seat of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), setting out in a dossier its arguments and the support given to these arguments by an international college of town planners.

This internal note from the Luxembourg Foreign Ministry dated 14 December 1954 describes the negotiations on the seat of the ECSC which took place at the Conference of Ministers in Paris during the night of 25 to 26 July 1952.