On 23 February 1954, crowds demonstrate in East Berlin against the rearmament of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and against the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community (EDC).

On 27 May 1952, in Paris, Konrad Adenauer, Paul Van Zeeland, Robert Schuman, Alcide De Gasperi, Joseph Bech and Dirk Stikker (from left to right) sign the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community (EDC).

On 2 October 1954, the daily newspaper Luxemburger Wort regrets that the compromises secured at the Nine-Power Conference in London do not offer the same guarantees with regard to German rearmament as those provided by the European Defence Community (EDC).

‘Ladies and Gentlemen, the show has been cancelled!’ This is how the Netherlands receive the news of France’s rejection, on 31 August 1954, of the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community (EDC), which has, however, already been ratified by Germany and the three Benelux countries.

On 24 and 25 February 1953, the Foreign Ministers of the Six (from left to right: Alcide De Gasperi, Paul Van Zeeland, Jan Willem Beyen, Georges Bidault, Konrad Adenauer and Joseph Bech) meet at the Aldobrandini Palace in Rome to discuss the European Defence Community (EDC) and a proposal to include a general common market in the plans for a European Political Community (EPC).

On 19 March 1953, the Bundestag ratifies the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community (EDC), despite fierce opposition from the Communists, who see the European Army project as a precursor to the rearmament of Federal Germany.

In 1954, the journal Jeune Europe publishes an article which highlights the advantages of the European Defence Community, particularly its contribution to effective security and defence in France and to the European integration process.

On 4 February 1952, a report of the Paris Conference on the European Defence Community (EDC) project details the general objectives and principles of the future EDC and reviews the proposed solutions in the military, institutional and financial fields.