In his memoirs, Johan Willem Beyen, former Netherlands Foreign Minister, recalls the determination of Pierre Mendès France to seek last-minute amendments to a number of aspects relating to the implementation of the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community (EDC).

In this letter to Jean Monnet, Pierre Mendès France, President of the Council and French Foreign Minister, describes the internal policy problems which he is encountering a few days before the vote in the French National Assembly on the ratification of the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community (EDC).

On 31 August 1954, André Philip, President of the Socialist Movement for the United States of Europe (SMUSE), analyses the impact of France’s domestic politics and the role played by the French press in the debates on the European Defence Community (EDC).

On 1 September 1954, the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) issues a statement on the international political situation following the rejection, two days earlier, of the plan for a European Defence Community (EDC) by the French National Assembly.

Detailed note from the French Foreign Ministry dated 28 January 1953 reviewing the possible consequences of the European Defence Community (EDC) on France’s position in the world.

Debates in the National Assembly on the eve of the refusal to ratify the Treaty instituting the European Defence Community (EDC).

Debates in the National Assembly two days before the refusal to ratify the Treaty instituting the European Defence Community (EDC).

Debates in the National Assembly on the eve of the refusal to ratify the Treaty instituting the European Defence Community (EDC).

Debates in the French National Assembly the day before the refusal to ratify the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community (EDC).

Debates in the French National Assembly two days before the refusal to ratify the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community (EDC).