On 28 March 1951, the Belgian Organisation of Blast Furnaces and Steel Works sets out the stance taken by the Belgian iron and steel industry on the draft Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and on its various transitional provisions.
On 26 October 1948, the Consultative Council of the Brussels Treaty Powers decides to set up a ‘Committee for the Study of European Unity’, which will have its seat in Paris, to be responsible for reconciling the suggestions put forward by the French and Belgians, on the one hand, and by the British, on the other, with a view to establishing a closer union between the countries of Europe.
On 18 August 1948, in the light of the French proposal based on the resolutions of the Hague Congress that a European Assembly be established and the request from the British Government for clarification on the subject, the International Committee of the Movements for European Unity submits a memorandum to the governments concerned outlining a series of specific proposals on the way in which such an Assembly might be convened.
At the fourth session of the Consultative Council of the Brussels Treaty Powers, held on 27 and 28 January 1949, the Foreign Ministers of the five Powers agree on the establishment of a Council of Europe consisting of a ‘ministerial committee’ and of a ‘consultative body’.
Following the deliberations of the Standing Committee of the Treaty of Brussels, its Secretary-General draws up a draft invitation to attend the preparatory conference of the Council of Europe, to be issued to the governments of Denmark, Ireland, Italy, Norway and Sweden.
On 15 October 1948, Jules Guillaume, Belgian Ambassador to France, informs Paul-Henri Spaak, Belgian Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, of the British Government’s rather reticent position on the Franco-Belgian proposal for the establishment of a European Assembly.
On 18 January 1949, the British Government, unable to endorse the draft constituent text for a European Union submitted on 15 January 1949 by the Sub-Committee of the Committee for the Study of European Unity, submits a fresh proposal, and the Committee’s deliberations end on 20 January without any agreement having been reached.
On 1 October 1948, in the light of the British Government’s differing interpretation of the memorandum from the International Committee of the Movements for European Unity dated 18 August 1948, the French Government sets out its views on the role and composition of the European Assembly.
Final version of the draft organisation of the Council of Europe, submitted by the Secretary-General of the Standing Committee of the Treaty of Brussels on 2 February 1949.