On 27 April 1955, Franz Etzel, German Vice-President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), informs Jean Monnet of a meeting with Alfred Müller-Armack, adviser to Ludwig Erhard, West German Minister for Economic Affairs, in which he distances himself from Erhard’s views on Europe.

On 26 July 1955, Jean Monnet, former President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the future founder and President of the Action Committee for a United States of Europe (ACUSE), drafts a memorandum which sets out the position that the French Delegation adopted on nuclear energy during the negotiations of the Intergovernmental Conference established by the Messina Conference.

On 4 August 1955, the German Franz Etzel, Vice-President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), analyses the scope of the work of the Intergovernmental Committee established by the Messina Conference which recently began in Brussels.

On 6 January 1957, Pierre Uri, Director of the General Economy Division of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), drafts a memorandum in a personal capacity in which he proposes solutions to the problem of the overseas territories, particularly the question of the participation by Community countries in the investment burden.

On 24 September 1956, Max Kohnstamm, Secretary of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and General Secretary of the Action Committee for the United States of Europe, drafts a note in which he analyses the progress in the ongoing negotiations for the establishment of Euratom and the Common Market and outlines the most important issues that still need to be negotiated in Brussels.

On 4 October 1956, Franz Etzel, Vice-President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), sends a confidential note to German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer in which he sets out his personal views on the British proposal to create a large free trade area in Europe.

From 1968 to 1980, the European Investment Bank (EIB) held its offices in the building at 2, Place de Metz, Luxembourg. This building, which had been the seat of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) from 1952 to 1968, was purchased in 1968 by the Caisse d’Épargne de l’État de Luxembourg and leased to the EIB until 1980, when the EIB moved to its own premises on the Kirchberg Plateau.

On 4 June 1950, the British Sunday newspaper The Observer publishes an article by ‘a student of Europe’ which identifies the flaws in the Schuman Plan, deploring, in particular, the powers of the future High Authority.

On 11 June 1955, in Luxembourg, René Mayer (left) officially succeeds Jean Monnet (right) as President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).

On 1, 2 and 3 June 1955, the Foreign Ministers of the six Member States of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) — Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands — meet in Messina in order to discuss the conditions for the revival of the European integration process. At the end of the meeting, the Six appoint René Mayer, former President of the French Council of Ministers, as President of the ECSC High Authority to replace Jean Monnet, who resigned towards the end of the previous year.