On 19 May 1950, in Edinburgh, Winston Churchill says that he would like to have access to a detailed study of the consequences of any future British participation in the Schuman Plan before expressing a final opinion on the French initiative.

In this interview excerpt, Jacques Delors, President of the Commission of the European Communities from 1985 to 1995, discusses his experience during the war and the reasons for his involvement before and after the conflict in movements such as Jeunesse étudiante chrétienne (Young Christian Students — JEC), and especially Jeunesse ouvrière chrétienne (Young Christian Workers — JOC). He emphasises the importance for his future political experience of his activities from the 1950s onwards in the French Confederation of Christian Workers (CFTC), and describes his brief spell in the Popular Republican Movement (MRP) in the early 1950s. He also looks back on the appeal made by Robert Schuman.

On 14 July 1999, the President of the European Parliament, the Spaniard José-Maria Gil-Robles Gil-Delgado, renames the three new Parliament buildings in Brussels. They are henceforth known as the Bertha von Suttner, the Altiero Spinelli and the Paul-Henri Spaak buildings. The ceremony is attended, in particular, by the daughter of the former Belgian Prime Minister, Paul-Henri Spaak.

On 1 July 1968, Jean Rey, President of the European Commission, announces the completion, following the transitional period, of the Customs Union among the six Member States of the European Communities.

In this interview, Jacques-René Rabier, Head of the Private Office of Jean Monnet at the French National Planning Board from 1947 to 1952, explains his personal experience of the preparations for the Schuman Plan within the National Planning Board. He also describes the atmosphere when Robert Schuman, French Foreign Minister, made his declaration on 9 May 1950 in the Salon de l'Horloge at the Quai d'Orsay in Paris, a declaration that Jacques-René Rabier witnessed at first hand.

In this interview, Jacques-René Rabier, Head of Jean Monnet’s Private Office at the French National Planning Board from 1947 to 1952, discusses the section on joint development in Europe and Africa in the declaration made on 9 May 1950 in the Salon de l’Horloge at the Quai d’Orsay in Paris by Robert Schuman, French Foreign Minister.

On 22 January 1972, in an interview for RTL radio in Paris, Jean Monnet refers to the origins of the Schuman Plan.

On 10 August 1952, Jean Monnet inaugurates the first session of the ECSC High Authority, which he chairs, with an address in which he emphasises how important it is for the work of the Members of the High Authority to be seen to be independent of national influence.

On 27 May 1952, the Treaty instituting the European Defence Community (EDC) is signed in Paris.

Interview with Pasquale Antonio Baldocci, diplomat in the Treaties Department of the Directorate-General for Personnel at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1956 to 1957, Vice-Consul in Zagreb from 1958 to 1960, Member of the Italian diplomatic representation to the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) from 1960 to 1963, diplomat in the Directorate-General for Political Affairs at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1965 to 1968, First Secretary to the Italian Embassy in Bucharest from 1968 to 1971, Consul-General in Basel from 1974 to 1977, Minister Counsellor in Ankara from 1977 to 1979 and Minister Counsellor in Bern from 1982 to 1989, carried out by the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe (CVCE) on 4 April 2007 at the Robert Schuman House in Scy-Chazelles. The interview was conducted by Étienne Deschamps, a Researcher at the CVCE, and particularly focuses on the following subjects: the Rome Treaties and the expectations of the Italian authorities, the work of the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC), relations between Italy and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the empty chair crisis and the European policy of General de Gaulle, the long-term management of diplomatic affairs at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the attitude of the Italian authorities to the United Kingdom’s applications for accession to the European Communities, relations between Turkey and the European Communities and relations between Switzerland and the European Communities.