Drawing a political and economic lesson from the Suez Crisis and the problems of the oil shortage which it caused as from late 1956, the Six decide to create Euratom which seeks to make nuclear power a cheap and abundant source of energy.

On 18 January 1956, the first meeting of the Action Committee for the United States of Europe is held in Paris. The Committee was founded by Jean Monnet on 13 October 1955 after he had announced his decision to resign as President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in November 1954. The following were present at this inaugural meeting: Guy Mollet, Secretary-General of the French Section of the Workers’ International (SFIO); the Dutchman, J. A. W. Burger, Leader of the Socialist Parliamentary Group; Italo Viglianesi, Secretary-General of the Italian Labour Union; Heinrich Imig, President of the German Miners’ Union; Walter Freitag, President of the German Federation of Trade Unions; André Renard, Deputy Secretary-General of the Belgian General Federation of Labour (FGTB); the German, Martin Blank, Member of the Liberal Party in the Bundestag and Member of the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC); the Frenchman, Pierre Garet, Leader of the Independent Republicans in the National Assembly; and Ugo La Malfa, Member of the Italian Republican Party. At the end of this meeting, the Committee adopts its first resolution, in which it welcomes the work being carried out in Brussels by the Intergovernmental Committee established by the Messina Conference and emphasises, in particular, the importance of nuclear energy for the future European Community.

In this interview, Georges Berthoin, Principal Private Secretary (from 1952 to 1956) to Jean Monnet and then to René Mayer during their respective Presidencies of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community, describes the atmosphere prevailing within the High Authority and the Community administration in Luxembourg in the early 1950s.

In this interview, Georges Berthoin, Principal Private Secretary (from 1952 to 1956) to Jean Monnet and then to René Mayer during their respective Presidencies of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community, discusses the establishment of the first European tax in December 1952 and the implementation of the common market for coal and steel in Europe from 1953.

In this interview, Georges Berthoin, Principal Private Secretary (from 1952 to 1956) to Jean Monnet then to René Mayer during their respective Presidencies of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), outlines the relations between the High Authority and European employers and trade unions in connection with the implementation of the common market for coal and steel.

In this interview, Georges Berthoin, Principal Private Secretary (from 1952 to 1956) to Jean Monnet and then to René Mayer during their respective Presidencies of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), outlines the relations between the High Authority and European trade unions in connection with the implementation of the Schuman Plan.

In this interview, Georges Berthoin, Principal Private Secretary (from 1952 to 1956) to Jean Monnet and then to René Mayer during their respective Presidencies of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), describes the course of the negotiations in 1954 and the implementation of the Association Agreement between the ECSC and the United Kingdom from 1955.

In this interview, Max Kohnstamm, Secretary of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) from 1952 to 1956, discusses Jean Monnet’s working methods and the prevailing atmosphere at the seat of the High Authority in Luxembourg in the early 1950s.

Interview with Nicole Fontaine, Member of the European Parliament from 1984 to 2002 and from 2004 to 2009, Vice-President of the European Parliament from 1989 to 1999 and President of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2002, French Minister for Industry from 2002 to 2004 and holder of the ad personam Jean Monnet Chair at the University of Nice Sophia Antipolis since 2010, carried out by the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe (CVCE) on 5 February 2008 in the studios of the Council of the European Union in Brussels. The interview was conducted by Étienne Deschamps, a Researcher at the CVCE, and particularly focuses on the following subjects: the role and operation of the European Parliament, the Treaty on European Union and a citizens’ Europe, the resignation of the Santer Commission and the role of the European Parliament Conciliation Committee.

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 personality and work of René Mayer, successor to Jean Monnet as the President of the ECSC High Authority in 1955.