In this interview, Leo Tindemans, former Belgian Prime Minister, describes how he was appointed by his peers, at the end of the Paris Summit of 9 and 10 December 1974, to draw up a report on European Union and how he selected the team of people to support him in this task.

Interview with Leo Tindemans, a member of Jean Monnet’s Action Committee for the United States of Europe from 1960 to 1975, Belgian Prime Minister from 1974 to 1978, President of the European People’s Party (EPP) from 1976 to 1985, Member of the European Parliament from 1979 to 1981 and from 1989 to 1999 and Minister for External Relations from 1981 to 1989, carried out by the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe (CVCE) on 24 February 2006 at the headquarters of the Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams (Christian Democratic and Flemish — CD&V) party in Brussels. The interview was conducted by Étienne Deschamps, a Researcher at the CVCE, and particularly focuses on the following subjects: Tindemans’ formative years, his memories of Jean Monnet, Christian democracy and European integration, the Paris Summit and the Tindemans Report on European Union, the United Kingdom and Europe, Benelux cooperation, the European Union’s attitude to Turkey and the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE).

In this interview, André Dubois, former attaché in the Secretariat of the Special Council of Ministers of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), outlines the powers and the operation of this institution.

In this interview, Jacques-René Rabier, who worked for Jean Monnet at the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) from 1953 to 1955 and was Director of the Information Service of the High Authority from 1953 to 1958, reflects on the administrative organisation of the High Authority under the Presidency of Jean Monnet in Luxembourg.

In this interview, Françoise Schonfeld, one of the three Secretaries to the Action Committee for the United States of Europe (ACUSE) from 1956 to 1975, describes the layout of the offices in Paris occupied by Jean Monnet and his staff.

On 19 March 1958, the European Parliamentary Assembly elects the Frenchman Robert Schuman as its President. In his first speech as head of the institution, the man who pronounced the Declaration of 9 May 1950, the founding act of the European adventure, highlights the changes made to the way in which the European Parliament works since the entry into force of the Treaties signed in Rome in March 1957.

On 25 January 1956, Émile Reuter, President of the Luxembourg Chamber of Deputies and of the European Movement (Luxembourg), delivers an address, broadcast on RTL, in which he explains to his fellow citizens the implications and the consequences of the revival of European integration.

In the referendum held on 25 September 1972, the Norwegians vote against their country joining the European Communities. The following day, RTL 7p.m. news broadcast covers the issue in depth and gives its listeners the opportunity to hear the opinions of Sicco Mansholt, President of the European Commission, and Jean Monnet, Chairman of the Action Committee for a United States of Europe.

Interview with Alfonso Iozzo, senior executive in the Sanpaolo banking group from 1961 to 2006, Chairman of Cassa Depositi e Prestiti in Rome from 2006 to 2008, member of the European Federalist Movement since 1963 and Vice-Chairman of the Triffin International Foundation, carried out by the Centre Virtuel de la Connaissance sur l’Europe (CVCE) on 16 October 2012 at the residence of the Luxembourg Ambassador to Italy in Rome. The interview was conducted by Renaud Dehousse, Professor and holder of the Jean Monnet Chair in European Union Law and Political Science at Sciences Po Paris and Director of the European Studies Centre, and particularly focuses on the following aspects of Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa’s life: his activities at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Economic and Financial Affairs (1979–1983), his influence within the Italian delegation that took part in the negotiations on Economic and Monetary Union and his work as Minister for the Economy and Finance (2006–2008).

In this interview, Paul Collowald, former journalist on the daily newspaper Le Nouvel Alsacien and former European correspondent in Alsace for the daily newspaper Le Monde, describes the preparations for and the political and economic implications of the Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950.