In this interview, Edmund Wellenstein, European Commission Director-General for External Relations between 1973 and 1976, describes the circumstances and proceedings of the European Commission’s official visit to China in May 1975, particularly emphasising the political and economic issues surrounding the visit.

In this interview, Edmund Wellenstein, who served as Director-General for European Affairs in the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1950 to 1952 then senior official at the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) until 1967, describes the circumstances surrounding his arrival at the ECSC and the nature of his first activities on the High Authority’s committee for liaison with the United Kingdom and the ECSC Consultative Committee in connection with the establishment of the common market in coal and steel.

In this interview, Edmund Wellenstein, Head of the European Commission delegation for negotiations on enlargement of the European Communities from 1970 to 1973, describes the circumstances surrounding his appointment to this post before going on to explain the position taken by the Commission during the accession negotiations with Denmark, Ireland, Norway and the United Kingdom.

In September 1984, in an article in the Dutch journal Internationale Spectator, Edmund P. Wellenstein, former Director-General for External Relations of the European Commission, analyses the outcome of the Fontainebleau European Council held on 25 and 26 June 1984.

On 24 March 1966, Charles Reichling, Director of External Relations in the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), and Edmund Wellenstein, Secretary-General of the High Authority, give a summary of the six rounds of negotiations on the association of Austria with the European Economic Community (EEC) and on the problems posed by the possible association of Austria with the ECSC.

On 29 September 1971, Paolo Cecchini, Head of the Task Force of the Commission of the European Communities for the enlargement of the Communities and chief negotiator for the trade agreements with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), sends a note to Edmond Wellenstein, Head of the Delegation from the Commission of the European Communities to the negotiations on the enlargement of the Communities, in which he outlines the respective positions of Sweden and the Commission with regard to the country’s possible accession to the European Communities.

On 18 January 1971, the Portuguese Foreign Ministry sends to its Diplomatic Missions abroad a confidential circular to inform them of the operation and aims of the exploratory talks which began on 7 January in Brussels between Ruy Teixeira Guerra, Head of the Portuguese Delegation, and Edmond Wellenstein, Director-General of Foreign Trade at the Commission of the European Communities.

In this interview, Charles Rutten, former Director-General of Political Affairs in the Netherlands Foreign Ministry and former Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the European Communities, considers the role of the Political Committee in connection with European Political Cooperation.