In this interview excerpt, Gabriel Robin, who joined the French Foreign Ministry in 1958 after graduating from the École nationale d’administration (ENA), looks back on his early days in the French diplomatic service and the first European issues that arose as the Rome Treaties were implemented.

In this interview excerpt, Gabriel Robin, Embassy Secretary then Counsellor at the French Permanent Representation to the European Communities between 1961 and 1967, describes his involvement in the negotiations concerning the Fouchet Plans in 1961.

In this interview excerpt, Gabriel Robin, Embassy Secretary then Counsellor at the French Permanent Representation to the European Communities between 1961 and 1967, discusses the empty chair crisis from the Foreign Ministry’s viewpoint and describes how the crisis was resolved with the Luxembourg Compromise in 1966.

In this interview excerpt, Gabriel Robin, Embassy Secretary then Counsellor at the French Permanent Representation to the European Communities between 1961 and 1967, discusses the circumstances surrounding his departure from the French Foreign Ministry to join the Permanent Representation in Brussels.

In this interview excerpt, Gabriel Robin, diplomat at the French Permanent Representation to the European Communities, gives his views on Jean-Marc Boegner, French Permanent Representative to the European Communities from 1961 to 1972.

In this interview excerpt, Gabriel Robin, diplomat at the French Permanent Representation to the European Communities from 1967 to 1969, discusses the second veto imposed by General de Gaulle to the United Kingdom’s accession to the European Communities in November 1967.