With a view to enabling the ECSC Common Assembly to begin its work independently, Jean Monnet, President of the High Authority, informs Jacques Camille Paris, Secretary-General of the Council of Europe, on 15 August 1952, of his decision to set up a temporary Preparatory Committee, consisting of officials from the national parliaments of the six Member States of the Community, to be responsible for organising the first session of the Assembly in Strasbourg.