Maps indicating the successive stages of European political, economic and military integration between 1948 and 1952.

On 1 May 1953, the German Ministry of Economic Affairs draws up a memorandum in which it sets out its position on the objectives and stages of economic integration in Europe.

On 30 June 1954, the Economic Committee of the Special Committee set up in 1952 within the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe to analyse the draft statute of the European Political Community receives a document drawn up by the Belgian delegation. This document outlines the history of the economic integration that began in 1943 between the three Benelux countries.

On 18 September 1954, commenting on the recent failure of the European Defence Community (EDC), the Antwerp daily newspaper La Métropole calls for a revival of the process to build a supranational Europe in which the three Benelux countries are invited to play the principal roles.

At its Congress of 1 and 2 October 1954, the members of the Netherlands Trade Union Confederation (NVV) adopt a resolution in which they welcome the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and emphasise the importance of economic and social integration in Europe.

On 2 December 1954, the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) adopts a resolution concerning the establishment of a working party responsible for drawing up a report on the possible extension of the material powers of the Community and on a more general extension of the European Common Market.

On 9 May 1955, the Common Assembly of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) adopts a resolution establishing a temporary working party to be responsible for reporting back to it on the possible extension of the material powers of the Community and on a more general extension of the European Common Market.

On 14 January 1955, Herman J. Abs, member of the Board of Directors of the Süddeutsche Bank and President of the German Section of the European League for Economic Cooperation (ELEC), reviews the various aspects of economic cooperation in Europe.

On 24 March 1955, the German daily newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung emphasises the need to continue along the path towards European unification as the only way to build the future.

On 5 April 1955, Pierre Uri, Director of the General Economy Division of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), draws up a note in which he outlines, in particular, the combined benefits of the institutional and functional integration of the European economies with a view to a general Common Market in Europe.

On 13 April 1955, Jean Monnet, the outgoing President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), and Pierre Uri, Director at the High Authority, draw up a draft declaration on behalf of the Six on the progressive integration of national markets.

On 7 April 1955, the Department of European Integration at the French Foreign Ministry sums up the possible ways of continuing European integration while emphasising its preference for general economic integration.

In August 1955, Ludwig Erhard, German Minister for Economic Affairs, responds to criticisms of his lack of enthusiasm for the European idea by insisting on his conviction that Europe can be integrated through institutions or common procedures without the need for a supranational approach.

In 1955, commenting on the decisions adopted by the Six during the Messina Conference, Karl Albrecht, Head of the Düsseldorf Chamber of Commerce and Industry, analyses the progress of and new prospects for economic integration in Europe.

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 radio, in which he explains to his fellow citizens the issues surrounding the revival of European integration.

On 26 January 1956, at a meeting of the European Movement in Luxembourg, René Mayer, President of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), makes a statement in which he emphasises the importance of a revival of the European integration process.

In January 1956, Hermann J. Abs, member of the Board of Directors of the Süddeutsche Bank and President of the German Section of the European League for Economic Cooperation (ELEC), recommends liberal economic cooperation in Europe and condemns protectionism, state interventionism and supranational economic planning.

In 1981, Robert Rothschild, former Head of the Private Office of Belgian Foreign Minister Paul-Henri Spaak, looks back at the main stages of the European revival and of the negotiations for the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (EEC).

In 1981, Joseph Van Tichelen, former Director-General in the Belgian Ministry for Economic Affairs, outlines the implications and the successive stages of the European revival and of the negotiation of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (EEC).

In May 1984, in the Brussels journal La Revue Générale, Count Jean-Charles Snoy et d’Oppuers, former President of the Belgian Delegation to the Intergovernmental Committee established by the Messina Conference and to the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom, shares his memories of the revival of European integration and of the signing of the Rome Treaties.

In his memoirs, Count Jean-Charles Snoy et d’Oppuers, former President of the Belgian Delegation to the Intergovernmental Conference established by the Messina Conference and to the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom, and former Chairman of the Interim Committee on the Common Market and Euratom, looks back on the revival of European integration and its highlights.

At the conference held from 25 to 28 March 1987 in Rome to mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), Christian Pineau, former French Foreign Minister, refers to the role played in early 1956 by René Coty, President of the French Republic, in the revival of the European integration process.

At the conference, held from 25 to 28 March 1987 in Rome to mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties establishing the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), Christian Pineau, former French Foreign Minister, recalls the political situation in France at the time of the negotiations on the revival of European integration and summarises the strategy of the French Government during this period.

In an interview conducted on 26 March 1997 in Brussels during the commemorative events held to mark the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), Hans von der Groeben, former Chairman of the Common Market Committee at the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom, outlines the various stages and the main difficulties that emerged in the revival of the European integration process.

At the conference held from 25 to 28 March 1987 in Rome to mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), Hans von der Groeben, former Head of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) Subdivision in the German Federal Ministry of Economic Affairs (1952–1958) and former Spokesman of the German Government at the Coordination Committee of the ECSC Special Council of Ministers, considers the discussions that took place in Germany on a revival of European integration with the aim of establishing a Common Market.

At the conference held from 25 to 28 March 1987 in Rome to mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), Jacques Van Helmont, former colleague of Jean Monnet at the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), outlines the consequences of France’s failure to ratify the European Defence Community (EDC) Treaty for the action taken by Jean Monnet and the ECSC for the revival of the European integration process.

At the conference held from 25 to 28 March 1987 in Rome to mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), Hans von der Groeben, former Chairman of the Common Market Committee in the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom, refers to the nature of the difficulties encountered by the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) throughout the process of European revival.

At the conference held in Rome from 25 to 28 March 1987 to mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), Cesidio Guazzaroni, former Deputy Head of the Private Office of the Italian Foreign Ministers Carlo Sforza, Alcide De Gasperi and Giuseppe Pella and former Head of the Secretariat of the Italian Delegation to the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom, outlines the implications of European revival for Italy in terms of its foreign policy.

At the conference held from 25 to 28 March 1987 in Rome to mark the 30th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), the Dutchman, Dirk Spierenburg, former member of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), outlines the attitude of the Netherlands authorities and, in particular, that of the Netherlands Prime Minister, Willem Drees, to the plan for a Common Market.

In this interview, Max Kohnstamm, Secretary of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) from 1952 to 1956, outlines how Jean Monnet, President of the High Authority, reacted to the refusal of the French Parliament, on 31 August 1954, to ratify the European Defence Community (EDC) Treaty.