‘The Franco-German forge. Schuman: Allez — while it’s still hot.’ On 13 May 1950, German cartoonist Ernst Maria Lang emphasises the implications of the Schuman Plan, which marks a rapprochement between France and the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) based on the coal and steel production of the two countries’ main industrial basins (Lorraine, Saar and Ruhr). This historic initiative lays the foundations for renewed Franco-German cooperation. French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman and Federal Chancellor Konrad Adenauer are depicted as blacksmiths, each holding a hammer and preparing to mould their future cooperation on an anvil. In the background, the third blacksmith, US Secretary of State Dean Acheson, who welcomes this rapprochement, holds a bellows to supply air to the forge.