Following the Paris European Summit (19 to 21 October 1972), the French President, Georges Pompidou, declares his satisfaction that the future Nine have opted to take the road leading to a European Union. For his part, Barend Biesheuvel, the Netherlands Prime Minister, welcomes the commitments given to strengthen the powers of the European institutions.

On 27 October 1970, in Luxembourg, the Foreign Ministers of the Six adopt the Davignon Report, which seeks progress in the area of political unification through cooperation in foreign policy matters.

On 23 November 1970, Achille Albonetti, former senior European civil servant and Director of the National Committee for Nuclear Energy, forwards a note to the President of the Commission of the European Communities, Franco Maria Malfatti, in which he announces initiatives relating to the creation of a European Political Community.

On 17 February 1971, a confidential note from the Commission of the European Communities sets out the implications of political union on the way in which the Community functions and outlines the Commission’s role within the mechanism provided for in the Davignon Report.

Meeting in Paris from 19 to 21 October 1972, the Heads of State or Government of the enlarged Communities of nine Member States declare their intention to transform all their relations into a European Union before 1980.

On 11 October 1972, in Brussels, the Belgian politician, Fernand Dehousse, former President of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, delivers a lecture to the Belgian Royal Institute for International Relations (IRRI) on the implications of the Paris Summit, to he held on 19, 20 and 21 October.

On 23 July 1973, in Copenhagen, the Foreign Ministers of the Member States of the European Economic Community (EEC) adopt a report on the strengthening of European political cooperation in matters of foreign policy.

Meeting in Copenhagen on 14 and 15 December 1973, the Heads of State or Government of the nine Member States of the enlarged European Community ‘declare their intention of converting their entire relationship into a European Union before the end of this decade.'

On 19 December 1974, Gaston Thorn, the Luxembourg Prime Minister, informs the Chamber of Deputies of the political outcome of the Paris summit of the Heads of State or Government of the Nine.

At their meeting of 9 and 10 December 1974, in Paris, the Heads of State or Government of the Nine express their desire for closer political cooperation at Community level.

In this interview, Jean François-Poncet, former Secretary-General of the Presidency of the French Republic and former Foreign Minister, identifies the weaknesses of European Political Cooperation (EPC) in the late 1970s.

On 6 January 1981, German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher gives a speech in Stuttgart in which he calls for closer political cooperation between the Ten.

On 3 February 1981, Agence Europe publishes the full text of the address given on 28 January 1981 in Florence by Emilio Colombo, Italian Foreign Minister, in favour of strengthening European Political Cooperation.

On 13 October 1981, in London, the Foreign Ministers of the Ten adopt a report on European Political Cooperation (EPC) that sets out a more coherent approach to international issues and to matters of security.

Addresses given in the European Parliament on European Political Cooperation by Gaston Thorn, President of the Commission, Willy Brandt and Mariano Rumor.

On 1 and 2 December 1980, meeting in Luxembourg as the European Council, the Heads of State or Government of the Ten give their verdict on the report by the Committee of the Three Wise Men.

The European Council, held at Fontainebleau on 25 and 26 June 1984, decides on the changes to be made to the Decision of 21 April 1970 on own resources and agrees on a correction mechanism designed to resolve budgetary imbalances.

At the summit held on 29 and 30 March 1985, the European Council holds an exchange of views with the ad hoc Committee on Institutional Affairs. In accordance with the mandate given to the committee in Fontainebleau, it has drafted a report to enable the European Council to arrive at final conclusions by June.

On 25 June 1975, the European Commission publishes its report on transforming the whole complex of the relations of Member States into a European Union.

In this interview, Leo Tindemans, former Belgian Prime Minister, describes how he was appointed by his peers, at the end of the Paris Summit of 9 and 10 December 1974, to draw up a report on European Union and how he selected the team of people to support him in this task.

On 11 September 1975, Jacques-René Rabier, Special Adviser to the European Commission, sends a note to Carlo Scarascia Mugnozza, Vice-President of the Commission, reporting on talks between a delegation from TEPSA (Trans European Policy Studies Association) and Leo Tindemans, Belgian Prime Minister.

On 27 September 1975, Belgian Prime Minister Leo Tindemans gives an interview to the Dutch section of the European Movement in which he describes the objectives and procedures of his mission to define the notion of a ‘European Union’.

On 29 December 1975, the Belgian Prime Minister, Leo Tindemans, publishes his report on European Union, drawn up on the basis of instructions given by the Nine at the Paris European Council of 9 and 10 December 1974.

In this interview, Jean-Jacques Kasel, Legation Attaché in the Luxembourg Foreign Ministry from 1973 to 1976, describes how the Tindemans Report on European Union, published on 29 December 1975, was received by the Heads of State or Government of the nine Member States of the European Economic Community (EEC) during the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the European Communities, from 1 January to 30 June 1976.

In his memoirs, Leo Tindemans, former Belgian Prime Minister, describes the way in which his report on European Union was received in 1975 by his European counterparts, in particular by the French President, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, and outlines the subsequent developments in the European Communities that were already recommended in the Tindemans Report.

In the Dutch journal Internationale Spectator, Leo Tindemans, former Belgian Prime Minister and author of the Tindemans Report on European Union in 1975, looks back, twenty years on, at the origins of the report and the reactions that it engendered.

On 24 September 1979, Dirk Spierenburg presents to the Commission the report drawn up under his chairmanship on reforming the Commission of the European Communities and its services.

In October 1979, the Committee of the three wise men - composed of Barend Biesheuvel from the Netherlands, Edmund Dell from Ireland and Français Robert Marjolin - submit to the European Council their report on improving the mechanisms and the procedures of the Community institutions.

On 1 and 2 December 1980, meeting in Luxembourg as the European Council, the Heads of State or Government of the Ten give their verdict on the report by the Committee of the Three Wise Men.

On 6 November 1981, the German and Italian Governments submit to their partners in the European Communities a Draft European Act, known as the Genscher–Colombo Plan, as a further contribution to the establishment of the European Union.

On 12 November 1981, Emilio Colombo, Italian Foreign Minister, writes to his British counterpart, Lord Peter Carrington, explaining the reasons that led the Italian Government to draw up a draft European Act providing for political cooperation between the Ten.

Addresses given in the European Parliament on European Political Cooperation by Gaston Thorn, President of the Commission, Willy Brandt and Mariano Rumor.

On 14 October 1982, addressing the European Parliament, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) and supporter of enhanced European political cooperation (EPC), defends the draft European Act drawn up by the Italian and German Governments.

On 19 June 1983 in Stuttgart, the ten Heads of State and Government signed the Solemn Declaration on European Union.

In a speech to the European Parliament on 30 June 1983, West German Chancellor Helmut Kohl gives an account of the Stuttgart European Council and emphasises the importance of the implementation of common European Political Cooperation.