European Integration Through Its Key Negotiators

Making the coal and steel proposal public Schuman put a specific plan before France and its neighbors in May 1950. French and West German coal and steel production would be placed under a common High Authority, with other European countries able to join. The proposal made reconciliation a question of who would govern two industries and how, something governments could actually negotiate.

Designing and running the High Authority Monnet worked with Schuman on the plan and then became the first president of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community. Start here to see what it meant to give a shared institution responsibility for an industry. The job of putting the agreement to work began after the speeches and signatures.

Bringing West Germany into the founding agreements Adenauer backed the Coal and Steel Community and signed the Treaties of Rome as West German chancellor. The first agreement offered a way to cooperate with France over specific industries. Rome carried that cooperation into a wider market. His role makes it easier to see the political commitment behind the work of the technical delegations.

Backing the first agreement from Italy As Italian prime minister, De Gasperi supported the Schuman Plan and the Coal and Steel Community it helped create. He treated closer cooperation as a way to secure peace without dissolving the countries involved. His support brings Italy into the story before Martino’s work on the wider common market.

Chairing the Messina Conference Bech chaired the 1955 meeting that revived talks on European integration. Luxembourg joined Belgium and the Netherlands in putting forward a shared memorandum. The chair and the joint proposal are a reminder that a smaller country can shape what larger governments are asked to decide.

Making the case for a general common market Beyen wanted economic integration to reach beyond coal and steel. He used the Benelux customs union as a model and presented his plan at Messina. Compare his proposal with Schuman’s to see the change in scale, from pooling production in two industries to organizing a wider market.

Turning Messina into a negotiating program Spaak chaired the committee the six governments set up after Messina. Its report supplied the basis for the negotiations on the common market and Euratom. His work sits between the statement of intent and the treaty itself, when experts had to make the broad agreement specific enough to negotiate.

Working on both sides of the transition Hallstein led the West German delegation to the conference on Schuman’s coal and steel proposal. He later signed the Treaties of Rome alongside Adenauer and became the first president of the European Economic Community’s Commission. His career links the work of negotiating the institutions to the work of running one.

Giving the talks a place to restart After the proposed European Defence Community failed, Martino helped restart integration talks by bringing the foreign ministers to Messina. He went on to lead the Italian delegation responsible for drafting and signing the Treaty of Rome. The same minister helped reopen the talks and carried them through to the agreement.

Getting past a deadlock over labor rules Differences over working hours and overtime had stalled the talks. As French prime minister, Mollet met Adenauer in November 1956 and reached agreement in principle on most of the disputed points. The other delegations accepted the new proposals and the experts got back to drafting. The episode shows where a decision by the heads of government made work at the table possible again.

Defending a common market in the French assembly Faure signed the Treaties of Rome for France alongside Christian Pineau and argued for ratification in the National Assembly. Agriculture and differences in labor conditions were part of the French debate. His role shows how the treaty had to be explained in domestic terms even after the governments had agreed to it.

Settling details right up to the signing Snoy headed the Belgian delegation to the conference on the common market and Euratom. He chaired a meeting of foreign ministers on the morning of the signing, when objections to draft wording still had to be worked through. He then signed for Belgium alongside Spaak. That morning is a good place to see how late the drafting work continued.