Author: Jorge Rodrigues Simão

The Luxembourg Accord   The first disagreement among the Member States occurred in 1965. It is known as the “empty chairs” crisis, as France refused to attend Council meetings from July 1965 to January 1966. The then president...

The European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom)   The main objective of the European Atomic Energy Community Treaty (EA Treaty) (as indicated in Article 1 EA) was to create “the conditions necessary for the speedy establishment...

The Messina Conference   In June 1955 in Messina (Sicily) the foreign ministers of the Contracting States of the ECSC decided to “pursue the establishment of a United Europe through the development of common institutions, a...

The Schuman Plan   Robert Schuman, the French minister for foreign affairs, followed the advice of Winston Churchill, who emphasized in his speeches that France should take Germany back into the community of nations. Schuman was...

The Marshall Plan   On 5 June 1947 at a Conference at Harvard University Truman’s Secretary of State, George C. Marshall, announced the American plan for European reconstruction. In order to eliminate “hunger, poverty,...