The Spaak Committee was an Intergovernmental Committee set up by the Foreign Ministers of the six Member States of the

European Coal and Steel Community The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to integrate Europe's coal and steel industries into a single common market based on the principle of supranationalism which would be governe ...

(ECSC) as a result of the Messina Conference of 1955. The Spaak Committee started its work on 9 July 1955 and ended on 20 April 1956, when the Heads of Delegation of the six Member States of the ECSC approved the Spaak report. The committee worked on two main topics, one was the creation of a general common market and the other one was the establishment of a European Community for the peaceful use of atomic energy. The steering committee was composed of

Paul-Henri Spaak Paul-Henri Charles Spaak (; 25 January 1899 – 31 July 1972) was an influential Belgian Socialist politician, diplomat and statesman who thrice served as the prime minister of Belgium and later as the second secretary general of NATO. Nicknam ...

, the six heads of delegation from the ECSC member states and a representative, Russell Frederick Bretherton, of the United Kingdom. The different committees examined the common market, investments and

social issues A social issue is a problem that affects many people within a society. It is a group of common problems in present-day society that many people strive to solve. It is often the consequence of factors extending beyond an individual's control. Soc ...

, conventional energy,

nuclear energy Nuclear energy may refer to: *Nuclear power, the use of sustained nuclear fission or nuclear fusion to generate heat and electricity *Nuclear binding energy, the energy needed to fuse or split a nucleus of an atom *Nuclear potential energy, the pot ...

and public transport and

public works Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and procured by a government body for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, ...

. In addition several highly specialised subcommittees would then be set up, depending on the topics raised, which might relate to either

customs Customs is an authority or Government agency, agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling International trade, the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out ...

nuclear Nuclear may refer to: Physics Relating to the nucleus of the atom: *Nuclear engineering *Nuclear physics *Nuclear power *Nuclear reactor *Nuclear weapon *Nuclear medicine *Radiation therapy *Nuclear warfare Mathematics * Nuclear space *Nuclear ...

matters. The common market was the core issue of the committee, although the question of agriculture also arose. In addition transportation and conventional energy were also to be dealt with. By November 1955 the focus of the committee was on the establishment of the common market by abolition of trade barriers, customs arrangements with third countries, social and financial harmonisation and the establishment of common institutions. On 6 September 1955 at the Noordwijk Conference, Spaak presented an interim report. In October 1955 the United Kingdom decided to leave the Spaak Committee as the UK opposed a customs union and did not want to submit its atomic research program to Euratom. On 25 September 1955 the Treaty of Association between the ECSC and the United Kingdom was already enough for the UK. Russell Bretherton left the committee on 7 November 1955. The Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the ECSC convened in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

on 11 and 12 February 1956 to take the final decisions. The Spaak ReportSpaak report
/ref> was then published in April 1956. The Spaak report was presented to the foreign ministers of the six Member States of the ECSC on 21 April 1956 and at the Venice conference one month later. The Spaak report was approved at the Venice Conference on 29 and 30 May 1956 and was used as the basis for discussion in the work of the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom from July 1956 which met at the Château of Val-Duchesse in

. This would lead to the

Treaties of Rome The Treaty of Rome, or EEC Treaty (officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community), brought about the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC), the best known of the European Communities (EC). The treaty was signe ...

being signed in 1957 which established the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisbo ...

(EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) among the members of the ECSC.

References

{{reflist

Sources

The Spaak Committee
on CVCE website (EU)

on CVCE website (EU)

(Brussels, 26 March 1997) on CVCE website * W. Maas, ''The Genesis of European Rights'', JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies 43 (5), 1009–1025. History of the European Union

See also

References

Sources