Émile Noël (

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

, 17 November 1922 –

Viareggio Viareggio () is a city and ''comune'' in northern Tuscany, Italy, on the coast of the Ligurian Sea. With a population of over 62,000, it is the second largest city in the province of Lucca, after Lucca. It is known as a seaside resort as well a ...

, 24 August 1996) was a senior French European Union official.

Biography

Following his studies at the

École Normale Supérieure École or Ecole may refer to: * an elementary school in the French educational stages normally followed by Secondary education in France, secondary education establishments (collège and lycée) * École (river), a tributary of the Seine flowing i ...

, his first job was at the

European Movement International The European Movement International is a lobbying association that coordinates the efforts of associations and national councils with the goal of promoting European integration, and disseminating information about it. History Initially the Eur ...

. He started his career in the European institutions in 1949, when he became secretary to the General Affairs Committee of the

Council of Europe The Council of Europe (CoE; , CdE) is an international organisation with the goal of upholding human rights, democracy and the Law in Europe, rule of law in Europe. Founded in 1949, it is Europe's oldest intergovernmental organisation, represe ...

Consultative Assembly, at the request of Guy Mollet, the Committee's

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Eur ...

. He subsequently became involved in the creation of what would eventually become the European Union. In 1952, he was seconded by the Council of Europe to act as director of the secretariat of the constitutional committee of the ad hoc assembly tasked by 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 ...

to prepare plans for a

European Political Community The European Political Community (EPC) is an intergovernmental forum for political and strategic discussions about the future of Europe, established in 2022 after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The group first met in October 2022 in Prague, ...

(EPC). Following the collapse of the EPC project, he returned to the Council of Europe: in 1954 he was appointed as

Guy Mollet Guy Alcide Mollet (; 31 December 1905 – 3 October 1975) was a French politician. He led the socialist French Section of the Workers' International (SFIO) from 1946 to 1969 and was the French Prime Minister from 1956 to 1957. As Prime Ministe ...

chef de cabinet In some Francophone countries and international organisations, a ( French; literally 'head of office') is a senior official working for a high-ranking political or administrative figure such as a government minister. They are typically responsib ...

when Mollet was President of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe. He was subsequently appointed head of Guy Mollet's private office, then Deputy Director when the socialists returned to power in France in 1956. He acted as intermediary between Matignon and

Jean Monnet Jean Omer Marie Gabriel Monnet (; 9 November 1888 – 16 March 1979) was a French civil servant, entrepreneur, diplomat, financier, and administrator. An influential supporter of European unity, he is considered one of the founding fathers of t ...

's Action Committee for the United States of Europe. He played an important role in the negotiations between the Six at Val Duchesse which led to the

Treaty 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 ...

and the

Euratom Treaty The Euratom Treaty, officially the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, established the European Atomic Energy Community. It was signed on 25 March 1957 at the same time as the Treaty establishing the European Economic Com ...

. Following the fall of the Mollet Government in June 1957, he returned to the European Community institutions in April 1958 when Robert Marjolin had him appointed as Executive Secretary of the Commission of 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 ...

. Following the merger of the executives in 1967, he became

Secretary-General Secretary is a title often used in organizations to indicate a person having a certain amount of authority, Power (social and political), power, or importance in the organization. Secretaries announce important events and communicate to the org ...

of the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the primary Executive (government), executive arm of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with a number of European Commissioner, members of the Commission (directorial system, informall ...

, a post he occupied until 1987. In the late 1970s, Noël began to push for the creation of archives for the Community's institutions, similar to

national archives National archives are the archives of a country. The concept evolved in various nations at the dawn of modernity based on the impact of nationalism upon bureaucratic processes of paperwork retention. Conceptual development From the Middle Ages i ...

. This eventually led to the

Historical Archives of the European Union The Historical Archives of the European Union (HAEU), located in Florence (Italy), is the official archives for the historical documents of the Institutions of the European Union. It is also a research centre dedicated to the archival preservation a ...

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, which opened their doors in 1983.Knudsen, A.C.L. (2015). European Union History. In: ''Research methods in European Union Studies'', by K. Lynggaard et al. (eds.). (p.43). He was very close to the Commission's Spokesman Beniamino Olivi and to the chefs de cabinet of the successive Presidents of the Commission (including

Pascal Lamy Pascal Lamy (born 8 April 1947) is a French political consultant and businessman. He was the Director-General of the World Trade Organization (WTO) from 1 September 2005 to 1 September 2013 for 8 years. In April 2009, WTO members reappointed Lamy ...

), and he left his mark on the institution: influence of French administrative principles, use of French as vehicular language, sense of mission in the service of the Community ideal. From 1987 to 1993 he was President of the

European University Institute The European University Institute (EUI) is an international postgraduate and post-doctoral research-intensive university and an intergovernmental organisation with juridical personality, established by its founding member states to contribu ...

References

External links

Jean Monnet Center
*
Émile Noël, premier secrétaire général de la Commission européenne
* Émile Noël'
documents
and two interviews with him
INT030
an
INT513
are available at th
Historical Archives of the European Union
in Florence {{DEFAULTSORT:Noel, Emile 1922 births 1996 deaths Secretaries-general of the European Commission Diplomats for France French officials of the European Union Presidents of the European University Institute