Messina Conference

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The Messina Conference of 1955 was a meeting of the six member states of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). The conference assessed the progress of the ECSC and, deciding that it was working well, proposed further European integration. This initiative led to the creation in 1957 of the European Economic Community and Euratom.

The conference was held from 1 to 3 June 1955 at the

The Foreign Ministers of the ECSC had to meet in order to nominate a member of the High Authority of the ECSC and to appoint its new president and vice-presidents for the period expiring on 10 February 1957. The meeting was held at Messina (and partially in Taormina) at the request of Gaetano Martino, the Italian Foreign Minister, who was detained in Sicily because of the Regional Assembly elections. They appointed René Mayer as president of the High Authority to replace Jean Monnet. The ministers also reappointed the Belgian, Albert Coppé, and the German, Franz Etzel, as vice-presidents of the college.

In addition to the above-mentioned agenda, the meeting included consideration of the action programme to relaunch

In commemoration of the conference, the square in front of Messina's Palazzo Zanca was renamed Piazza Unione Europea, and on 2 June 1995 a monumental commemorative plaque was inserted on the building's main façade. A statue of Gaetano Martino was erected nearby on 25 November 2000, the centenary of his birth.

See also

• European University Institute
• History of the European Union

References

Sources

• Messina Conference on CVCE.eu (Centre virtuel de la connaissance sur l'Europe)
• Minutes of the Messina Conference (EU) Available on CVCE.eu
• Delegations from the Six at the Messina Conference (EU) Available on CVCE.eu
• How Divided Europe Came Together (BBC)
• Messina Conference (picture)