Editorial Note
The Foreign Ministers of the six nations signatory to the Treaty establishing a European Defense Community met at Brussels, August 19 to 22, 1954 to consider modifications to the Treaty proposed by France. After 4 days of debate and discussion during which a series of counterproposals, submitted by Spaak in the form of a draft declaration for the interpretation and application of the Treaty and accepted by the Federal Republic, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Italy, but rejected by Mendès-France, the conference adjourned in failure. Documentation on the Brussels Conference including a copy of the original French proposals, Spaak’s draft declaration, and the text, in French, of the final communiqué admitting failure to obtain a general agreement on Treaty modification, is in the Bruce Mission files, lot 57 M 38, “Brussels” and “Outgoing Paris and Brussels”. The exchange of telegrams between the Department of State and United States officials at Brussels is in file 740.5.