The 18 April 2016 marks the 65th anniversary of the signature of the Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). On 18 April 1951, France, Germany, Italy and the Benelux countries represented by Robert Schuman, French Minister for Foreign Affairs, Konrad Adenauer, German Federal Chancellor, Carlo Sforza, Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Joseph Meurice, Belgian Minister for Foreign Trade, Paul van Zeelande, Belgian Minister for Foreign Affairs, Joseph Bech, Luxembourgish Minister for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade and Wine growing, Dirk Stikker, Dutch Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Johannes van den Brink, Dutch Minister for Economic Affairs, were brought together in Paris to sign the Treaty which would then enter into force on 23 July 1952. Its purpose was to create interdependence in coal and steel so that one country could no longer mobilise its armed forces without others knowing. This eased distrust and tensions after WWII. The treaty expired on 23 July 2002.