Press liaison office of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community

Since the spring of 1949, an agency known as the International Authority for the Ruhr began overseeing coal production in Germany’s Ruhr region. Its mission was to keep an economically resurgent Germany in check. However, shortly after West Germany joined the agency, it turned out that its days were numbered. This was due to the fact that in May of 1950, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman had proposed that “all Franco-German coal and steel production be placed under the control of a common High Authority, an organisation that other European countries would also be free to join.”

The West German government endorsed this proposal. It ultimately gave rise to the European Coal and Steel Community, which was the precursor of the European Community. On 18 April 1951, France, West Germany, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg and The Netherlands signed a treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community. The treaty also involved dissolution of the International Authority for the Ruhr.

In the spring of 1954, the first press liaison office of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community – the precursor of the European Commission – went into operation on what is today Heussallee. The agency – the first of its type within the member countries of the European Coal and Steel Community – was headed up by German journalist Karl Mühlenbach, who was accorded two office spaces. His task was to keep in touch with members of the German media and to keep the Community informed about events in Bonn.

Also headquartered in the building was the "Deutsche Genossenschaftsverband", a precursor of "Bundesverband der Deutschen Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken" (National Association of Branches of the Volksbanken und Raiffeisenbanken – still headquartered in the building to this day) and "Zentralverband des genossenschaftlichen Groß- und Außenhandels" (Association of Wholesale and Export Co-ops). The building, which was designed by architect Wilhelm Denninger of Bonn, is named after the founder of the German co-op movement. The "Wirtschaftsprüfungsgesellschaft gewerblicher Genossenschaften", or Federation of Co-op Auditors, also had its offices here.

In 1958, the press liaison office of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community relocated to a building on Zitelmannstraße that also housed the offices of Euratom and the European Economic Community. Ever since the Government has moved to Berlin, the European Commission has maintained a regional representation office on Bertha-von-Suttner-Platz in Bonn.