Posted on 25 February 2013
More than 2000 files which comprise part of the private archives of Emile Noël held at the Historical Archives of the European Union, Florence (HAEU) were digitised and are now available on line on the web site of the European University Institute.
The complete scanning of the Emile Noël papers forms part of a general strategy of digitisation which is one of the primary missions of the HAEU so as to facilitate research of the key collections by the research community and the public via internet.
The 2000 files cover the period from the early 1940’s to the end of the 1980’s. However, some of them are still closed to research in virtue of the regulations concerning access (30-year delay) governing the archives of the EU.
The documents illustrate the activities of Emile Noël from the outset of his European career, first as Attaché at the international secretariat of the European movement in 1949 and then as Secretary of the Commission on General Affairs of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe, and later as Director of the Secretariat of the Constitutional Commission of the ad hoc Assembly in 1952.
From 1958, Emile Noël carried out the functions of Executive Secretary of the Commission of the European Economic Community at Brussels and in 1967, during the fusion of the executives of the EEC, the ECSC and Euratom, he became Secretary-General of the Commission of the European Communities, a position he held until 1987.
The files contain the notes taken during Commission meetings or exchanges with the Cabinets of the Presidents, the Commissioners and with the Commission services as well as correspondence with European-minded personalities and Associations.
A part of the collection has been structured thematically concerning primarily the European summits and councils, the enlargement of the Communities, budgetary questions and the Single Act.
Furthermore, the fonds has been completed by a group of papers concerning his time as President of the European University Institute between 1987 and 1993. It was as a result of his tenure in Florence that Emile Noël decided to deposit his papers at the Historical Archives of the EU.
Direct Access: Emile Noël fonds