Posted on 11 July 2013
The archival holdings of the EUI that are now open to research shed light on the history on the establishment of the EUI and its first 10 years. It highlights the workings of the Preparatory Committee for the foundation of the EUI under Max Kohnstamm who later became the first President of the Institute. Also the 1969 Conference in The Hague that decided on the establishment of the EUI, and the two conferences in Florence 1970 and Rome 1971 that finalised the Convention and conceived the EUI as non-Community institution are well documented in this fonds. Further highlights are the files of President Kohnstamm (1976-1981), the decisions of the High Council as the Institute’s governing body and the Academic Council minutes on the development of the Institute’s academic programme in human sciences of the early years.
The EUI opened its doors to its first 70 researchers in 1976. During the following 40 years it has grown to incorporate academics from across Europe and beyond, in line with its mission to: “foster the advancement of learning in fields which are of particular interest for the development of Europe”. Today the EUI offers one of the world's largest doctoral and postdoctoral programmes in Social and Political Sciences, History, Law and Economy and hosting a community of more than 1,000 scholars from 60 countries.
The Institute was founded by a Convention signed in 1976 by the nine Member States of the European Communities with the status of an Intergovernmental Organisation. The Institute is governed by a High Council consisting of representatives from the Contracting States to the Institute's Convention, nowadays 20 Member States: Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
The opening of the historical archives of the EUI was decided by the High Council in December 1995 and the management, conservation and public access was entrusted to the Historical Archives of the European Union by the EUI President’s decision in 2002.
Access to the EUI inventory