Financing Industries at a European Level: the Borrowing Policy of the ECSC[Financer les industries à l’échelle communautaire : la politique d’emprunt de la CECA]

This article analyses a little-known and an under-documented case in the history of European debt and European borrowing operations, the borrowing policy of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). Using historical archives and the annual financial reports of the Community, it shows how a policy of investment support and a borrowing policy were gradually implemented from the 1950s onwards. By analysing the financial products used by the High Authority of the ECSC from 1954 to 1997, it focuses on the evolution of the financial techniques, in relation to the evolution of the international monetary and financial system. This work shows that the High Authority became involved in the financial markets relatively at a relatively early stage, and used innovative financial techniques. The ECSC thus provides an example of a supranational public institution that used the most innovative borrowing techniques at each key period in international financial history.