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| 1953, Feb. 23 |
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| Meeting in Rome, the members of the Coal and Steel Community voted unanimously to support ratification of the EDC and gave tentative approval to a Dutch proposal to create a single market through tariff reductions. | 1 |
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| March 10 |
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| A “constituent assembly” voted 50–0 to approve that draft of a charter for a European Union. | 2 |
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| April 23–25 |
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| The regular ministerial council of NATO agreed that Soviet policy had not changed, despite the launching of a “Peace Offensive.” It was therefore decided that six more divisions would be added to the NATO forces by the end of 1953. | 3 |
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| May 13 |
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| General Alfred M. Gruenther succeeded General Ridgway as supreme allied commander, Europe. | 4 |
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| Oct. 8 |
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| The Trieste problem. The United States and Britain, abandoning their 1945 promise to restore all of Trieste to Italy, announced plans to withdraw their forces from Zone A, which was to be returned to Italy, while leaving Yugoslavia in control of Zone B. Italy favored the plan, but Yugoslavia denounced it. Tito threatened to send his troops into Zone A the minute the Italians attempted to occupy it (Oct. 11). | 5 |
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| Oct. 12–15 |
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| Tito called for an international conference on Trieste, while the Soviet Union sought action by the UN. On Oct. 18 the foreign ministers of Britain, France, and the U.S. proposed a conference with Italy and Yugoslavia. | 6 |
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| Nov. 1 |
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| The Trieste crisis was averted when Yugoslavia and Italy agreed (Nov. 21) to attend such a conference and (Dec. 5) to withdraw their troops from the disputed area. | 7 |
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| Dec. 14 |
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| U.S. secretary of state Dulles, irked by the failure of some NATO members to meet their military commitments, warned a NATO conference in Paris that unless a European army were established “soon,” his government would be forced to undertake “an agonizing reappraisal” of its own basic policies. | 8 |
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