Historical Archives of the European Union Paper documents of the ‘External Relations’ sub-fonds temporarily unavailable The European Commission Archives will carry out a major processing operation on paper files from the sub-fonds of the European executive administrations responsible for external relations. During the work, access to these files will be possible only via micro-fiche. 19 February 2026 | Announcement Print Share: Share on Facebook Share on BlueSky Share on X Share on LinkedIn Send by email Beginning on 23 February 2026, the paper sub-fonds of the European executive administrations responsible for external relations, currently held at the Historical Archives of the European Union, will be progressively withdrawn from on-site consultation in Florence. The temporary inaccessibility to the paper files is due to a major processing operation carried out by the European Commission Archives. Micro-fiche versions of these documents will nevertheless remain accessible for consultation in Florence. The first phase of this operation mainly concerns archives predating the application of the Treaty establishing the merger of the Community executive bodies, starting with those of the European Economic Community. A list of references to the files with expected processing dates is available here. The Historical Archives of the European Union will share updates to the list as necessary.