Background In April 1951, the
Treaty of Paris was signed, creating the
European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). This was an international community based on
supranationalism and international law, designed to help the
economy of Europe and prevent future war by
integrating its
members. With the aim of creating a
federal Europe two further communities were proposed: a
European Defence Community and a
European Political Community. While the treaty for the latter was being drawn up by the
Common Assembly, the ECSC parliamentary chamber, the proposed defence community was rejected by the
French Parliament. ECSC President
Jean Monnet, a leading figure behind the communities, resigned from the High Authority in protest and began work on alternative communities, based on economic integration rather than political integration. Following the
Messina Conference in 1955,
Paul-Henri Spaak was given the task to prepare a report on the idea of a
customs union. The so-called
Spaak Report of the
Spaak Committee formed the cornerstone of the intergovernmental negotiations at Val Duchesse conference centre in 1956. Together with the
Ohlin Report the Spaak Report would provide the basis for the
Treaty of Rome. In 1956,
Paul-Henri Spaak led the
Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom at the
Val Duchesse conference centre, which prepared for the
Treaty of Rome in 1957. The conference led to the signature, on 25 March 1957, of the
Treaty of Rome establishing a European Economic Community.
Creation and early years The resulting communities were the European Economic Community (EEC) and the
European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM or sometimes EAEC). These were markedly less supranational than the previous communities, due to protests from some countries that their
sovereignty was being infringed (however there would still be concerns with the behaviour of the
Hallstein Commission). Germany became a founding member of the EEC, and Konrad Adenauer was made leader in a very short time. The first formal meeting of the
Hallstein Commission was held on 16 January 1958 at the
Château de Val-Duchesse. The EEC (direct ancestor of the modern Community) was to create a
customs union while Euratom would promote co-operation in the
nuclear power sphere. The EEC rapidly became the most important of these and expanded its activities. The first move towards political developments came at the end of 1959 when the foreign ministers of the six members announced that would be meeting quarterly to discuss political issues and international problems. One of the first important accomplishments of the EEC was the establishment (1962) of common price levels for agricultural products. In 1968, internal tariffs (tariffs on trade between member nations) were removed on certain products.
Charles de Gaulle vetoed British membership, held back the development of Parliament's powers and was at the centre of the 'empty chair crisis' of 1965. Another crisis was triggered in regard to proposals for the financing of the
Common Agricultural Policy, which came into force in 1962. The transitional period whereby decisions were made by unanimity had come to an end, and majority-voting in the council had taken effect. Then-
French President Charles de Gaulle's opposition to supranationalism and fear of the other members challenging the CAP led to an "empty chair policy" whereby French representatives were withdrawn from the European institutions until the French veto was reinstated. Eventually, a compromise was reached with the
Luxembourg compromise on 29 January 1966 whereby a
gentlemen's agreement permitted members to use a veto on areas of national interest. On 1 July 1967, when the
Merger Treaty came into operation, combining the institutions of the ECSC and Euratom into that of the EEC, they already shared a
Parliamentary Assembly and
Courts. Collectively they were known as the
European Communities. The Communities still had independent personalities although were increasingly integrated. Future treaties granted the community new powers beyond simple economic matters which had achieved a high level of integration. As it got closer to the goal of political integration and a peaceful and united Europe, what
Mikhail Gorbachev described as a
Common European Home.
Enlargement and elections The 1960s saw the first attempts at
enlargement. In 1961,
Denmark,
Ireland, the
United Kingdom and
Norway (in 1962), applied to join the three Communities. However, President Charles de Gaulle saw British membership as a
Trojan Horse for U.S. influence and vetoed membership, and the applications of all four countries were suspended.
Greece became the first country to join the EC in 1961 as an associate member, however its membership was suspended in 1967 after a coup d'état established a military dictatorship called the
Regime of the Colonels. A year later, in February 1962,
Spain attempted to join the European Community. However, because
Francoist Spain was not a democracy, all members rejected the request in 1964. The four countries resubmitted their applications on 11 May 1967 and with
Georges Pompidou succeeding Charles de Gaulle as French president in 1969, the veto was lifted. Negotiations began in 1970 under the pro-European UK government of
Edward Heath, who had to deal with disagreements relating to the
Common Agricultural Policy and the UK's relationship with the
Commonwealth of Nations. Nevertheless, two years later the accession treaties were signed so that Denmark, Ireland and the UK
joined the Community effective 1 January 1973. The Norwegian people had
rejected membership in a
referendum on 25 September 1972. The
Treaties of Rome had stated that the
European Parliament must be directly elected; however, this required the
Council to agree on a common voting system first. The Council procrastinated on the issue and the Parliament remained appointed, French President Charles de Gaulle was particularly active in blocking the development of the Parliament, with it only being granted
Budgetary powers following his resignation. Parliament pressured for agreement and on 20 September 1976 the Council agreed part of the necessary instruments for election, deferring details on electoral systems which remain varied to this day. The new Parliament, galvanised by direct election and new powers, started working full-time and became more active than the previous assemblies. The European Council in 1984 appointed an
ad hoc committee for this purpose. The European Council in 1985 largely followed the committee's recommendations; but, as the adoption of a flag was strongly reminiscent of a
national flag representing
statehood was controversial, the "flag of Europe" design was adopted with the status only of a "logo" or "emblem". The European Council, or European summit, had developed since the 1960s as an informal meeting of the Council at the level of heads of state. It had originated from then-
French President Charles de Gaulle's resentment at the domination of supranational institutions (e.g. the commission) over the integration process. It was mentioned in the treaties for the first time in the
Single European Act (see below).
Toward Maastricht Greece re-applied to join the community on 12 June 1975, following the restoration of democracy, and
joined on 1 January 1981. Following on from Greece, and after their own democratic restoration,
Spain and
Portugal applied to the communities in 1977 and joined on 1 January 1986. In 1987,
Turkey formally applied to join the Community and began the longest application process for any country. With the prospect of further enlargement, and a desire to increase areas of co-operation, the
Single European Act was signed by the foreign ministers on 17 and 28 February 1986 in
Luxembourg and
The Hague respectively. In a single document it dealt with reform of institutions, extension of powers, foreign policy cooperation and the single market. It came into force on 1 July 1987. The act was followed by work on what would be the
Maastricht Treaty, which was agreed on 10 December 1991, signed the following year and coming into force on 1 November 1993 establishing the European Union, and paving the way for the
European Monetary Union.
European Community The EU absorbed the European Communities as one of its
three pillars. The EEC's areas of activities were enlarged and were renamed the
European Community, continuing to follow the
supranational structure of the EEC. The EEC institutions became those of the EU, however the Court, Parliament and Commission had only limited input in the new pillars, as they worked on a more
intergovernmental system than the European Communities. This was reflected in the names of the institutions, the council was formally the "Council of the
European Union" while the commission was formally the "Commission of the
European Communities". There are more competencies listed in Article 3 of the European Communities pillar than there are in Article 3 of the Treaty of Rome. This is due to the fact that some competencies were already inherent in the Treaty of Tome, some were referred to in the Treaty of Rome, and some were extended under Article 235 of the Treaty of Rome. Competencies were added to cover trans-European networks, and the work of the Culture Committee and Education Committee that were previously sharing existing competencies. The only entry in Article 3 that represented something new is the competence covering the entry and movement of persons in the internal market. However, after the Treaty of Maastricht, Parliament gained a more formal role. Maastricht brought in the
codecision procedure, which gave it equal legislative power with the Council on Community matters. This replaced the informal parliamentary blocking powers established by the 1979 Isoglucose decision. It also abolished any existing
state like
Simple Majority voting in the EEC, replacing it with
Qualified Majority Voting, a procedure more commonly used in international organisations. The
Treaty of Amsterdam transferred responsibility for free movement of persons (e.g.,
visas,
illegal immigration,
asylum) from the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) pillar to the European Community (JHA was renamed
Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters (PJCC) as a result). Both Amsterdam and the
Treaty of Nice also extended
codecision procedure to nearly all policy areas, giving Parliament equal power to the Council in the Community. In 2002, the
Treaty of Paris which established the ECSC expired, having reached its 50-year limit (as the first treaty, it was the only one with a limit). No attempt was made to renew its mandate; instead, the
Treaty of Nice transferred certain of its elements to the
Treaty of Rome and hence its work continued as part of the EC area of the European Community's remit. After the entry into force of the
Treaty of Lisbon in 2009 the pillar structure ceased to exist. The European Community, together with its
legal personality, was absorbed into the newly consolidated European Union which merged in the other two pillars (however Euratom remained distinct). This was originally proposed under the
European Constitution but that treaty failed ratification in 2005. ==Aims and achievements==