Although not formally part of
European Union law, several closely related treaties have been signed outside the framework of the EU and its predecessors between the member states because the EU lacked authority to act in the field. After the EU obtained such autonomy, many of these conventions were gradually replaced by EU instruments. Following on from the success of the
Treaty of Paris, establishing the
European Coal and Steel Community, efforts were made to allow West Germany to rearm within the framework of a
common European military structure. The Treaty instituting the
European Defence Community was signed by
the six members on 27 May 1952, but it never entered into force as it was not ratified by France and Italy. The
Common Assembly also began drafting a treaty for a
European Political Community to ensure democratic accountability of the new army, but it was abandoned when the Defence Community treaty was rejected. Other early examples include the Statute of the European School of 1957, the Naples Convention of 1967 on customs cooperation, the
Brussels Convention of 1968 on jurisdiction in civil matters, the Convention setting up a
European University Institute on 1972 and the amending Convention of 1992 to the EUI Convention, the Agreement on the Suppression of Terrorism of 1979, the
Rome Convention of 1980 on contractual obligations, the Convention on
double jeopardy of 1987, the Agreement on the application of the Council of Europe
Convention on the Transfer of Sentenced Persons of 1987, the Convention abolishing the legalization of documents of 1987, the Agreement on the simplification and modernization of extradition requests of 1989, the
Dublin Convention of 1990 on asylum, the Arbitration convention of 1990 on
double taxation, the Maintenance Convention of 1990, the Transfer of Criminal Proceedings Agreement of 1990, the Convention on the Enforcement of Foreign Criminal Sentences of 1991, the
Eurovignette Agreement of 1994, and the Convention Defining the Statute of the European Schools of 1994. Additionally, the convention on mutual recognition of companies and legal persons was signed in 1968 but never entered into force. Likewise, the
Community Patent Convention of 1975 and the Agreement relating to Community patents of 1989, which amended the 1975 Convention never entered into force. Article K.3 of the
Maastricht Treaty, which entered into force in 1993, authorised the European Communities to "draw up conventions which it shall recommend to the Member States for adoption in accordance with their respective constitutional requirements" under the newly created
Justice and Home Affairs pillar, which was organised on an
intergovernmental basis. Concluded under these provisions were the Naples II Convention of 1997 on customs cooperation, the conventions on simplified extradition procedures of 1995, the
Europol Convention of 1995 establishing
Europol, the
PFI Convention of 1995 on fraud, the Customs Information System Convention of 1995, the
Insolvency Convention of 1995, the convention on the fight against corruption of 1997, the
Service Convention of 1997 on the service of documents, the convention on matrimonial matters of 1998, the convention on driving disqualifications of 1998, and the convention on mutual assistance in criminal matters of 2000. Numerous protocols to these agreements have also been concluded. The JHA was integrated into the EC structures as the
area of freedom, security and justice with the
Lisbon Treaty's entry into force in 2009, which has allowed a number of these Conventions to be replaced by EU Regulations or Decisions. Finally, several treaties have been concluded between a subset of EU member states due to a lack of unanimity. The
Schengen Treaty and Convention of 1985 and 1990 respectively were agreed to in this manner, but were subsequently incorporated into EU law by the
Amsterdam Treaty with the remaining EU member states that had not signed the treaty being given an
opt-out from implementing it. the EU claims agreement of 2004, the
Treaty of Strasbourg of 2004 establishing the
Eurocorps, the
Treaty of Velsen of 2007 establishing the
European Gendarmerie Force, the
Prüm Convention of 2005 on the fight against terrorism, the convention on centralised customs clearance of 2009, the Agreement on the protection of classified information of 2011, the
Treaty Establishing the European Stability Mechanism of 2012 establishing the
European Stability Mechanism, the
European Fiscal Compact of 2012 on fiscal rules in the
eurozone, the
Agreement on a Unified Patent Court of 2013 establishing the
Unified Patent Court, and the
Single Resolution Fund Agreement of 2014 establishing the
Single Resolution Fund. However, all these agreements are open to accession by EU member states. The text of the Prum Convention, Fiscal Compact and Single Resolution Fund Agreement state that the intention of the signatories is to incorporate the treaty's provisions into EU structures and that EU law should take precedence over the treaty. A
TFEU amendment was ratified which authorises the creation of the ESM, giving it a legal basis in the EU treaties. An updated
EMU reform plan issued in June 2015 by the five presidents of the council, European Commission, ECB, Eurogroup and European Parliament outlined a roadmap for integrating the Fiscal Compact and Single Resolution Fund agreement into the framework of EU law by June 2017, and the intergovernmental European Stability Mechanism by 2025. Proposals by the
European Commission to incorporate the substance of the Fiscal Compact into EU law and create a
European Monetary Fund to replace the ESM were published in December 2017. On 30 November 2020 the finance ministers at the
Eurogroup agreed to amend the treaties establishing the ESM and
Single Resolution Fund, to be ratified in 2021 by all Eurozone member states. The reform proposal was blocked for months because of the veto of the Italian government. The proposed amendments include: • The establishment of the ESM as a "backstop" to the
Single Resolution Fund (SRF). • Reform of ESM Governance • The precautionary financial assistance instruments • Clarifications and expansions of the ESM mandate on economic governance; Title 3 of the Fiscal Compact was incorporated into EU law as part of the economic governance framework reforms (Regulation (EU) 2024/1263, Council Directive (EU) 2024/1265 and Council Regulation (EU) 2024/1264) which entered into force as of 4 April 2024.
List Legend for below table: [in force] – [replaced] ;Ratified treaties ;Signed treaties ==See also==