Treaty of Rome
The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union is one of two treaties forming the constitutional basis of the European Union, the other being the Treaty on European Union. The Treaty of Rome brought about the creation of the European Economic Community, the best-known of the European Communities, it was signed on 25 March 1957 by Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and West Germany and came into force on 1 January 1958. It remains one of the two most important treaties in the modern-day European Union; the TEEC proposed the progressive reduction of customs duties and the establishment of a customs union. It proposed to create a single market for goods, labour and capital across the EEC's member states, it proposed the creation of a Common Agriculture Policy, a Common Transport Policy and a European Social Fund, established the European Commission. The treaty's name has been retrospectively amended on several occasions since 1957; the Maastricht Treaty of 1992 removed the word "economic" from the Treaty of Rome's official title and, in 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon renamed it the "Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union".
The TFEU originated as the treaty establishing the European Economic Community, signed in Rome on 25 March 1957. On 7 February 1992, the Maastricht treaty, which led to the formation of the European Union, saw the EEC Treaty renamed as the Treaty establishing the European Community and renumbered; the Maastricht reforms saw the creation of the European Union's three pillar structure, of which the European Community was the major constituent part. Following the 2005 referenda, which saw the failed attempt at launching a European Constitution, on 13 December 2007 the Lisbon treaty was signed; this saw the'TEC' renamed as the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union and, once again, renumbered. The Lisbon reforms resulted in the merging of the three pillars into the reformed European Union. In 1951, the Treaty of Paris was signed, creating Steel Community; the Treaty of Paris was an international treaty based on international law, designed to help reconstruct the economies of the European continent, prevent war in Europe and ensure a lasting peace.
The original idea was conceived by Jean Monnet, a senior French civil servant and it was announced by Robert Schuman, the French Foreign Minister, in a declaration on 9 May 1950. The aim was to pool Franco-West German coal and steel production, because the two raw materials were the basis of the industry and power of the two countries; the proposed plan was that Franco-West German coal and steel production would be placed under a common High Authority within the framework of an organisation that would be open for participation to other European countries. The underlying political objective of the European Coal and Steel Community was to strengthen Franco-German cooperation and banish the possibility of war. France, West Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands began negotiating the treaty; the Treaty Establishing the ECSC was signed in Paris on 18 April 1951, entered into force on 24 July 1952. The Treaty expired on 23 July 2002, after fifty years; the common market opened on 10 February 1953 for coal, iron ore and scrap, on 1 May 1953 for steel.
In the aim of creating a United States of Europe, two further Communities were proposed, again by the French. 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 EDC was rejected by the French Parliament. 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; as a result of the energy crises, the Common Assembly proposed extending the powers of the ECSC to cover other sources of energy. However, Monnet desired a separate Community to cover nuclear power, Louis Armand was put in charge of a study into the prospects of nuclear energy use in Europe; the report concluded that further nuclear development was needed, in order to fill the deficit left by the exhaustion of coal deposits and to reduce dependence on oil producers.
The Benelux states and West Germany were keen on creating a general common market. In the end, Monnet proposed creating both as separate Communities to attempt to satisfy all interests; as a result of the Messina Conference of 1955, Paul-Henri Spaak was appointed as chairman of a preparatory committee, the Spaak Committee, charged with the preparation of a report on the creation of a common European market. The Spaak Report drawn up by the Spaak Committee provided the basis for further progress and was accepted at the Venice Conference where the decision was taken to organise an Intergovernmental Conference; the report formed the cornerstone of the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom at Val Duchesse in 1956. The outcome of the conference was that the new Communities would share the Common Assembly with the ECSC, as they would the European Court of Justice. However, they would not share the ECSC's Council of High Authority; the two new High Authorities would be called Commissions, from a reduction in their powers.
France was reluctant to agree to more supranational powers.
History of Europe
The history of Europe covers the peoples inhabiting Europe from prehistory to the present. During the Neolithic era and the time of the Indo-European migrations Europe saw human inflows from east and southeast and subsequent important cultural and material exchange; the period known as classical antiquity began with the emergence of the city-states of ancient Greece. The Roman Empire came to dominate the Mediterranean Basin and Northwest Europe; the fall of the Roman Empire in AD 476 traditionally marks the start of the Middle Ages. Beginning in the 14th century a Renaissance of knowledge challenged traditional doctrines in science and theology; the Protestant Reformation set up Protestant churches in Germany and England. After 1800, the Industrial Revolution brought prosperity to Western Europe; the main powers set up colonies in most of the Americas and Africa, parts of Asia. In the 20th century, World War I and World War II resulted in massive numbers of deaths; the Cold War dominated European geo-politics from 1947 to 1989.
During the Neolithic era and the time of the Indo-European migrations Europe saw massive migrations from east and southeast which brought agriculture, new technologies, the Indo-European languages through the areas of the Balkan peninsula and the Black sea region. Some of the best-known civilizations of the late prehistoric Europe were the Minoan and the Mycenaean, which flourished during the Bronze Age until they collapsed in a short period of time around 1200 BC; the period known as classical antiquity began with the emergence of the city-states of Ancient Greece. After checking the Persian advance in Europe through the Greco-Persian Wars in the 5th century BC, Greek influence reached its zenith under the expansive empire of Alexander the Great, spreading throughout Asia and other parts of Europe; the Thracians and their kingdoms and culture were long present in Southeast Europe. In 500 BC, Rome was a small city-state on the Italian peninsula. By 200 BC, Rome had conquered Italy, over the following two centuries it conquered Greece and Hispania, the North African coast, much of the Middle East and Britannia.
By 300 AD the Roman Empire was divided into the Eastern empires. During the 4th and 5th centuries, the Germanic peoples of Northern Europe, pressed by the Huns, grew in strength, repeated attacks led to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire. AD 476 traditionally marks the start of the Middle Ages. In Western Europe, Germanic peoples became more powerful in the remnants of the former Western Roman Empire and established kingdoms and empires of their own. Of all of the Germanic peoples, the Franks would rise to a position of hegemony over Western Europe, the Frankish Empire reaching its peak under Charlemagne around 800; this empire was divided into several parts. The British Isles were the site of several large-scale migrations; the Byzantine Empire – the eastern part of the Roman Empire, with its capital Constantinople, survived for the next 1000 years as the most dominant empire in Southeast Europe. The powerful and long lived. Both empires were major powers in that part of Europe for centuries, both creating important cultural, political and religious legacy through the Middle Ages to this day.
The Viking Age, a period of migrations of Scandinavian peoples, occurred from the late 8th century to the middle 11th century. The Normans, descendants of the Vikings who settled in Northern France, had a significant impact on many parts of Europe, from the Norman conquest of England to Sicily; the Rus' people founded Kievan Rus'. After 1000 the Crusades were a series of religiously motivated military expeditions intended to bring the Levant back under Christian rule; the Crusaders opened trade routes which enabled the merchant republics of Genoa and Venice to become major economic powers. The Reconquista, a related movement, worked to reconquer Iberia for Christendom. Eastern Europe in the High Middle Ages was dominated by the fall of the Mongol Empire. Led by Genghis Khan, the Mongols were a group of steppe nomads who established a decentralized empire which, at its height, extended from China in the east to the Black and Baltic Seas in Europe; as Mongol power waned towards the Late Middle Ages, the Grand Duchy of Moscow rose to become the strongest of the numerous Russian principalities and republics and would grow into the Tsardom of Russia in 1547.
The Late Middle Ages represented a period of upheaval in Europe. The epidemic known as the Black Death and an associated famine caused demographic catastrophe in Europe as the population plummeted. Dynastic struggles and wars of conquest kept many of the states of Europe at war for much of the period. In Scandinavia, the Kalmar Union dominated the political landscape, while England fought with Scotland in the Wars of Scottish Independence and with France in the Hundred Years' War. In Central Europe, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth became a large territorial empire, while the Holy Roman Empire, an elective monarchy, came to be dominated for centuries by the House of Habsburg. Russia continued to expand eastward into former Mongol lands. In the Balkans, the Islamic Ottoman Empire overran Byzantine lands, culminating in the Fall of Constantinople in 1453, which historians mark as the end of the Middle Ages. Ottoman armies pressed into Central Europe, besieging
France
France the French Republic, is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean, it is bordered by Belgium and Germany to the northeast and Italy to the east, Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic and Indian oceans; the country's 18 integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres and a total population of 67.3 million. France, a sovereign state, is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major urban areas include Lyon, Toulouse, Bordeaux and Nice. During the Iron Age, what is now metropolitan France was inhabited by a Celtic people. Rome annexed the area in 51 BC, holding it until the arrival of Germanic Franks in 476, who formed the Kingdom of Francia.
The Treaty of Verdun of 843 partitioned Francia into Middle Francia and West Francia. West Francia which became the Kingdom of France in 987 emerged as a major European power in the Late Middle Ages following its victory in the Hundred Years' War. During the Renaissance, French culture flourished and a global colonial empire was established, which by the 20th century would become the second largest in the world; the 16th century was dominated by religious civil wars between Protestants. France became Europe's dominant cultural and military power in the 17th century under Louis XIV. In the late 18th century, the French Revolution overthrew the absolute monarchy, established one of modern history's earliest republics, saw the drafting of the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen, which expresses the nation's ideals to this day. In the 19th century, Napoleon established the First French Empire, his subsequent Napoleonic Wars shaped the course of continental Europe. Following the collapse of the Empire, France endured a tumultuous succession of governments culminating with the establishment of the French Third Republic in 1870.
France was a major participant in World War I, from which it emerged victorious, was one of the Allies in World War II, but came under occupation by the Axis powers in 1940. Following liberation in 1944, a Fourth Republic was established and dissolved in the course of the Algerian War; the Fifth Republic, led by Charles de Gaulle, remains today. Algeria and nearly all the other colonies became independent in the 1960s and retained close economic and military connections with France. France has long been a global centre of art and philosophy, it hosts the world's fourth-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites and is the leading tourist destination, receiving around 83 million foreign visitors annually. France is a developed country with the world's sixth-largest economy by nominal GDP, tenth-largest by purchasing power parity. In terms of aggregate household wealth, it ranks fourth in the world. France performs well in international rankings of education, health care, life expectancy, human development.
France is considered a great power in global affairs, being one of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council with the power to veto and an official nuclear-weapon state. It is a leading member state of the European Union and the Eurozone, a member of the Group of 7, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, the World Trade Organization, La Francophonie. Applied to the whole Frankish Empire, the name "France" comes from the Latin "Francia", or "country of the Franks". Modern France is still named today "Francia" in Italian and Spanish, "Frankreich" in German and "Frankrijk" in Dutch, all of which have more or less the same historical meaning. There are various theories as to the origin of the name Frank. Following the precedents of Edward Gibbon and Jacob Grimm, the name of the Franks has been linked with the word frank in English, it has been suggested that the meaning of "free" was adopted because, after the conquest of Gaul, only Franks were free of taxation.
Another theory is that it is derived from the Proto-Germanic word frankon, which translates as javelin or lance as the throwing axe of the Franks was known as a francisca. However, it has been determined that these weapons were named because of their use by the Franks, not the other way around; the oldest traces of human life in what is now France date from 1.8 million years ago. Over the ensuing millennia, Humans were confronted by a harsh and variable climate, marked by several glacial eras. Early hominids led a nomadic hunter-gatherer life. France has a large number of decorated caves from the upper Palaeolithic era, including one of the most famous and best preserved, Lascaux. At the end of the last glacial period, the climate became milder. After strong demographic and agricultural development between the 4th and 3rd millennia, metallurgy appeared at the end of the 3rd millennium working gold and bronze, iron. France has numerous megalithic sites from the Neolithic period, including the exceptiona
European Atomic Energy Community
The European Atomic Energy Community is an international organisation established by the Euratom Treaty on 25 March 1957 with the original purpose of creating a specialist market for nuclear power in Europe, by developing nuclear energy and distributing it to its member states while selling the surplus to non-member states. However, over the years its scope has been increased to cover a large variety of areas associated with nuclear power and ionising radiation as diverse as safeguarding of nuclear materials, radiation protection and construction of the International Fusion Reactor ITER, it is distinct from the European Union, but has the same membership, is governed by many of the EU's institutions but is the only remaining community organization, independent from the European Union and therefore outside the regulatory control of the European Parliament. Since 2014, Switzerland has participated in Euratom programmes as an associated state; the Common Assembly proposed extending the powers of the European Coal and Steel Community to cover other sources of energy.
However, Jean Monnet, ECSC architect and President, wanted a separate community to cover nuclear power. Louis Armand was put in charge of a study into the prospects of nuclear energy use in Europe. However, the Benelux states and Germany were keen on creating a general single market, although it was opposed by France due to its protectionism, Jean Monnet thought it too large and difficult a task. In the end, Monnet proposed the creation of separate atomic energy and economic communities to reconcile both groups; the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom at Val Duchesse in 1956 drew up the essentials of the new treaties. Euratom would foster co-operation in the nuclear field, at the time a popular area, would, along with the EEC, share the Common Assembly and Court of Justice of the ECSC, but not its executives. Euratom would have its own Council and Commission, with fewer powers than the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community. On 25 March 1957, the Treaties of Rome were signed by the ECSC members and on 1 January 1958 they came into force.
To save on resources, these separate executives created by the Rome Treaties were merged in 1965 by the Merger Treaty. The institutions of the EEC would take over responsibilities for the running of the EEC and Euratom, with all three becoming known as the European Communities if each existed separately. In 1993, the Maastricht Treaty created the European Union, which absorbed the Communities into the European Community pillar, yet Euratom still maintained a distinct legal personality; the European Constitution was intended to consolidate all previous treaties and increase democratic accountability in them. The Euratom treaty had not been amended as the other treaties had, so the European Parliament had been granted few powers over it. However, the reason it had gone unamended was the same reason the Constitution left it to remain separate from the rest of the EU: anti-nuclear sentiment among the European electorate, which may unnecessarily turn voters against the treaty; the Euratom treaty thus remains in force unamended from its original signing.
This overall timeline includes the establishment and development of Euratom, shows that it is the only former EC body that has not been incorporated into the EU. Since 2014, Switzerland has participated in Euratom programmes as an associated state; as of 2018, the community had Co-operation Agreements of various scopes with nine countries: Armenia, Canada, Kazakhstan, United States and South Africa. The United Kingdom announced its intention to withdraw from the EAEC on 26 January 2017, following on from its decision to withdraw from the European Union. Formal notice to withdraw from the EAEC was provided in March 2017, within the Article 50 notification letter, where the withdrawal was made explicit. Withdrawal will only become effective following negotiations on the terms of the exit, which are scheduled to last two years. A report by the House of Commons Business and Industrial Strategy Committee, published in May 2017, questioned the legal necessity of leaving Euratom and called for a temporary extension of membership to allow time for new arrangements to be made.
In June 2017, the European Commission's negotiations task force published a Position paper transmitted to EU27 on nuclear materials and safeguard equipment, titled "Essential Principles on nuclear materials and safeguard equipment". The following month, a briefing paper from the House of Commons Library assessed the implications of leaving Euratom. If the UK withdraws, it might raise the question of UK nuclear fuel availability after 2019 and the need for new treaties relating to the transportation of nuclear materials. UK politicians have speculated; some argue that this would require – beyond the consent of the EU27 – amendment or revocation of the Article 50 letter of March 2017. The Nuclear Safeguards Act 2018, making provision for safeguards after withdrawal from Euratom, received royal assent on 26 June 2018. In the history of European regulation, Article 37 of the Euratom Treaty represents pioneering legislation concerning binding transfrontier obligations with respect to environmental impact and protection of humans.
The five member Commission was led by only three presidents while it had independent executives, all from France: Louis Armand 1958–1959 – Armand Commission Étienne Hirsch 1959–1962 – H
Founding fathers of the European Union
The founding fathers of the European Union are 11 men recognised as major contributors to European unity and the development of what is now the European Union. Sometimes emphasised are three pioneers of unification: Robert Schuman of France, Alcide De Gasperi of Italy and Konrad Adenauer of Germany; the European Union names 11 people as its founding fathers. These are: Other sources discuss fewer names. Count Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi published the Paneuropa manifesto in 1923 which set up the movement of that name. At the start of the 1950s Robert Schuman, based on a plan by Jean Monnet, called for a European Coal and Steel Community in his "Schuman declaration". Monnet went on to become the first President of the High Authority. Schuman served as President of the European Parliament and became notable for advancing European integration. Following its creation, the Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community. Although not all the people who signed the treaty are known as founding fathers, a number are, such as Paul-Henri Spaak, who worked on the treaty as well as the Benelux union and was the first President of the European Parliament.
Other founding fathers who signed the treaty were Konrad Adenauer of Germany and Joseph Bech of Luxembourg. Further men who have been considered founding fathers are: Giuseppe Mazzini who founded the association "Young Europe" in 1834 with the vision of a united continent. History of the European Union President of the European Commission President of the European Parliament List of presidents of the institutions of the European Union Richard von Coudenhove-Kalergi
Western Union (alliance)
The Western Union referred to as the Brussels Treaty Organisation, was the European military alliance established between France, the United Kingdom and the three Benelux countries in September 1948 in order to implement the Treaty of Brussels signed in March the same year. Under this treaty the signatories, referred to as the five powers, agreed to collaborate in the defence field as well as in the political and cultural fields. During the Korean War, the headquarters and plans of the WU's defence arm, the Western Union Defence Organisation, were transferred to the newly established North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, providing the nucleus of NATO's command structure at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe; as a consequence of the failure of the European Defence Community in 1954, the London and Paris Conferences led to the Modified Treaty of Brussels through which the Western Union was transformed into the Western European Union and was joined by Italy and West Germany. As the WEU's functions were transferred to the European Union's European Security and Defence Policy at the turn of the 21st century, the Western Union is a precursor of both NATO and the military arm of the EU.
In the aftermath of World War II there were fears of a renewal of German aggression, on 4 March 1947 the Treaty of Dunkirk was signed by France and the United Kingdom as a Treaty of Alliance and Mutual Assistance in the event of a possible attack. In his speech to the House of Commons on 22 January 1948, British Foreign Secretary Ernest Bevin called for the extension of the Treaty of Dunkirk to conclude the Benelux countries, creating a Western Union; the object was to consolidate Western Europe to satisfy the United States and to give advance notice of the eventual incorporation of Italy, Germany, into the Treaty. The negotiating conference was held on a few days after the coup in Prague; the Western Union was intended to provide Western Europe with a bulwark against the communist threat and to bring greater collective security. The Treaty of Brussels was signed on 17 March 1948 between Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, was an expansion to the preceding year's defence pledge, the Dunkirk Treaty signed between Britain and France.
Although the Treaty goes no further than providing for'cooperation' between the contracting parties,'which will be effected through the Consultative Council referred to in Article VII as well as through other bodies', in practice the arrangement was referred to as Western Union or the Brussels Treaty Organisation. When the division of Europe into two opposing camps became considered unavoidable, the threat of the USSR became much more important than the threat of German rearmament. Western Europe, sought a new mutual defence pact involving the United States, a powerful military force for such an alliance; the United States, concerned with containing the influence of the USSR, was responsive. Secret meetings began by the end of March 1949 between American and British officials to initiate the negotiations that led to the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949 in Washington, DC; the need to back up the commitments of the North Atlantic Treaty with appropriate political and military structures led to the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation.
In December 1950, with the appointment of General Eisenhower as the first Supreme Allied Commander Europe, the members of the Treaty of Brussels decided to transfer the headquarters and plans of the Western Union Military Organisation to NATO. NATO's Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe took over responsibility for the defence of Western Europe, while the physical headquarters in Fontainebleau were transformed into NATO's Headquarters, Allied Forces Central Europe; as WUDO's capacities were transferred to NATO's SHAPE, Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery resigned as Commanders-in-Chief Committee Chairman on 31 March 1951 and took the position of deputy SACEUR Supreme Allied Commander Europe on 1 April 1951. The establishment of NATO, along with the signing of a succession of treaties establishing the Organisation for European Economic Cooperation, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the Council of Europe and the European Coal and Steel Community, left the Western Union and its founding Treaty of Brussels was left devoid of much of its authority.
The Western Union's founding Treaty of Brussels was amended at the 1954 Paris Conference as a result of the failure of the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community to gain French ratification: The General Treaty of 1952 formally named the EDC as a prerequisite of the end of Allied occupation of Germany, there was a desire to include Germany in the Western defence architecture. The Modified Brussels Treaty transformed the Western Union into the Western European Union, at which point Italy and Germany were admitted. Although the WEU established by the Modified Brussels Treaty was less powerful and ambitious than the original Western Union, German membership of the WEU was considered sufficient for the occupation of the country to end in accordance with the General Treaty. Social and cultural aspects were handed to the Council of Europe to avoid duplication of responsibilities within Europe; the Treat
History of the European Communities (1973–1993)
Between 1973 and 1993 the European Communities saw the first enlargement of the Communities and increasing integration under the Delors Commission leading to the creation of the European Union in 1993. On 1 January 1973, Denmark and the United Kingdom became the first countries to join the Communities; the newly enlarged Ortoli Commission took office under François-Xavier Ortoli on 5 January. The first Commission to be led by a member from the new states was the Jenkins Commission, of the UK's Roy Jenkins who held office between 1977 and 1981. Following on was the Thorn Commission, which oversaw the completion of the customs union and 1985 saw the first Delors Commission; 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 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. During the tenure of President Jenkins, in June 1979, the elections were held in all the then-members. 410 MEPs were elected and at their first meeting they elected a new President of the European Parliament. The new Parliament, galvanised by direct election and new powers, started working full-time and became more active than the previous assemblies; the elections helped cement the political groups and, despite attempts by the larger groups to consolidate their position, smaller parties began to co-operate and form alliances. In the subsequent elections the electorate expanded to include new member states and the left wing parties saw increasing electoral gains. However, turnout began to drop from 63% in 1979 to 58% in 1989. Greece an associate member since 1961, applied to join the community on 12 June 1975 following the restoration of democracy.
It joined on 1 January 1981. In 1985, after gaining home rule from Denmark, Greenland left the community following a referendum but remained an overseas territory. Following on from Greece, after their own democratic restoration and Portugal applied to the communities in 1977, they joined together on 1 January 1986. In 1987 Turkey formally applied to join the Community and began the longest application process for any country. Following the fall of the Iron Curtain the door to enlargement to the former eastern bloc was opened. In response leaders gathered in Copenhagen on 22 June 1993 to define entry conditions for candidate states; these criteria were included in the Maastricht Treaty. The following is an excerpt from the criteria. 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 influenced by work on what would be the Maastricht Treaty, the Treaty establishing the European Union.
There had been plans to create a more integrated body and, spurred on by enlargement, various groups put forward plans. Building on the legitimacy of its elections, in 1984 the Parliament produced the Spinelli plan; the draft treaty establishing a European Union, inspired by the failed European Political Community, was adopted by the Parliament 237 votes to 31. It would have given a more federal structure using the community method and codecision with the parliament, however it failed to win the support of the member states. Similar proposals from the Commission collapsed due to arguments over the UK rebate and a German-Italian proposal resulted in the Solemn Declaration on European Union of 19 June 1983 as a political impetus towards a Union but not itself a binding treaty. A treaty establishing the European Union was agreed on 10 December 1991 and signed on 7 February of the following year. Denmark lost a referendum on ratification but succeeded in a second attempt after securing four opt-outs.
The Treaty came into force on 1 November 1993. Jacques Delors' Commission, serving from 1985 to 1994, is regarded as the most successful in history, becoming a frequent source of comparison to his successors. Delors presided over accession of Spain and Portugal, the fall of Communism with the reunification of Germany in 1990, the adoption of the European flag, the Single European Act, the Maastricht Treaty, the beginnings of EMU, the signing of the Schengen Agreement and the completion of the single market. Eurosclerosis Concorde Solidarity Berlin Wall Common European Home European Economic Community Source of majority of the dates: A growing community – more countries join and the changing face of Europe – the fall of the Berlin Wall
Belgium
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Germany
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands