I)The different Treaties
a)Treaty wich etablished the European Coal and Steel Community(E.C.S.C)(1951)
Signed in Paris on April 18th, 1951, this treaty etablished The European Coal and Steel Community(E.C.S.C) had the modest aim of centralised control of the previously national coal and steel industries of its member states, was declared to be "a first step in the federation of Europe". The founding members of the Community were Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany.
b)Treaty of Rome(1957)
Two additional communities were created in 1957: the European Economic Community (EEC) establishing a customs union and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) for cooperation in developing nuclear energy.
c)Merger Treaty(1965)
The Merger Treaty (also called Brussels Treaty) was Signed in Brussels on 8 April 1965. This Treaty combined rhe executive bodies of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), European Atomic Energy Community( Euratom) and the European Economic Community (EEC) into a single institutional structure. This Treaty is regarded by some as the real begining of the modern European Union.
d)The singular European Act (SEA)(1986)
The goal of this treaty was to remove remaining barriers between countries, increase harmonization, increasing the competitiveness of European countries. It reformed the operating procedures of the institutions (which then had 12 members, rather than 6 as initially) and Qualified Majority Voting was extended to new areas. An aim was set of a single market by 1992.
The act introduced European Political Cooperation, forerunner of the European Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy.
The act was signed at Luxembourg on February 17, 1986, and at The Hague on February 28, 1986.
e)The treaty of Maastricht(1992)
The Maastricht Treaty (formally, the Treaty on European Union, TEU) was signed on 7 February 1992 in Maastricht, It created the European Union and led to the creation of the Euro(€)
f)The Treaty of Amesterdam
The Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty of the European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts, commonly known as the Amsterdam Treaty, was signed on October 2, 1997, it made substantial changes to the Treaty on European Union.The Amsterdam Treaty meant a greater emphasis on citizenship and the rights of individuals, more democracy in the shape of increased powers for the European Parliament, a new title on employment, a Community area of freedom, security and justice, the beginnings of a common foreign and security policy (CFSP) and the reform of the institutions in the run-up to enlargement.
g)The Treaty of Nice
The Nice Treaty was signed by European leaders on 26 February 2001 and came into force on 1 February 2003. It amended the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty of Rome. The Treaty of Nice reformed the institutional structure of the European Union to withstand eastward expansion, a task which was originally intended to have been done by the Amsterdam Treaty, but failed to be addressed at the time.
The entrance into force of the treaty was in doubt for a time, after its initial rejection by Irish voters in a referendum in June 2001. This referendum result was reversed in a subsequent referendum held a little over a year later.
h)Informations
All this Treaties entered into force one year later their signatures .
II)The succesives extensions of EU
The European Union (EU) was originally created by six founding states in 1958, but has grown to its current size of 27 member states. There were six successive enlargements during this period (with the largest occurring on May 1, 2004, when 10 member states joined):- the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark in 1973
-Greece in 1981
-Spain and Portugal in 1986
-Austria, Finland and Sweden in 1995
-Estovia,Latvia, Lithuania,Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia,Hungary, Slovenia,Malta and Cyprus in 2004
-Bulgaria and Romania in 2007
All the extensions were made made by a treaty which must be signed by all the states in the EU, Norway have been refused twice in 1972 and 1994.
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