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TheTreaty of Rome,orEEC Treaty(officially theTreaty establishing the European Economic Community), brought about the creation of theEuropean Economic Community(EEC), the best known of theEuropean Communities(EC). The treaty was signed on 25 March 1957 byBelgium,France,Italy,Luxembourg,theNetherlandsandWest Germany,and it came into force on 1 January 1958. Originally the "Treaty establishing the European Economic Community", and now continuing under the name "Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union",it remains one of thetwo most important treatiesin what is now theEuropean Union(EU).
 | |
| Type | Founding treaty |
|---|---|
| Signed | 25 March 1957 |
| Location | Capitoline HillinRome,Italy |
| Effective | 1 January 1958 |
| Parties | EU member states |
| Depositary | Government of Italy |
| Full text | |
 Treaty establishing the European Economic CommunityatWikisource | |
The treaty proposed the progressive reduction ofcustoms dutiesand the establishment of acustoms union.It proposed to create acommon marketfor goods, labour, services, and capital across member states. It also proposed the creation of aCommon Agriculture Policy,aCommon Transport Policyand aEuropean Social Fundand established theEuropean Commission.
The treaty has been amended on several occasions since 1957. TheMaastricht Treatyof 1992 removed the word "economic" from the Treaty of Rome's official title, and in 2009, theTreaty of Lisbonrenamed it the "Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union".
History
editBackground
editIn 1951, theTreaty of Pariswas signed, creating theEuropean Coal and Steel Community(ECSC). 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 byJean Monnet,a senior French civil servant and it was announced byRobert 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 (including war industry) and power of the two countries. The proposed plan was that Franco-West German coal and steel production would be placed under a commonHigh Authoritywithin 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, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands began negotiating the treaty. The Treaty Establishing the ECSC was signed in Paris on 18 April 1951, and entered into force on 24 July 1952. The Treaty expired on 23 July 2002, after fifty years, as was foreseen. The common market opened on 10 February 1953 for coal, iron ore and scrap, and on 1 May 1953 for steel.
Partly in the aim of creating aUnited States of Europe,two further Communities were proposed, again by the French. AEuropean Defence Community(EDC) and aEuropean Political Community(EPC). While the treaty for the latter was being drawn up by theCommon Assembly,the ECSC parliamentary chamber, the EDC was rejected by theFrench Parliament.PresidentJean 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.[1]
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 covernuclear power,andLouis Armandwas 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 also keen on creating a generalcommon market;however, this was opposed by France owing to itsprotectionistpolicy, and Monnet thought it too large and difficult a task. In the end, Monnet proposed creating both as separate Communities to attempt to satisfy all interests.[2]As a result of theMessina Conferenceof 1955,Paul-Henri Spaakwas appointed as chairman of a preparatory committee, theSpaak Committee,charged with the preparation of areporton the creation of a common European market. Both the Spaak report and the Treaty of Rome were drafted byPierre Uri,a close collaborator of Monnet.
Move towards a common market
editTheSpaak Report[3]drawn up by theSpaak Committeeprovided the basis for further progress and was accepted at theVenice Conference(29 and 30 May 1956) where the decision was taken to organise anIntergovernmental Conference.The report formed the cornerstone of theIntergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and EuratomatVal Duchessein 1956.
The outcome of the conference was that the new Communities would share the Common Assembly (now the Parliamentary Assembly) with the ECSC, as they would theEuropean Court of Justice.However, they would not share the ECSC's Council or High Authority. The two new High Authorities would be calledCommissions,from a reduction in their powers. France was reluctant to agree to more supranational powers; hence, the new Commissions would have only basic powers, and important decisions would have to be approved by the Council (of national Ministers), which now adopted majority voting.[4]Euratomfostered co-operation in the nuclear field, at the time a very popular area, and theEuropean Economic Communitywas to create a fullcustoms unionbetween members.[5][6]
Signing
edit
The conference led to the signing on 25 March 1957, of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community and theEuratom Treatyat the Palazzo dei Conservatori onCapitoline HillinRome.25 March 1957 was also the Catholic feast day of theAnnunciation of Mary.
In March 2007, theBBC'sTodayradio programme reported that delays in printing the treaty meant that the document signed by the European leaders as the Treaty of Rome consisted of blank pages between itsfrontispieceand page for the signatures.[7][8][9]
Anniversary commemorations
editMajor anniversaries of the signing of the Treaty of Rome have been commemorated in numerous ways.
Commemorative coins
edit
Commemorative coins have been struck by numerous European countries, notably at the 30th and 50th anniversaries (1987 and 2007 respectively).
2007 celebrations in Berlin
editIn 2007, celebrations culminated in Berlin with theBerlin declarationpreparing theLisbon Treaty.
2017 celebrations in Rome
edit
In 2017, Rome was the centre of multiple official[11][12][13]and popular celebrations.[14][15]Street demonstrations were largely in favour of European unity and integration, according to several news sources.[16][17][18][19]
Historical assessment
editAccording to the historianTony Judt,the Treaty of Rome did not represent a fundamental turning point in thehistory of European integration:
It is important not to overstate the importance of the Rome Treaty. It represented for the most part a declaration of future good intentions...Most of the text constituted a framework for instituting procedures designed to establish and enforce future regulations. The only truly significant innovation – the setting up under Article 177 of a European Court of Justice to which national courts would submit cases for final adjudication – would prove immensely important in later decades but passed largely unnoticed at the time.[20]
Timeline
editSince the end ofWorld War II,sovereignEuropeancountries have entered into treaties and thereby co-operated and harmonised policies (orpooled sovereignty) in an increasing number of areas, in theEuropean integration projector theconstruction of Europe(French:la construction européenne). The following timeline outlines the legal inception of theEuropean Union(EU)—the principal framework for this unification. The EU inherited many of its present responsibilities from theEuropean Communities(EC), which were founded in the 1950s in the spirit of theSchuman Declaration.
| Legend: S: signing F: entry into force T: termination E: expiry de factosupersession Rel. w/ EC/EU framework: de factoinside outside |
 European Union(EU)
|
[Cont.] | ||||||||||||||||
| European Communities(EC)
|
(Pillar I) | |||||||||||||||||
| European Atomic Energy Community(EAEC or Euratom) | [Cont.] | |||||||||||||||||
 / / / European Coal and Steel Community(ECSC)
|
||||||||||||||||||
| European Economic Community(EEC) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Schengen Rules | European Community (EC) | |||||||||||||||||
| 'TREVI' | Justice and Home Affairs(JHA,pillar II) | |||||||||||||||||
 / North Atlantic Treaty Organisation(NATO)
|
[Cont.] | Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters(PJCC,pillar II) | ||||||||||||||||
  Anglo-French alliance |
[Defence armhandedtoNATO] | European Political Co-operation(EPC) | Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP,pillar III) | |||||||||||||||
 Western Union(WU)
|
 / Western European Union(WEU)
|
[Tasksdefined following the WEU's 1984reactivationhandedto theEU] | ||||||||||||||||
| [Social, cultural taskshandedtoCoE] | [Cont.] | |||||||||||||||||
| Council of Europe(CoE)
| ||||||||||||||||||
Entente Cordiale
S: 8 April 1904 |
Davignon report
S: 27 October 1970 |
European Council conclusions
S: 2 December 1975 |
||||||||||||||||
- ^abcdeAlthough not EU treatiesper se,these treaties affected thedevelopmentof the EU defence arm, a main part of the CFSP. The Franco-British alliance established by the Dunkirk Treaty wasde factosuperseded by WU. The CFSP pillar was bolstered by some of the security structures that had been established within the remit of the 1955Modified Brussels Treaty(MBT). The Brussels Treaty wasterminatedin 2011, consequently dissolving the WEU, as themutual defence clausethat the Lisbon Treaty provided for EU was considered to render the WEU superfluous. The EU thusde factosuperseded the WEU.
- ^Plans to establish aEuropean Political Community(EPC) were shelved following the French failure to ratify theTreaty establishing the European Defence Community(EDC). The EPC would have combined the ECSC and the EDC.
- ^TheEuropean Communitiesobtained common institutions and a sharedlegal personality(i.e. ability to e.g. sign treaties in their own right).
- ^The treaties of Maastricht and Rome form the EU'slegal basis,and are also referred to as theTreaty on European Union(TEU) and theTreaty on the Functioning of the European Union(TFEU), respectively. They are amended by secondary treaties.
- ^Between the EU's founding in 1993 and consolidation in 2009, the union consisted ofthree pillars,the first of which were the European Communities. The other two pillars consisted of additional areas of cooperation that had been added to the EU's remit.
- ^The consolidation meant that the EU inherited the European Communities'legal personalityand that thepillar system was abolished,resulting in the EU framework as such covering all policy areas. Executive/legislative power in each area was instead determined by adistribution of competenciesbetweenEU institutionsandmember states.This distribution, as well as treaty provisions for policy areas in which unanimity is required andqualified majority votingis possible, reflects the depth of EU integration as well as the EU's partlysupranationaland partlyintergovernmentalnature.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^Raymond F. Mikesell,The Lessons of Benelux and the European Coal and Steel Community for the European Economic Community,The American Economic Review, Vol. 48, No. 2, Papers and Proceedings of the Seventieth Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association (May 1958), pp. 428–441
- ^1957–1968 Successes and crises– CVCE (Centre for European Studies)
- ^The Brussels Report on the General Common Market (abridged, English translation of document commonly called the Spaak Report)– AEI (Archive of European Integration)
- ^Drafting of the Rome Treaties– CVCE (Centre for European Studies)
- ^A European Atomic Energy Community– CVCE (Centre for European Studies)
- ^A European Customs Union– CVCE (Centre for European Studies)
- ^"What really happened when the Treaty of Rome was signed 50 years ago".
- ^EU landmark document was 'blank pages'
- ^"How divided Europe came together".23 March 2007 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
- ^MFE (26 March 2017)."The" European "Colosseum created by federalists on the first page of Frankfurter Allgemeigne Sonntagszeitung! #MarchForEurope2017pic.twitter /8JW7o4usBb".
- ^"European Commission – PRESS RELEASES – Press release – Rome Declaration of the Leaders of 27 Member States and of the European Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission".europa.eu.Retrieved26 March2017.
- ^"Speech by President Donald Tusk at the ceremony of the 60th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome – Consilium".consilium.europa.eu.Retrieved26 March2017.
- ^"European Commission – PRESS RELEASES – Press release – Speech by President Juncker at the 60th Anniversary of the Treaties of Rome celebration – A new chapter for our Union: shaping the future of EU 27".europa.eu.Retrieved26 March2017.
- ^"Cortei Roma, il raduno dei federalisti." L'Europa è anche pace, solidarietà e diritti "".Il Fatto Quotidiano(in Italian). 25 March 2017.Retrieved26 March2017.
- ^"Celebrazioni Ue, in 5 mila al corteo europeista".Repubblica.it(in Italian). 25 March 2017.Retrieved26 March2017.
- ^"A Rome, plusieurs milliers de manifestants défilent pour «un réveil de l'Europe»".Libération.fr(in French).Retrieved26 March2017.
- ^"Des milliers de manifestants en marge des 60 ans du traité de Rome".Le Monde.fr(in French). 25 March 2017.ISSN1950-6244.Retrieved26 March2017.
- ^"Pro-European, Anti-Populist Protesters March as EU Leaders Meet in Rome".Retrieved26 March2017.
- ^"Trattati di Roma, cortei e sit-in: la giornata in diretta"(in Italian).Retrieved26 March2017.
- ^Judt, Tony (2007).Postwar: A History of Europe since 1945.London: Pimlico. p. 303.ISBN978-0-7126-6564-3.
External links
edit
- Documentsof Treaty of Rome's negotiations are at theHistorical Archives of the EUin Florence
- Documents of Treaty establishing the European Economic CommunityinEUR-Lex
- History of the Rome Treaties–CVCE(Centre for European Studies)
- Treaty establishing the European Economic Community–CVCE(Centre for European Studies)
- Happy Birthday EU— Union wide design competition to mark the 50th anniversary of the Treaty
- 60th anniversary of the Treaty of Rome– Official Site