The Treaty of Paris was the first established agreement between the six nation- states as it was introduced in the second paragraph. The Paris Treaty was effective for 50 years from the date that it came into force. The next Treaty was the Treaty of Rome. Which established the EEC and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and came into force on 1st January 1958, signed by the six nation-states. This Treaty was mainly focused on the economic cooperation. The Treaty of Rome influenced the unions acting closer with the aim of creating a common market. By the freedom movement of goods, capital, people and services. This was brought into practice by removing the borders between the members of states and not paying duties on goods moved. Supporting each other will make the economy grow, as there are no barriers for trading in EU. The Treaty of Rome also established the four institutions, the parliament, the court of justice, council minister and the commission. Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) was part of the common market. The purpose of this policy was to maintain goods and prices, and how farming was organised. However, it is not only the economy that was on a path of success, The Treaty of Rome also made sure for the strong development of the nuclear industry. And also the idea of Qualified Majority Voting was introduced.
The Rome Treaty was followed by The Merger Treaty signed on 8th of April 1965 in Brussels. This came into force on the 1st of July 1967. The principle of the Merger Treaty was to make the above mentioned three communities which are the ECSC, EEC and the Euratom to establish a single council and a single commission. This Treaty was provoked to establish three communities in one. The then Commission of the European Communities is the branch of the now European Union in Brussels. This is run by 27 commissioners of each member of state. The commissioners are led by the president of the European Commission Jose Barroso, who is appointed by the member of states and will be serving for five years. The European Council is based in Brussels and is used to bring the 27 head of minsters the president of commission together, they meet four times in a year. And discuss major issues as well as decision making.
EEC became the European Community (EC) when they introduced the Merger treaty. The European Community was progressing firmly and so was it attracting nations to join. The First Accession Treaty was the following and established on 1st January 1973. When the EC was joined by Denmark, Ireland and United Kingdom. The EC was grown from six to nine members of state.
After the accession of three members of states, EC introduced the Single European Act (SEA) in 1986. This entered into force on the 1st July 1987 in Luxembourg. The Treaty was amend of Treaty of Rome, but mainly focused on the completion of the single market with force. The Treaty was established the free trade among the remaining countries and the coordination. The European countries were challenging, as the member states grew from nine to twelve, Spain, Portugal and Greece. The Single European Act was signed by France, Germany, Belgium, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom at first in Luxembourg. The Act was two days later completed by Denmark, Italy and Greece in The Hague. As the Danish Parliament rejected the act. As decision where taking through QMV. The SEA was put into practice by generalising the Qualified Majority Vote and removing trading barriers by 1992. This made the European Community economically competitive. They also decide to improve the way the Community Institutions interact.
The SEA was followed By the Maastricht Treaty in 1992.This Treaty was signed in Maastricht, a state in the Netherlands. Which was entered into force in 1993 after the final conciliation between the member of states that led to the European Union. The Maastricht Treaty has a broad impact. As it was ground of the creation of the Euro Currency. It introduced the Three Pillars of the European Union. These are the community pillar that involves the economy, the social and environmental policy. The second pillar established was The Common Foreign Security Policy pillar (CFCP), which is responsible military and peace making in Europe and promotes the international cooperation. The third pillar established was Justice and Home this now known as Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters (PJCC). This pillar is responsible of fight against crime and mainly focused on asylum and immigration.
The Amsterdam Treaty was follow in 1997. It came into force in on the 1st May 1999. This Treaty wad mainly focused on democracy among the citizens rights individually in Europe. The Amsterdam Treaty also focused on intimate cooperation and increasing the powers of the European Council, which failed in solving the institutional issues.
The following Treaty was the Athens Treaty, which introduced the new 10 member of states on 16th of April 2003, it was signed in Athena a state in Greece. This Treaty was focussed on the adjustment needed on the earlier proposed Treaty’s. The 10 members of states that joined the EU was the Czech Republic, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. This was the biggest accession in the EU history.
