The six opened negotiations in April 1951 and signed the treaty of Paris, creating the European Coal and Steel Community, which came into operation in August 1952. Although the founding of the ECSC was only a small step towards unification, it was the first time European countries had given significant powers to a supranational government. This government was allowed to reduce tariff barriers, fix prices and abolish subsidies. The ECSC failed to achieve many of its goals, the creation of a common market for Coal and Steel, for example, but it had ultimately been created to start the development of a united Europe.
It was then not until 1955, when the ECSC met in Messina that any further steps were made forward. This meeting resulted in the re launch of the European idea, which led to negotiations of the signing of the treaties of Rome in 195, creating the European Economic Community and the Euratom, both of which started operating in January 1958. The creation of the EEC was the next major step towards the integration of Europe. It had nine-member executive commission, council of ministers and a seven-member court of justice. One-hundred and forty two member parliamentary assembly was created to cover the EEC, ECSC and the EURATOM.
The EEC Treaty committed the six to the creation of a common market. The creation of this was to take twelve years and be completed by gradually removing restrictions on internal trade, setting a common external tariff reducing barriers to the free movement of people, services and capital among member states, developing a common and transport policies, as well as a European social fund and investment bank. The EURATOM treaty creating a common market of atomic energy.
Britain remained out of these negotiations and continued to view itself as a world power after the war. Britain decided to pursue the idea of a wider but closer free trade area based on the OEEC states, but the OEEC had deepened too much for Britain and the OEEC became the Organisation of European Economic Development in 1960. Britain therefore set up its own organisation, The European Free Trade Association, founded in January 1960 at the Stockholm convention, involving Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal Sweden and Switzerland. This organisation was a rival to the EEC BUT SINCE Britain did more trade with the EEC than its EFTA partners, it became clear to Britain that political; influence lay within the EEC. Britain applied for membership in August in 1961 accompanied with Ireland, Denmark and Norway. However they were vetoed by De Gaulle on grounds that Britain’s membership would give the USA too much influence in Europe, it was not until De Gaulle resigned in 1969 that these countries were allowed to enter and the six became the nine. A huge significance that Europe was moving towards becoming a unit.
A second Enlargement took place in 1986 bringing the nine countries of the EEC to twelve. Pushing the borders of the EEC south and west, with the membership of Greece, Spain and Portugal. The EEC felt that by involving Spain and Portugal they would encourage democracy in the Iberian Peninsula and help link the two countries more closely to NATO AND Western Europe.
This increased the influence of the EEC but complicated the communities' decision making process and altered the internal economic balance of the EEC. So they decided it was now time to deepen the relationship between the twelve rather than further enlargement of which there was to be none again until 1995.
1986 knew the EEC as the EC and its population accounted for over a fifth of World trade. It was in this year that the next major step was taken towards forming the European Union, as we know it today. The Single European act, signed in Luxembourg was widely acclaimed as “the most important step in the process of European Integration since the treaty of Rome.
It had several goals; the most important of which was to complete all preparations for the single market by midnight on the 31st of December 1992. This involved the removal of remaining physical, fiscal and technical barriers that would create an “area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is assured” The single market went into force in January 1993.
Another key development from the European community to Union also being decided at this time was the Maastricht treaty. French President Fracois Mitttterand had focused on the theme of political union at the Fontaineldeu European council in 1984, with the result that a decision had been taken in Milan in June 1985 to convene an Intergovernmental convention on political union. The outcome was the Treaty on European Union agreed on at Maastricht European Council summit in December 1991 and signed by the EC foreign and economics ministers in 1992.
Upon reaching this stage of deepening the further enlargement seemed to be the next stage for the EU. In 1990 the European Economic area was created under which the terms of the SEA would extend to the seven EFTA members, in return for their acceptance of the single market. The EEA came into force in 1994 but since Austria, Sweden and, Norway applied for membership to the EU, in which they joined in 1995, it has left just the remaining few in EFTA.
Norway whereby the national referendum went against membership, Switzerland, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
It is expected that Switzerland will join the EU shortly, it had considered applying for membership in 1992 and after rejecting the EEA it now finds itself completely surrounded by the EU and through demands for Switzerland to open its highways to EU trucks and intra-ultra EU trade, it will increase the pressure for membership. Liechtenstein is then likely to follow.
Iceland with a population o9f 300,000 does more than half its trade with the EU and the exportation of fish. The logic of it joining the EU will be increasingly hard to resist.
Looking at enlargement to the East, Turkey has been anxious to since 1987, when it first applied for membership and has been in a customs union with the EU since 1996. However the European council decided in 1997 that they would not include Turkey in the next round of enlargement negotiations because of the troubling social and economic questions raised. Negotiations opened spring 1998to look at other Eastern European countries that had turned to free market policies after the collapse of the soviet block in 1991. These negotiations were with Hungary, Poland Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia and Cyprus. Looking further East Latvia, Lihuania, Slovakia, Bulgaria and Romania have applied but are unlikely to be seriously considered until 2006. So it seems the EU does have plans to continue to unify with more countries during the beginning of the 21st century.
The Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997, is the most fundamental treaty in assessing where the European Union stands today. It is a new set of revisions to the founding of the treaties of the EU. The treaty fell short of completing its original goal of political union, promoted by the SEA and Maastricht, and the 15 leaders were unable to agree to changes on the structure of the EU institutions in preparation for further expansion in membership. However, they were able to agree on a single European currency in 1999, enlarging the EU to the East, policies on asylum immigration, unemployment and social policy. Amsterdam provided them with a chance to review the progress made since the Treaty of Paris. Whereby it was accepted that there may eventually be a multispeed approach to a monetary union, it has led to European leaders and citizens to think about the implications of a single currency.
It seems that since the end of the Second World War, Europe has made many positive steps forward and is a huge and powerful trading block. The new ties of co-operation have been built, that have combined the interests of European States have helped give the region a new confidence. The effects of integration have been felt in a growing number of policy areas, including agriculture, competition, the environment, telecommunications, research and development, working conditions, culture and education and employment, yet Europe is not at a stage of total Unification, but was the original aim for Europe or will it continue to widen and deepen and remain a Europe of Nation states as De Gaulle desired.