Britain held a referendum two years later in 1975 which the British public voted to stay in the EEC.
Norway had also been gearing up to join in this round of expansion, but in its referendum in 1972 Norwegians decided against membership and negotiations to join were stopped.
1981: Greece joins
Greece now joins the EEC expanding the EEC to 10 countries.
1986: Towards a single market
Spain and Portugal join make the EEC to 12 members.
The Single European Act, which modifies the Treaty of Rome is signed and comes into force the following year. It sets up a framework for the Single European Market by increasing the Commission's powers and introducing qualified majority voting for a number of issues.
1991: Maastricht makes the Union
European leaders meet in the Dutch town of Maastricht and draft the Treaty of the European Union - a major amendment to the 1957 Treaty of Rome and the agreement which officially changes the European Community into the European Union.
The treaty sets up a timetable for economic and monetary union and shows the criteria needed in order to adopt the single currency.
By changing the EC into the EU, the Maastricht Treaty expands into two areas.
Which are:
- it takes on a common foreign and security policy
- judicial and home affairs including policy on asylum, immigration, drugs and terrorism.
Maastricht also makes it possible for the people living in any of the 12 EU countries to move and live in any of these countries and vote in local and European elections in any EU country.
1993: Maastricht's rocky ride
On 1 January the Single European Market takes place which was actually the objective of the first European treaty. Trade tariffs are disabled.
In November, the Maastricht Treaty comes into force, two years after it was negotiated.
1995: The borders come down
Austria, Finland and Sweden join the Union, bringing membership up to 15.
Most continental Europeans can now leave their passports at home as the Schengen agreement comes into force and scraps border controls.
France, Germany, Portugal, Spain and the Benelux countries are the first to put the agreement in place, followed later by Austria, Italy, Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Greece.
The UK and Ireland stay out of the agreement due to fears of terrorism and illegal immigration.
1997:
Updating of the Maastricht Treaty starts and the EU ready for its eastward expansion.
Laws on employment and discrimination are strengthened and the social chapter of the Maastricht treaty becomes an official part of EU law.
The Schengen agreement, scrapping border controls becomes part of EU law though Ireland and the UK maintain their opt-outs. This gives the EU more say on immigration and asylum.
1998: First moves towards enlargement
The EU takes its first steps eastwards and opens negotiations with six countries hoping to join the union. In two waves. The first waves are:
- Hungary
- Poland
- Estonia
- Czech Republic
- Slovenia
- Cyprus
The negotiations decide what areas of the law they can be granted out of, which allowes them to phase in reforms more slowly.
A year later wave two came along when the EU decides to open membership negotiations with another six countries. Wave two consisted of:
- Romania
- Slovakia
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Bulgaria
- Malta
January 1999: The euro is born
11 countries of the EU meet the criteria allowing them to adopt the euro as their official currency on 1 January. Greece joins them two years later but Sweden, Denmark and the UK stay out.
March 1999: Crisis at the Commission
The EU faces its darkest hour yet as in an unprecedented move the entire European Commission resigns amid revelations of fraud, nepotism and mismanagement.
After a tense standoff with the European Parliament, all 20 commissioners including President Jacques Santer resign to prevent the parliament from sacking them after a scathing report into mismanagement at the commission reveals a complacent bureaucracy and culture of favouritism.
In September Romano Prodi is appointed new president of the commission promising radical change in the way it is run. Parliament approves his new commissioners - only a handful of the old commissioners are re-appointed.
2000: Tough talks at Nice
After days of long talks, the main points of the talks were:
- The summit agrees to limit the size of the commission and increase the president's powers
- Vetoes make way for qualified majority voting in a number of new areas but members keep their vetoes on social security and tax.
- “Enhanced co-operation is given the go ahead, which allows the fast track countries to press ahead with new policies without having to wait for the others.
- Candidate countries say that it is a big step forward towards enlargement
Commission President Romano Prodi is disappointed of the talks.
2004: Enlargement at last?
The draft Nice treaty expresses hope that some of the current candidate countries will take part in elections to the European Parliament in 2004 - suggesting that the front-runners in the first wave could be members by then.
The Jargon
Brussels Treaty
The Brussels Treaty was the first attempt after the Second World War to use European integration to prevent further conflict.
It was drafted and signed in 1948 by France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the UK.
It agreed on military assistance as well as economic, social and cultural co-operation.
It paved the way for the Western European Union and Nato.
Treaty of Rome
The 1957 Treaty of Rome - signed by France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg - established the European Economic Community.
Along with the Paris and Euratom treaties it is one of the foundation stones of the European Community.
Often referred to simply as the Treaty, it has been amended several times to take account of new member states joining the EEC.
Most recently it has been updated by the Maastricht, Amsterdam and Nice Treaties.
Once a treaty has been signed, it must be ratified by all the member states before it comes into force.
European Commission
The Commission is the EU's civil service, made up of 20 commissioners and a subsidiary staff of about 27,000, making it the biggest of the European institutions.
The Commission's main job is to initiate new policy measures.
After consultation with interest groups and experts, it proposes legislation to the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament who then decide on it.
Once legislation is passed, the Commission is responsible for implementing it.
It also acts as the guardian of the EU treaties to ensure that EU legislation is applied correctly by the member states.
If necessary, it can institute legal proceedings against member states or businesses that fail to comply with European law and, as a last resort, bring them before the European Court of Justice.
Commissioners are accountable to the European Parliament, which is the only body with the power to sack them.
The commissioners come from all 15 member states, but have to promise to follow the interests of the EU, not their own country. Each has responsibility for a policy area e.g. enlargement, agriculture etc.
At present the big countries have two commissioners and the smaller countries only one. But this will change with enlargement.
Council of Europe
The Council of Europe is a body of more than 40 countries that aims to promote democracy and protect human rights.
It is a separate institution from the European Union, but the 15 member states and all the candidate countries are members.
Based in Strasbourg, it was established in 1949 as a discussion forum for all European countries and concentrates mainly on cultural, environmental and ethical issues.
The Council makes recommendations and forms opinions but does not have any legislative power.
The convention has had considerable influence over the formation of EU legislation.
Paris Treaty
The Paris Treaty set up the European Coal and Steel Community - the first of the European communities which would ultimately result in the European Union.
It was the result of a post-war project to prevent the outbreak of further conflict.
Jean Monnet had been commissioned by French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman with finding a solution to the reintegration of Western Germany into Europe after the Second World War.
Monnet's innovative proposal was to pool the French and German coal and steel industries to prevent the two countries going to war again.
"The pooling of coal and steel production...will change the destinies of those regions which have long been devoted to the manufacture of munitions of war, of which they have been the most constant victims...
"Any war between France and Germany becomes not merely unthinkable, but materially impossible," said Robert Schuman in his 1950 declaration which formed the basis for the Paris Treaty.
The Treaty was signed a year later by France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, starting Europe on the road to integration.
Council of Ministers
Officially called the Council of the European Union, the Council of Ministers is the only EU institution which represents the member states' national governments.
It is made up of government ministers from the 15 states, creating a kind of cabinet of cabinets. Which ministers attend the council depends on the subject under discussion, e.g. the Agriculture ministers will make up the Council for discussions on farming.
The presidency of the Council rotates between each member state every six months. Sweden took over from France at the beginning of 2001 and will be followed by Belgium in July.
Together with the European Parliament, the Council has the power to make EU laws and decide the budget.
The Council is responsible for the common foreign and security policy headed by its Secretary-General and High Representative, Javier Solana.
The way the Council votes depends on the matter under discussion. For some sensitive issues, for example taxation, the council must vote unanimously but other decisions require a simple majority or a qualified majority.
Single market
The single market came into force in January 1993, establishing the free movement of goods, people, services and capital.
The Treaty of Rome which established the EEC in 1957 had set its sights on creating a common market. That came into being in 1968 with the creation of a customs union.
The Single European Act, signed in 1986, finally set a deadline of 1992 for the single market to be up and running.
It also streamlined the decision-making process to take account of successive enlargements and to speed up legislation to implement the single market.
In the end, the single market was launched on 1 January 1993, though some of the legislation was still not in place.
The single market set up four freedoms:
Goods: companies can sell their products anywhere in the member states and consumers can buy where they want with no penalty.
People: citizens of the member states can live and work in any other country and their professional qualifications should be recognised.
Capital: currencies and capital can flow freely between the member states and European citizens can use financial services in any member state.
Services: professional services such as banking, insurance, architecture and advertising can be offered in any member state.
Maastricht Treaty
Maastricht is perhaps the best known European treaty.
It became renowned not only for the long and fractious negotiations and baffling terminology involved in drafting it, but also for the difficulties many member states had in ratifying it.
Maastricht is officially known as the Treaty of the European Union and with it the EU came into existence for the first time.
By adding two new areas - justice and home affairs and a common foreign and security policy - to the existing European Community, the so-called three pillars of the Union were established.
The people of the 12 member states were also given European citizenship.
They now have the right to move and live in any EU state and may vote in European and local elections in any country.
Maastricht was also the blueprint for what was to be Europe's biggest project for the next decade - economic and monetary union.
It defined the three stages of EMU which eventually led to the single currency, and set out the convergence criteria or economic tests that member states have to pass.
The treaty also introduced integration in employment and social issues - at least for some members.
The UK negotiated an opt-out of the so-called social chapter - a part of the treaty which was eventually adopted as a protocol and which covered issues such as workers' pay and health and safety.
Although, after a change of government, the UK did finally sign up to the social chapter, another aspect of Maastricht - subsidiarity - has remained a bugbear for Europe.
Subsidiarity is the principle whereby the Union does not take action (except in the areas which fall within its exclusive competence) unless it is more effective than action taken at national, regional or local level.
The treaty explicitly recognised the principle of subsidiarity for the first time, but while some have interpreted this as prioritising the rights of national and local governments, others see it as giving more power to the EU.
But even once all this had been thrashed out at the summit in 1991, the treaty had a tough time coming into force.
It was first rejected by a Danish referendum, and then after some alterations scraped through.
France also gave Maastricht a less than enthusiastic response - its referendum approved the treaty by a tiny margin.
In Germany it was sent to the constitutional court, which in the end voted for it. In the UK, it squeezed through parliament under unprecedented pressure. It finally came into force in November 1993.
Enlargement
Twelve countries are currently queuing up to join the European Union's 15 member states. They have been divided into two groups - the first and second waves - depending on when they began negotiations.
First Wave Second Wave
Cyprus, Bulgaria,
Czech Republic, Latvia,
Estonia, Lithuania,
Hungary, Malta,
Poland, Romania,
Slovenia Slovakia
Turkey is also a candidate country but its political situation means it has not yet started negotiations.
Before they can become members, candidates must fulfil a number of conditions - known as the Copenhagen criteria. These are:
1) Stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities.
2) A functioning market economy, which can deal with the market forces of the EU.
3) The ability to meet the obligations of membership, including keeping to the aims of political, economic and monetary union.
4) The adoption and implementation of the acquis communautaire - the body of EU law.
The EU issues annual reports about how the candidate countries are getting on with the reforms necessary for EU membership.
* It decides how many votes the new member states will get in the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament, and how the votes of current members will have to change as a consequence.
*It puts a cap on the number of commissioners.
The Nice Treaty was rejected in a referendum in the Irish Rep, this has the potential to hold up the enlargement process. As all members must agree before it can take place.
There are particular concerns over how the Common Agricultural Policy will cope with a big and underdeveloped rural country like Poland.
And to pacify German and Austrian fears of a wave of cheap labour, the European Commission has suggested a transition period of up to seven years before citizens of the candidate countries may work in the rest of the EU.
Poland and Estonia are hoping to be in the European Union by 2003
Schengen agreement
The Schengen agreement allows countries to remove their internal borders and allow people to travel without checks from country to country.
The agreement firstly was initially signed by Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands in 1985.
Ten other countries - not all EU member states - have since joined them.
As freedom of movement is one of the main objectives of the European Union, the Treaty of Amsterdam agreed to incorporate Schengen into EU law.
But the UK and Ireland remained outside the agreement due to fears of terrorism.
Iceland and Norway signed an agreement with the EU in 1999 to involve them with the development of Schengen.
The agreement came into force in 1995 but has been troubled by fears about illegal immigration and drugs trafficking, particularly from countries such as Italy and Spain which have vulnerable coastlines.
Qualified majority voting
The Council of Ministers has two ways of taking decisions - unanimity, when everyone has to be in agreement - and qualified majority voting - a system of weighted votes.
QMV is the most common method of decision-making, used in all but the most sensitive issues.
Issues which are decided on by QMV are also voted on by the European Parliament. This means that the council and parliament act together in co-decision.
Under QMV, each member state is given a certain number of votes in the council, weighted according to its size and population. For example, Germany, the EU's largest state, has 10 votes, while Portugal has five and Finland three.
At present, there are 87 votes in the council, distributed between the 15 member states.
The qualified majority means that 62 votes are needed to pass a proposal, rather than the normal majority of 44.
The reason for the qualified majority, rather than a simple 50%, means that at least half the population of the EU and half the member states must be in favour of a motion to pass it.
But with enlargement, the balance between big and small countries will change.
If the distribution of votes remained the same, a group of small countries could in effect gang up against the big countries and vote them down, even though the small countries together represent fewer people than the big ones.
Some of the longest and hardest negotiations at the 2000 Nice summit were dedicated to working out how many votes each country should have in the future to avoid this situation.
The Nice Treaty allocates the 12 candidate countries their votes and adjusts the votes of the current member states.
Once all the countries have joined, there will be 345 votes in total.
To reach a qualified majority 255 votes will be required, as well as a majority of member states. As an added control, the votes cast will have to represent 62% of the EU population.
