What is the history of the European Union?
Introduction
The dream of a united Europe is almost as old as Europe itself. The early 9th-century empire of Charlemagne covered much of western Europe. In the early 1800s the French empire of Napoleon I encompassed most of the European continent. During World War II (1939-1945), German leader Adolf Hitler nearly succeeded in uniting Europe under Nazi domination (see National Socialism). All these efforts failed because they relied on forcibly subjugating other nations rather than fostering cooperation among them.
Attempts to create cooperative organizations fared little better until after World War II. Until then, nations strongly opposed all attempts to infringe on their powers and were unwilling to yield control over their policies. Early collaborative ventures were international or intergovernmental organizations that depended on the voluntary cooperation of their members; consequently, they had no direct powers of coercion to enforce their laws or regulations. Supranational organizations, on the other hand, require members to surrender at least a portion of their control over policy areas and can compel compliance with their mandates. After World War II, proposals for some kind of supranational organization in Europe became increasingly frequent.
The European Union was formally established on November 1, 1993. It is the most recent in a series of cooperative organizations in Europe that originated with the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) of 1951, which became the European Community (EC) in 1967. The original members of the EC were Belgium, France, West Germany (now part of the united Germany), Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, and Netherlands. Subsequently these nations were joined by Denmark, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Portugal, and Spain. In 1991 the governments of the 12 member states signed the Treaty on European Union (commonly called the Maastricht Treaty), which was then ratified by the national legislatures of all the member countries.
The Maastricht Treaty transformed the EC into the EU. In 1995 Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU. In May 2004, 10 more countries were added, bringing the total number of EU member countries to 25. The 10 new members were Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Two more countries in eastern Europe—Romania and Bulgaria—joined the EU on January 1, 2007.
The EU has a number of objectives. Its principal goal is to promote and expand cooperation among member states in economics and trade, social issues, foreign policy, security and defense, and judicial matters. Under the Maastricht Treaty, European citizenship was granted to citizens of each member state. Border controls were relaxed. Customs and immigration agreements were modified to allow European citizens greater freedom to live, work, and study in any of the member states.
Another major goal of the EU has been to implement Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), which introduced a single currency, the euro, for EU members. In January 2002 the euro replaced the national currencies of 12 EU member nations. Fourteen EU members do not currently participate in the single currency. They are Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom, nine of the ten nations that joined the EU in 2004, and Bulgaria and Romania. Slovenia adopted the euro in January 2007, having become the first of the members added in 2004 to meet the necessary economic requirements.
Treaties
BENELUX Customs Union
The Benelux Customs Union (now the Benelux Economic Union) is an early example of a supranational economic organization. This union provided for a free-trade area composed of Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg, and for a common tariff imposed on goods from outside the union. Formed in 1948, the union grew from the recognition that the economies of the separate states were individually too small to be competitive in the global market. Belgium and Luxembourg had, in fact, joined in an economic union as early as 1921, and the governments of Belgium and Netherlands had agreed in principle on a customs union during World War II.
European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)
The first major step toward European integration took place in 1950. At that time French foreign minister Robert Schuman, advised by Jean Monnet, proposed the integration of the French and German coal and steel industries and invited other nations to participate. Schuman’s motives were as much political as economic. Many Europeans felt that German industry, which was reviving rapidly, needed to be monitored in some way. The ECSC provided an appropriate mechanism since coal and steel are central to many modern industries, especially the armaments industry.
The Schuman Plan, as it was called, created a supranational agency to oversee aspects of national coal and steel policy, such as levels of production and prices. Not coincidentally, this mandate allowed the agency to keep German industry under surveillance and control. Determined to allay fears of German militancy, West Germany immediately signed on and was soon joined by the Benelux nations and Italy. The United Kingdom, concerned about a potential loss of control over its industry, declined to join.
The treaty establishing the ECSC was signed in 1951 and took effect early the following year. It provided for the elimination of tariffs and quotas on trade in iron ore, coal, coke, and steel within the community; a common external tariff on imports relating to the coal and steel industries from other nations; and controls on production and sales.
European Economic Community (EEC)
In 1957 the participants in the ECSC signed two more treaties, known as the Treaties of Rome. These treaties created the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) for the development of peaceful uses of atomic energy and, most important, the European Economic Community (EEC, often referred to as the Common Market).
The EEC treaty provided for the gradual elimination of import duties and quotas on all trade between member nations and for the institution of a common external tariff. Member nations agreed to implement common policies regarding transportation, agriculture, and social insurance, and to permit the free movement of people and financial resources within the boundaries of the community. One of the most significant provisions of the treaty was that it could not be renounced by just one of the members and that, after a certain amount of time, further community decisions would be made by a majority vote of the member states rather than by unanimous action.
Both the EEC and the Euratom treaties created separate high commissions to oversee their operations. However, it was agreed that the ECSC, EEC, and Euratom would be served by a single council of ministers, representative assembly, and court of justice.
In the preliminaries to the 1957 treaties of Rome, other nations were invited to join the EEC. The United Kingdom objected to the loss of control over national policies implied in European integration and attempted to persuade European nations to create a free-trade area instead. After the EEC treaty was ratified, the United Kingdom, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Austria, and Portugal created the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). The EFTA treaty provided only for the elimination of tariffs on industrial products among member nations. It did not extend to agricultural products, nor did it provide a common external tariff, and members could withdraw at any time. Thus the EFTA was a much weaker union than the Common Market.
In 1961, with the EEC’s apparent economic success, the United Kingdom changed its view and began negotiations toward EEC membership. In January 1963, however, French president Charles de Gaulle vetoed British membership, mainly because of the United Kingdom’s close ties to the United States. De Gaulle vetoed British membership a second time in 1967.
European Community
In July 1967 the three organizations (the EEC, the ECSC, and Euratom) fully merged as the European Community (EC). The basic economic features of the EEC treaty were gradually implemented, and in 1968 all tariffs between member states were eliminated. No progress was made on enlargement of the EC or on any other new proposals, however, until after de Gaulle resigned as president of France in May 1969. The next French president, Georges Pompidou, was more open to new initiatives within the EC.
At Pompidou’s suggestion, a meeting of the leaders of the member states was held in The Hague, Netherlands, in December 1969. This meeting paved the way for the creation of a permanent financing system for the EC based on contributions from member states; the development of a framework for foreign policy cooperation among member nations; and the opening of membership negotiations with the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, and Norway.
Single European Act
By the 1980s, 30 years after its inception, the EC still had not realized the hopes of the most ardent supporters of European unity: a United States of Europe. In fact, despite the removal of internal tariffs, it had not even succeeded in ending all restrictions on trade within the EC, nor in eliminating internal customs frontiers.
In 1985 the European Council, composed of the heads of state of the EC members, decided to take the next step toward greater integration. In February 1986 they signed the Single European Act (SEA), a package of amendments and additions to the existing EC treaties. The SEA required the EC to adopt more than 300 measures to remove physical, technical, and fiscal barriers in order to establish a single market, in which the economies of the member states would be completely integrated. In addition, member states agreed to adopt common policies and standards on matters ranging from taxes and employment to health and the environment. Each member state also resolved to bring its economic and monetary policies in line with those of its neighbors. The SEA entered force in July 1987.
Treaty of European Union
The Treaty on European Union (often called the Maastricht Treaty) founded the EU and was intended to expand political, economic, and social integration among the member states. After lengthy negotiations, it was accepted by the European Council at Maastricht, Netherlands, in December 1991. Of particular significance, the treaty committed the EU to Economic and Monetary Union (EMU).
Amsterdam Treaty
The Amsterdam Treaty called on member nations to cooperate to create jobs throughout Europe, protect the environment, improve public health, and safeguard consumer rights. In addition, the treaty provided for the removal of barriers to travel and immigration among the EU member states except for the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Denmark, all of which retained their original border controls. The treaty included the potential for cooperation and integration with the Western European Union (WEU), an organization of Western European powers focused on defense. It also allowed the possibility of admitting countries from Eastern Europe to the EU. The Amsterdam Treaty was signed by EU members on October 2, 1997.
Treaty of Nice
The theme of EU expansion was addressed again in 2000 in what became the Treaty of Nice. Signed in 2001, this treaty outlined a series of staged reforms to prepare the EU for enlargement. The treaty called for a reduction in the potential size of the European Commission, reforms to voting rules and processes in the Council of the European Union, and a reallocation of seats in the European Parliament to member states.