The history of the European Communities between 1958 and 1972 saw the early development of the

European Communities The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), and the ...

. The

European Coal and Steel Community The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to regulate the coal and steel industries. It was formally established in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris, signed by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembo ...

(ECSC) had just been joined by the

European Atomic Energy Community The European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom) is an international organisation established by the Euratom Treaty on 25 March 1957 with the original purpose of creating a specialist market for nuclear power in Europe, by developing nucl ...

(Euratom) and the

European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,Today the largely rewritten treaty continues in force as the ''Treaty on the functioning of the European Union'', as renamed by the Lisb ...

(EEC), the latter of which soon became the most important. In 1967 the EEC's institutions took over the other two with the EEC's Commission holding its first terms under Hallstein and Rey. In 1958 the

Committee of Permanent Representatives : ''For the OIC Committee of Permanent Representatives, see OIC Committee of Permanent Representatives.'' COREPER, from French ''Comité des représentants permanents'', is the Committee of Permanent Representatives in the European Union, made u ...

(COREPER) was established. On 19 March the Parliamentary Assembly (replacing the Common Assembly) met for the first time for all three communities and elected

Robert Schuman Jean-Baptiste Nicolas Robert Schuman (; 29 June 18864 September 1963) was a Luxembourg-born French statesman. Schuman was a Christian Democrat (Popular Republican Movement) political thinker and activist. Twice Prime Minister of France, a ref ...

as its President. On 13 May members sat according to political, rather than national, allegiance for the first time.

De Gaulle and EFTA

In 1960, the "outer seven" (Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) established the

European Free Trade Association The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is a regional trade organization and free trade area consisting of four List of sovereign states and dependent territories in Europe, European states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerlan ...

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

, which entered into force on 3 May of that year. In the following two years, the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and Norway applied for membership of the Communities, while the neutral countries Austria, Sweden and Switzerland asked for economic association agreements. Membership application was suspended due to opposition from then-French President

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

to British membership, seeing it as a

Trojan horse The Trojan Horse was a wooden horse said to have been used by the Greeks during the Trojan War to enter the city of Troy and win the war. The Trojan Horse is not mentioned in Homer's ''Iliad'', with the poem ending before the war is concluded, ...

for US influence. Another crisis was triggered in regard to proposals for the financing of the

Common Agricultural Policy The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the agricultural policy of the European Union. It implements a system of agricultural subsidies and other programmes. It was introduced in 1962 and has since then undergone several changes to reduce the ...

, which came into force in 1962. The transitional period whereby decisions were made by unanimity had come to an end, and majority-voting in the council had taken effect. De Gaulle's opposition to supranationalism and fear of the other members challenging the CAP led to an "empty chair policy" whereby French representatives were withdrawn from the European institutions until the French veto was reinstated. Eventually, a compromise was reached with the

Luxembourg compromise The Luxembourg Compromise (or "Luxembourg Accord") was an agreement reached in January 1966 to resolve the " Empty Chair Crisis" which had caused a stalemate within European Economic Community (EEC). Charles de Gaulle Whereas the founding fath ...

on 29 January 1966 whereby a

gentlemen's agreement A gentlemen's agreement, or gentleman's agreement, is an informal and legally non-binding agreement between two or more parties. It is typically oral, but it may be written or simply understood as part of an unspoken agreement by convention or th ...

permitted members to use a veto on areas of national interest.

Merger Treaty

On 24 September 1963 the members reached an agreement on merging the executive bodies of the three Communities. A year later it is agreed the single "Commission" would have nine members: two from each of the larger states, France, Germany and Italy, and one from each of the smaller Benelux states: Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. The

Merger Treaty The Merger Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Brussels, was a European treaty which unified the executive institutions of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and the European Economic Communi ...

was signed on 8 April 1965 and entered into force on 1 July 1967 merging all three Communities with common institutions.Merging the executives
CVCE.eu The head of the first Commission was Jean Rey, appointed on 6 July of the same year (

Rey Commission The Rey Commission is the European Commission that held office from 2 July 1967 to 30 June 1970. Its president was Jean Rey. Work It was the first commission of the merged European Communities. It was the successor to the Hallstein Commission an ...

First enlargement

The thorns encountered with the 1964 Spanish Question on accession and the

Regime of the Colonels In politics, a regime (also "régime") is the form of government or the set of rules, cultural or social norms, etc. that regulate the operation of a government or institution and its interactions with society. According to Yale professor Juan Jo ...

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

from April 1967 caused some consternation and introspection in the Community ranks, and the UK resubmitted its application on 11 May 1967. In 1969 a change in the French Presidency to

Georges Pompidou Georges Jean Raymond Pompidou ( , ; 5 July 19112 April 1974) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1969 until his death in 1974. He previously was Prime Minister of France of President Charles de Gaulle from 1962 to 196 ...

prompted a shift, with France opening up to British accession. Negotiations began on 30 June 1970, in Britain this was under the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

government of

Edward Heath Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of the Conserv ...

. His pro-European administration had to deal with problems relating to the

and the UK's relationship with the

Commonwealth of Nations The Commonwealth of Nations, simply referred to as the Commonwealth, is a political association of 56 member states, the vast majority of which are former territories of the British Empire. The chief institutions of the organisation are the Co ...

. It also had to accept all decisions taken since the Merger Treaty. Negotiations took two years with the signing of accession treaties on 22 January 1972. Britain did not hold a referendum before joining; the results of the other three were as follows; * Ireland – 83.1% in favour (10 May) (see also:

Third Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland The Third Amendment of the Constitution Act 1972 is an amendment to the Constitution of Ireland that permitted the State to join the European Communities, which would later become the European Union, and provided that European Community law wou ...

) * Norway – 46.5% in favour (25 September) * Denmark – 63.3% in favour (2 October) Norway failed to ratify with 53.5% against; they would try again in the years to come but on 1 January 1973, only the three remaining countries acceded.

References

''Source of majority of the dates
The ‘Swinging Sixties’ – a period of economic growth
'

External links

Documents relating to the History of the European Communities can be consulted at th
Historical Archives of the European Union
in Florence {{DEFAULTSORT:History of the European Communities (1958-72)

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

European Coal and Steel Community

De Gaulle and EFTA

Merger Treaty

First enlargement

See also

References

External links