The
European Economic Community (EEC) (also referred
to as simply the European Community, or the
Common Market in the English-speaking world) was an
international organisation that existed between 1958 and 1993 which
was created to bring about economic integration (including a
single market) between Belgium
, France
, Germany
, Italy
, Luxembourg
and the Netherlands
.
It was enlarged later to include six additional states and, from
1967,
its
institutions also governed the
European Coal and Steel
Community (ECSC) and
European Atomic Energy
Community (EAEC or Euratom) under the term
European Communities. When the
European Union (EU) was created in 1993, the
EEC was transformed into the
European
Community, one of
the EU's three pillars,
with EEC institutions continuing as those of the EU.
History
Background
In 1951, the
Treaty of Paris
was signed, creating the
European Coal and Steel
Community (ECSC). This was an international community based on
supranationalism and international
law, designed to help the
economy of Europe and prevent
future war by
integrating its
members.
In the aim of creating a
federal
Europe two further communities were proposed: a
European Defence Community (EDC)
and a
European Political
Community (EPC).
While the treaty for the latter was being
drawn up by the Common Assembly
, the ECSC parliamentary chamber, the EDC was
rejected by the French
Parliament. President Jean Monnet
, a leading figure behind the communities, resigned
from the High Authority in protest and began work on alternative
communities, based on economic integration rather than political
integration. After the
Messina
Conference in 1955,
Paul Henri
Spaak was given the task to prepare a report on the idea of a
customs union. The so-called
Spaak Report of the
Spaak Committee formed the cornerstone of
the intergovernmental negotiations at Val Duchesse castle in 1956.
Together with the
Ohlin Report the
Spaak Report would provide the basis for the
Treaty of Rome.
In 1956,
Paul Henri Spaak lead the Intergovernmental
Conference on the Common Market and Euratom at the Val
Duchesse
castle, which prepared for the Treaty of Rome in 1957. The conference
led to the signature, on 25 March 1957, of the
Treaty of Rome establishing a European
Economic Community.
Creation and early years
The resulting communities were the European Economic Community
(EEC) and the
European Atomic Energy
Community (EAEC or Euratom). These were markedly less
supranational than the previous communities, due to protests from
some countries that their
sovereignty
was being infringed (however there would still be concerns with the
behaviour of the
Hallstein
Commission).
The first formal meeting of the Hallstein Commission, was held on 16
January 1958 at the Castle of the Valley of the
Duchess
. The EEC (direct ancestor of the modern
Community) was to create a
customs
union while Euratom would promote co-operation in the
nuclear power sphere. The EEC rapidly became
the most important of these and expanded its activities. One of the
first important accomplishments of the EEC was the establishment
(1962) of common price levels for agricultural products. In 1968,
internal tariffs (tariffs on trade between member nations) were
removed on certain products.
Another crisis was triggered in regard to proposals for the
financing of the Common Agricultural Policy, 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. Then-
French
President Charles de Gaulle's
opposition to supranationalism and fear of the other members
challenging the CAP led to an "empty chair policy" where by French
representatives were withdrawn from the European institutions until
the French veto was reinstated. Eventually, a compromise was
reached with the
Luxembourg
compromise on 29 January 1966 whereby a
gentlemen's agreement permitted
members to use a veto on areas of national interest.
In 1967
the Merger Treaty came into operation,
which combined the institutions of the ECSC and Euratom into that
of the EEC, they already shared a Parliamentary Assembly
and Courts. Collectively they
were known as the
European Communities. The Communities
still had independent personalities although were increasingly
integrated. Future treaties granted the community new powers beyond
simple economic matters which had achieved a high level of
integration. As it got closer to the goal of political integration
and a peaceful and united Europe, what
Mikhail Gorbachev described as a
Common European
Home.
Enlargement and elections
The 1960s saw the first attempts at
enlargement. On 3 May 1960
Denmark, Ireland, Norway and the United Kingdom applied to join the
three Communities. However, President Charles de Gaulle saw British
membership as a
Trojan horse for US
influence and vetoed membership, and the applications of all four
countries were suspended.
The four countries resubmitted their applications on 11 May 1967
and with
Georges Pompidou
succeeding Charles de Gaulle as French President, the veto was
lifted. Negotiations began in 1970 under the pro-European
government of
Edward Heath, who had to
deal with disagreements relating to the
Common Agricultural Policy and
the UK's relationship with the
Commonwealth of Nations.
Nevertheless, two years later the accession treaties were signed
and all but Norway acceded to the Community (
Norway rejected membership in
a
referendum).
The
Treaties of Rome had stated that
the European
Parliament
must be directly elected, however this required the
Council to agree on a
common voting system first. The Council procrastinated on
the issue and the Parliament remained appointed, French President
Charles de Gaulle was particularly active in blocking the
development of the Parliament, with it only being granted
Budgetary
powers following his resignation.
Parliament pressured for agreement and on 20 September 1976 the
Council agreed part of the necessary instruments for election,
deferring details on electoral systems which remain varied to this
day. During the tenure of
President
Jenkins, in June 1979, the elections were held in all the
then-members (see
European Parliament election,
1979). The new Parliament, galvanised by direct election and
new powers, started working full time and became more active than
the previous assemblies.
Shortly after its election, Parliament became the first Community
institution to propose that the Community adopt the
Flag of Europe. The
European Council agreed to this and adopted
the
Symbols of Europe as those of
the Community in 1984.
Towards Maastricht
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Enlargement, 1957 to 2007
Greece
applied to
join the community on 12 June 1975, following the restoration of
democracy, and joined on 1 January 1981. Following on from
Greece, and after their own democratic restoration, Spain and
Portugal applied to the communities in 1977 and joined together on
1 January 1986.
In 1987 Turkey
formally
applied to join the Community and began the longest application
process for any country (as of 2009, they are still in negotiations
with the EU).
With the
prospect of further enlargement, and a desire to increase areas of
co-operation, the Single European
Act was signed by the foreign ministers on the 17 and 28
February 1986 in Luxembourg
and the Hague
respectively. In a single document it dealt with reform of
institutions, extension of powers, foreign policy cooperation and
the single market. It came into force on 1 July 1987. The act was
influenced by work on what would be the
Maastricht Treaty, which was agreed on 10
December 1991, signed the following year and coming into force on 1
November 1993 establishing the
European
Union.
The EU absorbed the EEC as one of its
three pillars. The EEC's
areas of activities became the
European Community pillar, continuing to
follow the
supranational structure of
the EEC. The EEC institutions became those of the EU, some changing
their name accordingly, however the Court, Parliament and
Commission had only limited input in the new pillars, as they
worked on a more
intergovernmental system than
the European Community. If the
Treaty
of Lisbon is to come into force, this pillar system would be
abolished and the Community way would be followed by these pillars
also.
Aims and achievements
The main aim of the EEC, as stated in its preamble, was to
"preserve peace and liberty and to lay the foundations of an ever
closer union among the peoples of Europe". Calling for balanced
economic growth, this was to be accomplished through 1) the
establishment of a
customs union with
a common external tariff 2) common policies for
agriculture, transport and trade
3)
enlargement of the
EEC to the rest of Europe. For the customs union, the treaty
provided for a 10 % reduction in custom duties and up to 20 % of
global import quotas. Progress on the customs union proceeded much
faster than the twelve years planned, however France faced some
setbacks due to their
war with
Algeria.
Members
The six states that founded the EEC and the other two Communities
were known as the "
inner six" (the "outer
seven" were those countries who formed the
European Free Trade
Association).
The six were France, West Germany, Italy and
the three Benelux countries: Belgium, the
Netherlands and Luxembourg
. The first enlargement was in 1973, with the
accession of Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom. Greece, Spain
and Portugal joined throughout in the 1980s. Following the creation
of the EU in 1993, it has enlarged to include a further fifteen
countries by 2007.
Member states are represented in some form in each institution. The
Council is also
composed of one national minister who represents their national
government.
Each state also has a
right to one European
Commissioner each, although in the European
Commission
they are not supposed to represent their national
interest but that of the Community. Prior to 2004, the
larger members (France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom) have
had two Commissioners.
In the European Parliament
, members are allocated a set number
seats related to their population, however these (since 1979) have been
directly elected and they sit according to political allegiance,
not national origin. Most other institutions, including the
European Court of Justice,
have some form of national division of its members.
Institutions
There were three political institutions which held the executive
and legislative power of the EEC, plus one judicial institution and
a fifth body created in 1975. These institutions (except for the
Auditors) were created in 1957 by the EEC but from 1967 onwards
they applied to all three Communities. The Council represents
governments, the Parliament represents citizens and the Commission
represents the European interest. Essentially, the Council,
Parliament or another party place a request for legislation to the
Commission. The Commission then drafts this and presents it to the
Council for approval and the Parliament for an opinion (in some
cases it had a veto, depending upon the
legislative procedure
in use). The Commission's duty is to ensure it is implemented by
dealing with the day-to-day running of the Union and taking others
to Court if they fail to comply. After the Maastricht treaty in
1993, these institutions became those of the European Union, though
limited in some areas due to the pillar structure. Despite this,
Parliament in particular has gained more power over legislation and
security of the Commission. The Court was the highest authority in
the law, settling legal disputes in the Community, while the
Auditors had no power but to investigate.
Background
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The High Authority had more executive
powers than the Commission which replaced it
The EEC
inherited some of the Institutions of
the ECSC in that the Common Assembly
and Court of
Justice of the ECSC had their authority extended to the EEC and
Euratom in the same role. However the EEC, and Euratom, had
different executive bodies to the ECSC.
In place of the
ECSC's Council of Ministers was the Council of the European Economic
Community, and in place of the High
Authority was the Commission of the European
Communities
.
There was greater difference between these than name: the French
government of the day had grown suspicious of the supranational
power of the High Authority and sought to curb its powers in favour
of the intergovernmental style Council. Hence the Council had a
greater executive role in the running of the Community than was the
situation in the EEC. By virtue of the
Merger Treaty in 1967, the executives of the
ECSC and Euratom were merged with that of the EEC, creating a
single institutional structure governing the three separate
Communities. From here on, the term
European Communities
were used for the institutions (for example, from
Commission of
the European Economic Community to the
Commission of the
European Communities.
Council
The
Council of the
European Communities was a body holding legislative and
executive powers and was thus the main decision making body of the
Community. Its
Presidency
rotated between the
states every six months and it
is related to the
European Council,
which is an informal gather of national leaders (started in 1961)
on the same basis as the Council.
The Council was composed of one national
ministers from each state. However the
Council meets in various forms depending upon the topic. For
example, if agriculture was being discussed, the Council would be
composed of each national minister for agriculture. They
represented their governments and were accountable to their
national political systems. Votes are taken either by majority
(with votes allocated according to population) or unanimity. In
these various forms they share some legislative and budgetary power
of the Parliament.
Commission
The
Commission
of the European Communities
was the executive
arm of the community, drafting Community law, dealing with the
day to running of the Community and upholding the treaties. It was
designed to be independent, representing the Community interest,
but was composed of national representatives (two from each of the
larger states, one from the smaller states). One of its members was
the
President,
appointed by the Council, who chaired the body and represented
it.
Parliament
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The European Parliament held its first
elections in 1979, slowly gaining more influence over Community
decision making.
Under the
Community, the European Parliament
(formerly the European Parliamentary Assembly) had
an advisory role to the Council and Commission. There were a
number of
Community
legislative procedures, at first there was only the
consultation procedure, which meant
Parliament had to be consulted, although it was often ignored. The
Single European Act gave
Parliament more power, with the
assent
procedure giving it a right to veto proposals and the
cooperation procedure giving it equal
power with the Council if the Council was not unanimous.
In 1970 and 1975, the
Budgetary treaties gave
Parliament power over the
Community budget. The
Parliament's members, up-until 1979 were national MPs serving part
time in the Parliament. The Treaties of Rome had required elections
to be held once the Council had decided on a voting system, but
this did not happen and elections were delayed until 1979 (see
European Parliament
election, 1979). After that, Parliament was elected every five
years.
Court
The
Court of Justice of the
European Communities was the
highest
court of on matters of
Community law and was composed of
one judge per state with a President elected from among them. Its
role was to ensure that Community law was applied in the same way
across all states and to settle legal disputes between institutions
or states. It became a powerful institution as Community law
overrides national law.
Auditors
The fifth institution is the
European Court of Auditors,
which despite its name had no judicial powers like the Court of
Justice. Instead, it ensured that
taxpayer
funds from the
Community
budget have been correctly spent. The court provided an
audit report for each financial year to
the Council and Parliament and gives opinions and proposals on
financial legislation and anti-fraud actions. It is the only
institutions not mentioned in the original treaties, having been
set up in 1975.
See also
References
- For an example see this 1987 article from the New York
Times: Steps Drafted For European Central Bank.
- Raymond F. Mikesell, The Lessons of Benelux and the
European Coal and Steel Community for the European Economic
Community, The American Economic Review, Vol. 48, No. 2,
Papers and Proceedings of the Seventieth Annual Meeting of the
American Economic Association (May, 1958), pp. 428-441
- Spaak
report
- Fifty years of fraternal rivalry news.bbc.co.uk
19/03/07
- The 'empty chair' policy ena.lu
- Election of the President of the European
Parliament, European Parliament
- The accession treaty with Greece ena.lu
- The Accession Treaties with Spain and Portugal
ena.li
- Single European Act ena.lu
- Data from Populstat.info
- German reunification took place in
1990
- Including East
Germany: 80,274,200
Further reading
- Jean Monnet, Prospect for a New Europe (1959)
- Bela Balassa, The Theory of Economic Integration
(1962)
- Walter Hallstein, A New Path to Peaceful Union
(1962)
- Paul-Henri Spaak, The Continuing Battle: Memories of a
European (1971)
External links