European Integration: History

The
European
Integration

The Origins of European Integration

  History: The Origins
  The Treaties
  EU Membership
  Important Dates

EU Institutions

The Decision Making Process

EU Policies: from A to Z

The EU in the World

The Treaties

The road to European Union began with three separate treaties dating from the 1950s:

the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC),
the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom),
the European Economic Community (EEC).

Collectively, they became known as the European Community.

The Maastricht Treaty on European Union, which took effect in November 1993, was a major overhaul of the founding treaties. It created the "three pillars" of the European Union as it exists today.

Pillar One incorporates the three founding treaties and sets out the institutional requirements for EMU. It also provides for supplementary powers in certain areas, e.g. environment, research, education and training.

Pillar Two established the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) which makes it possible for the Union to take joint action in foreign and security affairs.

Pillar Three created the Justice and Home Affairs policy (JHA), dealing with asylum, immigration, judicial cooperation in civil and criminal matters, and customs and police cooperation against terrorism, drug trafficking and fraud.

The "three pillars" of the European Union

The CFSP and JHA operate by intergovernmental cooperation, rather than by Community institutions, which operate Pillar One. Maastricht also created European citizenship and strengthened the European Parliament's legislative role in certain areas.

The Amsterdam Treaty

The Amsterdam Treaty continued the reforms of Maastricht and begun to streamline the EU's institutions ahead of the next enlargement. Many institutional questions were forwarded to an Intergovernmental Conference launched at the Helsinki European Council Summit in December 1999 and finalised at the Nice Summit (December 7, 2000).

The Amsterdam Treaty strengthens the CFSP and the EU's ability to undertake joint foreign policy actions. More decisions are taken by qualified majority instead of unanimity, as required by Maastricht, and member states are able to abstain from a vote or an action without impeding the majority.

The Union has appointed Javier Solana as High Representative for foreign and security policy, and established a new policy-planning and early-warning unit.