EU History Timeline

Flowchart nodes

• 1946: Winston Churchill calls for a "United States of Europe" in a speech

• 1949: France, UK and the Benelux countries decide to create a Council of Europe

• 1950:P Robert Schuman suggests that France, Germany and any other European countries that want to join pool coal and steel resources.

• 1951: Treaty of Paris signed by France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. 

• The Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), or Treaty of Paris, was signed on 18 April 1951 and came into force on 25 July 1952. For the first time, six European States agreed to work towards integration

• 1957: Treaties of Rome establish the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom).

• The signatories agreed to: lay the foundations of an ‘ever closer union’ among the peoples of Europe ensure the economic and social progress of their countries by joint action to eliminate trade and other barriers between them; improve their citizens’ living and working conditions; ensure balanced trade and fair competition; reduce the economic and social differences between the EEC’s various regions; gradually abolish restrictions on international trade through a common trade policy; abide by the principles of the UN charter; pool their resources to preserve and strengthen peace and liberty and call on other peoples of Europe who share this ideal to join them in these efforts.

• 1961: UK applies to join the Community

• 1962: The Parliamentary Assembly changes its name to the European Parliament

• 1963: General de Gaulle declares that France doubts the political will of the UK to join the Community

• 1965: The Treaty merging the executives of the three Communities (ECSC, EEC, Euratom) is signed in Brussels, enters into force on July 1, 1967.

• 1967: UK re-applies to join the Community.

• 1972: Referendum in Norway on joining; majority votes against.

• 1973: January: Denmark, Ireland and UK join the European Communities.

• 1975: June: British referendum shows 67.2% in favour of UK remaining a member of the Community

• 1978: European Council establishes the European Monetary System based on a European currency unit (the ECU) and the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM). All the community's members apart from the UK join the ERM.

• 1979: First direct elections to the European Parliament.

• 1981: January: Greece becomes 10th member of the EEC.

• 1984: February: draft Treaty on the establishment of the European Union passed by the European Parliament.

• 1985: European Council in Luxembourg agrees to amend the Treat of Rome by drawing up a Single European Act.

• The Single European Act (SEA) revises the Treaties of Rome in order to add new momentum to European integration and to complete the internal market. It amends the rules governing the operation of the European institutions and expands Community powers, notably in the field of research and development, the environment and common foreign policy.

• 1986: 1 January: Spain and Portugal join the Community

• 1986: February: Single European Act signed, aimed to create a Single Market by 1992.

• 1987: Turkey formally applies to join.

• Single market rules require the free movement from one EU member country to another of goods, people, services and capital (the so-called ‘four freedoms’). Those rules take two forms. First, they remove barriers to trade. Second, they harmonise, or unify, national rules at EU level.

• 1992: February: Maastricht Treaty on the European Union is signed, leading to creation of the Euro.

• 1993: May: in a second referendum, Danes vote in favour of Maastricht.

• The Treaty on European Union (TEU) represents a new stage in European integration since it opens the way to political integration. It creates a European Union consisting of three pillars: the European Communities, Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), and police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters (JHA). The Treaty introduces the concept of European citizenship, reinforces the powers of the European Parliament and launches economic and monetary union (EMU). Besides, the EEC becomes the European Community (EC).

• 1995: January: Austria, Finland and Sweden join the Union, bringing membership up to 15.

• 1997: Amsterdam Treaty signed, emphasising citizenship and the rights of individuals, more powers for the European Parliament, the beginnings of a common foreign and security policy (CFSP).

• The Treaty of Amsterdam was signed on the 2nd of October 1997 and came into force on the 1st of May 1999. Its main changes were focused on the Treaty on European Union, created by the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. Its main areas of focus were increasing the democratic legitimacy of the European Institutions by increasing the powers of the European Parliament, Security and Justice Reforms including the introduction of a common foreign and security policy, the reformation of the three pillars of the EU and the reform of the institutions to better prepare them for the upcoming enlargement.

• 1998: Establishment of the European Central Bank.

• 2000: September: Danes vote against joining the single currency.

• 2001: February: Treaty of Nice signed, reforming the instiitutional structure of the European Union to allow for eastward expansion June: Irish vote against the Treaty of Nice in a referendum.

• 2002: January 1: Euro coins and notes enter circulation in the 12 participating member states: Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.

• The Treaty restricts itself to setting out the principles and methods for changing the institutional system as the Union grows. The number of seats in the European Parliament for the new Member States, the number of votes allocated to them within the Council, and particularly the qualified majority threshold applicable in the future, will be legally determined in the accession treaties.

• 2002: October: in a second referendum, the Irish people vote in favour of Nice

• 2004: May: European Union's biggest enlargement ever as 10 new countries join - Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estionia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia.

• 2004: October: the Heads of State and Government and EU foreign ministers sign the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe.

• 2005: May: French voters reject ratification of the European Constitutional Treaty. June: Dutch voters reject ratification of the Treaty.

• The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe(TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European Union (EU). It would have replaced the existing European Union treaties with a single text, given legal force to the Charter of Fundamental Rights, and expanded Qualified Majority Votinginto policy areas which had previously been decided by unanimity among member states.

• 2007: Bulgaria and Romania join the EU

• 2009: June: European Parliament elections, the biggest transnational elections in history, with 736 MEPs elected to represent 500 million Eurpoeans

• 2013: Croatia joins the EU.