1. From EEC to EU: a brief history of the development of the Union

Author(s):  
Lorna Woods ◽  
Philippa Watson ◽  
Marios Costa

This chapter, which traces the chronological history of the development of the European Economic Community (EEC) into the European Union (EU), explains that the EEC was created by the Treaty of Rome (ToR) in 1957 and discusses Treaties which amended the ToR and led to the development of the EU. These include the Single European Act in 1987, the Maastricht Treaty in 1993, the Amsterdam Treaty in 1999, the Nice Treaty in 2003 and the Lisbon Treaty in 2009. The chapter also describes the nature of the EU and theories explaining the development of the scope of its activities.

2020 ◽  
pp. 3-23
Author(s):  
Marios Costa ◽  
Steve Peers

This chapter, which traces the chronological history of the development of the European Economic Community (EEC) into the European Union (EU), explains that the EEC was created by the Treaty of Rome (ToR) in 1957 and discusses Treaties which amended the ToR and led to the development of the EU. These include the Single European Act in 1987, the Maastricht Treaty in 1993, the Amsterdam Treaty in 1999, the Nice Treaty in 2003 and the Lisbon Treaty in 2009. The chapter also describes the nature of the EU and theories explaining the development of the scope of its activities. It summarises the history of the EU, including enlargement, debates over democracy, and the Brexit process, and explains the nature of the EU: supranational, intergovernmental or a form of ‘multilevel governance’?


Author(s):  
Elspeth Berry ◽  
Matthew J. Homewood ◽  
Barbara Bogusz

Titles in the Complete series combine extracts from a wide range of primary materials with clear explanatory text to provide readers with a complete introductory resource. This chapter discusses the history of the European Union. It covers the historical rationale for the EU; the aims of the EU; the four stages of economic integration; economic and political difficulties; expansion of membership; institutional developments; legal developments; closer European integration; the Treaty of Rome (1957), the Single European Act (1986); the Treaty on European Union (1992); the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997); the Charter of Fundamental Rights; the Treaty of Nice (2001); the Treaty of Lisbon (2007); and the potential process for and impact of ‘Brexit’.


2019 ◽  
pp. 1-52
Author(s):  
Elspeth Berry ◽  
Matthew J. Homewood ◽  
Barbara Bogusz

Titles in the Complete series combine extracts from a wide range of primary materials with clear explanatory text to provide readers with a complete introductory resource. This chapter discusses the history of the European Union. It covers the historical rationale for the EU; the aims of the EU; the four stages of economic integration; economic and political difficulties; expansion of membership; institutional developments; legal developments; closer European integration; the Treaty of Rome (1957), the Single European Act (1986); the Treaty on European Union (1992); the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997); the Charter of Fundamental Rights; the Treaty of Nice (2001); the Treaty of Lisbon (2007); and the potential process for and impact of ‘Brexit’.


Author(s):  
David Phinnemore

This chapter focuses on the emergence of the European Communities in the 1950s that gave rise to the European Union in the 1990s. It begins with a discussion of key developments in the first four decades of European integration and some of the tensions that have shaped them. It then considers how the idea of ‘European union’ lost momentum in the 1970s but was revived in the 1980s with the Single European Act (1986) and the Single Market project. It also shows how the EU was established through ‘Maastricht’ and the adoption and implementation of the Treaty on European Union (1992). The chapter concludes by analysing how the new ‘union’ was affected by reforms introduced by the Amsterdam Treaty (1997) and the Nice Treaty (2000) as the EU sought to prepare itself for the further enlargement and the challenges of the initial years of the twenty-first century.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas de Sadeleer

The principle of subsidiarity is a fundamental principle of the European Union. It has first been introduced in the field of environmental policy by the Single European Act in 1987 and extended to all fields of shared competencies by the Maastricht treaty in 1992. Since then much has been done to operationalize the principle, and subsidiarity has received increasing attention by the Union’s institutions and Member States. The following contribution provides a brief appraisal of the role of the principle and of how it has influenced environmental legislation, so far.


2010 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 343-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viljam Engström

AbstractThe mechanism established in what has now become Article 352 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (formerly known as Article 235 and 308) has many names. One of the more common is to refer to the mechanism as the 'flexibility clause'. As the notion indicates, the basic purpose of the mechanism is to provide the European Union with a possibility of (flexibly) adjusting legislative powers to arising needs. Since the very purpose of the flexibility clause is to provide for the exercise of legal powers where none is to be found in the EU Treaties, the clause hereby defines the ultimate reach of EU competence. Remarkably, although use of the clause has often been contentious, the wording of the clause has remained unchanged ever since the Treaty of Rome. The aim of the article is to outline the function and development of the flexibility clause especially in light of the Treaty of Lisbon, which for the first time in the history of the EC/EU rewrites the flexibility clause.


2020 ◽  
pp. 3-35
Author(s):  
Nigel Foster

This chapter examines the history of the establishment and development of the European Union (EU). It discusses the underlying motives for its founding, which include the desire for peace, security against the rising threat from the Soviet Union, and economic development. It describes the origins of the Union which can be traced from the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Economic Community (EEC). This chapter also explains the roles and obligations of the EU in managing the external relations of its members, particularly in international trade. It looks at the subsequent extensive developments to both the Communities and the Treaties.


Author(s):  
Matthew J. Homewood

This chapter traces the origins and development of the European Union (EU) and EU law. The European Economic Community (EEC) was created by the European Community Treaty (the EEC Treaty or Treaty of Rome), signed by the six original Member States in 1957. The Treaty on European Union 1992 created the EU, incorporating the EEC, together with two new policy areas, Co-operation on Justice and Home Affairs and Common Foreign and Security Policy. The Treaty of Lisbon amended the two founding Treaties and replaced all references to the ‘European Community’ with ‘European Union’. Together, the two amended Treaties (the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and the Treaty on European Union) constitute the Treaties on which the EU is founded. This chapter also looks at the UK’s withdrawal from the EU under Article 50 (Brexit).


2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. p1
Author(s):  
David Blake

A Plan for a European Economic Community was developed at the University of Berlin in 1942. There are striking similarities with the European Economic Community that was introduced in 1957—and which became the foundation stone of the European Union. Particularly striking is the innate hostility both to liberal economic values and to democracy—a hostility that permeates the EU to this very day.


2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 562-583
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Ismael Francisco Maia

Depois de mais de sessenta anos da assinatura do Tratado de Roma que deu origem à Comunidade Econômica Europeia, o bloco europeu vive ainda hoje uma grande crise. Não é uma crise apenas econômica. Buscamos expor uma releitura de diferentes componentes do processo de integração europeu que culmina nesta crise, e tentaremos indicar elementos analítico-metodológicos sobre os caminhos da União Europeia fundamentado na relação entre capital e trabalho. O fio condutor deste artigo se encontra na divergência entre capital e trabalho no processo integrativo, pois persistiu um modelo integrativo no qual a economia é o fator hegemônico.     Abstract: After more than sixty years ago, the signature of the Treaty of Rome, which created the European Economic Community, the European bloc is still suffering a significant crises. This is not merely an economic crisis. In this paper the aim is to expose different features of the European integration process, which culminated in the current crisis, and to indicate methodological analytical aspects concernd the paths of the European Union based on the relationship between labour and capital. This article points out the idea that exist a divergence between capital and labor in the integration process, as persisted an integrative pattern in which economy is the hegemonic feature. Key-words:  European Economic Community;  European Union; integration; crisis.       Recebido em: outubro/2018. Aprovado em: outubro/2019.


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