Ten key days in the making of Europe

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A web page about Europe, European Union, European Economic Community, European Parliament, Single European Act, EURO introduction, Integration, Enlargement, Globalisation , International role, Trade, Economy, Development, Society, History, Geography, European Coal and Steel Community, Enlargement to the East, Accession of Bulgaria and Romania, by Neytcho Iltchev

The rise and then the collapse of the totalitarian ideologies left tragic scars on the continent during the 20th century. At the dawn of the third millennium, the movement of Europe's peoples towards a voluntary union is probably the only great collective venture inspired by an ideal which looks beyond the conflicts of the past to a way of working together to shape the future. It is clearly the only credible answer to the hazards and opportunities posed by the rising globalization of the world economy.

The European Union, like all other histories, has had its high points, its symbolic dates. Ten of them are worth remembering, as they made the Europe we live in today - and they are the keys to the continent which will be ours tomorrow.

9 May 1950: Europe is born

In 1950 Europe was on the edge of the abyss. With the onset of the Cold War, the threat of conflict between its eastern and western halves loomed over the continent. Five years after the end of World War Two, the old enemies were still a long way from reconciliation.

What could be done to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past and to create the right conditions for a lasting peace between such recent enemies? The nub of the problem was the relationship between France and Germany. Forging a link between the two old enemies could unite all the free countries in Europe around them. As a result they could work together on building a community with a shared destiny. Jean Monnet, with his unique wealth of experience as a negotiator and man of peace, suggested to the French Foreign Minister, Robert Schuman, and the German Chancellor, Konrad Adenauer, that a community of interest be established between their countries, in the shape of a jointly managed market in coal and steel under the control of an independent authority. On 9 May 1950 the proposal was officially tabled by France. It was warmly received by Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.

The treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the first European Community, was signed in April 1951. It has opened up the door to a Europe of practical achievements. Further achievements were to follow until we finally reached the European Union of today, a Union uniting the two halves of the continent that has been separated for too long.

25 March 1957: The European Economic Community

The Schuman plan created a Community specializing in two important but limited fields, coal and steel. Inevitably, the time came to convert the endeavor and press forward on the road to integration. Initiatives were put forward in the areas of defense and political union, under pressure from the escalating Cold War. The public opinion, however, was not yet ready to accept them. The six ECSC Member States decided to break fresh ground and go for an economic revival, by setting up a common market.

The Treaty of Rome of 25 March 1957, which established the EEC, set up institutions and decision-making mechanisms through which both national interests and a Community view could find their expression. From that time onwards, the European Community was the major axis round which the movement for a united Europe turned.

The abolition of customs duties between 1958 and 1970 had spectacular effects: trade within the Community increased six fold while EEC trade with the rest of the world went up by a factor of three. Average gross national product in the EEC went up by 70% over the same period. Economic interests in Europe took advantage of the invigorating effects of opening up of the frontiers following the pattern set by the major markets operating on a continental scale, for instance that of the United States. Consumers became used to seeing an ever-increasing variety of imported goods in the shops. The European dimension had become a reality. The signing of the Single Act in 1986 meant that Europe was able to sweep away the other regulatory and fiscal restrictions which were still delaying the establishment of a genuine, completely unified internal market.

20 July 1963: the foundation of an international role

As early as 1963, as they linked together their destinies in Europe, the founding countries of the European Union signed a convention with their former African colonies guaranteeing them certain trading advantages and financial aid. The Lomé Convention, which followed on from the Yaoundé agreement, now covers 70 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and makes the European Union the largest supplier of official development aid. Cooperation has also extended, in other forms, to most countries in Asia and Latin America.

On 28 November 1995, the 15 European Union countries and 12 countries with seaboards on the southern Mediterranean established a partnership which should eventually lead to the setting up of a free-trade area, flanked by agreements for cooperation in the social, cultural and human spheres.

The 21st century will see Europe assert itself as a force for peace, provided the Union fosters stability and development within the major regional groupings which surround it. Thanks to its position in world trade and its economic weight, the Union is already a respected partner in the great international forums such as the World Trade Organization or the UN.

Step by step, the Union is using its economic power as a means of developing its political influence and speaking with a single voice. The 1992 Treaty on European Union sets the objective and lays down the procedures for a common foreign and security policy (CFSP), stipulating that it will eventually lead to a common defense policy. But the nations of Europe still have a lot of work to do if they are to harmonize their diplomatic efforts and their security policies. This presupposes genuine political will on the part of the Member States, and is the price the Union must pay if it is to defend its interests and help ensure peace and justice in the world.

1 January 1973: the first enlargement

The European Union is open to any European country which wants to join it and is prepared to take on all the commitments made in the founding treaties and to subscribe to the same fundamental objectives. There are two conditions which determine whether an application for admission is entertained: whether the country is in Europe and whether it applies all the democratic procedures which characterize a State under the rule of law.

Thus Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom became members of the Community on 1 January 1973. Later, in the 1980s, more southern members were admitted as Greece, Spain and Portugal took their places among the concert of democratic nations. The third wave of admissions, in 1995, reflected the eagerness of countries in Scandinavia and Central Europe to join a Union which was consolidating its internal market and clearly emerging as the only focus of stability in the continent after the collapse of the Soviet bloc.

7-10 June 1979: the European Parliament first direct elections

In the Community's institutional balance, the European Parliament has a vital part to play: it represents Europe's peoples and embodies the democratic character of the European enterprise. From the outset Parliament was given powers of control over the executive branch, but it also has legislative power in the form of a right to be consulted on the main items of Community legislation, a power which has gradually expanded to become a genuine right of legislative co-decision. Parliament also shares budgetary power with the Council. How are Members of the European Parliament elected? Up until 1979, MEPs were members of the national parliaments delegated to represent the latter at Strasbourg. Since that year, however, they have been elected by direct universal suffrage in each Union country, elections being held every five years. Thus Europe's citizens elect members to sit not in national delegations but in multinational parliamentary groups representing the main trends in political thinking in Europe.

One completely revolutionary departure in the practice of international relations is the attempt to forge a link between the Member States whereby they can manage their interests and settle any differences between them according to the same laws and the same arbitration procedures as unite the citizens of a democratic State. "We are not building a coalition of States, we are uniting people," wrote Jean Monnet. This means that the shared institutions, which are involved at all times in expressing the wishes and reconciling the interests of Europe's citizens as such, must be strong and properly balanced. The subtle dialectic which has been going on for nearly 50 years between the Council, the Parliament, the Commission and the Court of Justice represents both a vital achievement in the building of the Community and the key to its success.

17 February 1986: the Single European Act

The Treaty of Rome's objective of building a common market was partly achieved in the 1960s when customs duties and quantitative limits on trade were abolished. But the authors of the Treaty had underestimated a whole range of other obstacles to trade, a set of complicated obstructions camouflaged as rules and regulations which it was often impossible to get round.

The Commission therefore took a bold initiative which culminated in the signing of the Single European Act. This set 1 January 1993 as the date by which a full internal market was to be established, and, by extending the practice of majority voting, gave the Community institutions the means of adopting the 300 directives required.

The Single Act links the objective of the great internal market closely to another, equally vital target: the achievement of economic and social cohesion. Europe has introduced structural policies to help regions where development is lagging behind or which have been hard-hit by technological or industrial change. It promotes cooperation in research and development. It also takes account of the social dimension of the internal market: in the view of those who govern the Union, the proper functioning of the internal market and healthy competition between businesses are inseparable from the ongoing objective of improving the living and working conditions of Europe's citizens.

1 November 1993: the European Union

When the Treaty on European Union, signed in Maastricht on 7 February 1992, came into force on 1 November 1993, it gave European integration a whole new dimension. The European Community, which was essentially economic in aspiration and content, was transformed into a European Union, which now stands on three pillars.

The Community pillar is run according to the traditional institutional procedures and governs the operations of the Commission, Parliament, the Council and the Court of Justice; basically, it involves managing the internal market and the common policies. The other two pillars involve the Member States in areas hitherto regarded as being matters over which the national governments alone had power: on the one hand, foreign and security policy and, on the other, home affairs, covering matters such as immigration and asylum policy, the police and justice. This is an important step forward in that the Member States regard it as being in their interest to cooperate more closely in these areas, thus affirming Europe's identity in the world and making sure their citizens are better protected against organized crime and drug trafficking.

What ordinary people will remember most about the Maastricht Treaty, however, is likely to be the decision which will have the biggest practical impact on their day-to-day lives, the decision to go for economic and monetary union. On 1 January 1999, EMU will take in all the countries which satisfy a certain number of economic criteria designed to guarantee sound financial management and to ensure that the single currency, the euro, is stable in the years to come.

The final, logical stage in the completion of the internal market, the introduction of the single currency, is a highly political step, given the personal repercussions for each and every citizen and the economic and social consequences it will have. One might even say that the euro will come to be the most tangible symbol of the European Union. A currency like the euro, strong and capable of competing with the great international reserve currencies, will be clear proof of the fact that we all belong to a continent which is uniting and asserting itself.

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1 January 1999: the EURO

The Euro was introduced as the new 'single currency' of the European Monetary Union (EMU), adopted on 1 January 1999 by 11 Member States of the European Union (Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain). These countries formed an economic and monetary union, fixed the exchange rates of their national currencies and started using a single currency – the Euro.

Greece became the 12th Member state to adopt the Euro on January 1, 2001. On January 1, 2002, these 12 countries officially introduced the Euro banknotes and coins as legal tender. The irrevocable conversion rates for the Euro, along with the last day for the individual currencies of each of the Member States are:

1 Euro = 
40.3399 Belgium Francs
1.95583 German Marks
166.386 Spanish Peseta
6.55957 French Francs
0.787564 Irish Pounds
1936.27 Italian Lira
40.3399 Luxembourg Francs
2.20371 Netherlands (Dutch) Guilder
13.7603 Austrian Schillings
200.482 Portuguese Escudos
5.94573 Finnish Marks
340.750 Greek Drachmas (As of January 1, 2001).

The Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) replaced the currencies of eleven European countries with a single currency - the euro. However, the euro is not just another currency and its introduction will mean much more than simply dealing with one more foreign currency.

The 11 countries share a single interest rate, set by the European Central Bank (ECB), and a single foreign exchange rate. The ECB is responsible for the monetary policy of these ‘euro zone’ countries. The introduction of the euro was in three phases:

Phase 1: Spring 1998 - 31 December 1998

Phase 1 started with the decision in May by EU governments on which countries qualify to join. The European Central Bank (ECB) was then set up.

Phase 2, the "transition period" : 1 January 1999 - 31 December 2001:

The conversion rates between currencies of qualifying countries and the euro were legally fixed on 1 January 1999. The euro then became the legal currency in those countries. The European Central Bank became responsible for interest rates. National currencies continued to exist in parallel to the euro, but changed in status. They were temporary "denominations" or "units" of the euro. No euro banknotes or coins were available, so national banknotes and coins have been used for all cash transactions.

Phase 3, the "dual circulation period": 1 January 2002 - 30 June 2002:

Euro banknotes and coins were introduced in participating countries on 1 January 2002. They circulated alongside national currency banknotes and coins. By the end of the period, national banknotes and coins have been withdrawn from circulation. Old national banknotes remained convertible into euro according to national practice.

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1 May 2004: the Enlargement to the East Europe

The Strategy Paper "Towards the Enlarged Union" and the Report of the European Commission on the progress towards accession by each of the candidate countries [COM(2002)700] review the progress towards accession of the candidate countries and assess the extent to which they will meet the Copenhagen criteria on the date envisaged for accession.

The commitments made by the candidate countries during the accession negotiations have been largely respected, although some difficulties have been encountered, particularly in the agriculture, environment and fisheries sectors. Transitional arrangements allowing the non-application of the acquis communautaire upon accession were adopted in the sectors where application of the acquis requires substantial financial investments. These measures are limited in scope and time and subject to strict conditions.

Growing from six to nine to twelve, and then to its current 27 members, the European Community has won increasing influence and prestige. It must keep its decision-making system efficient and capable of managing the common interest for the benefit of all its members, while at the same time preserving the national and regional identities and special characteristics which are its major asset. The greatest challenge Europe's peoples now face is that of welcoming the applicant countries in Central Europe, the Balkans, the Mediterranean and the Baltic area over the next few years. Where are we to find the resources needed to help them rise to the economic and structural levels of EU countries in the shortest possible time? How are we to adapt the institutions so that they can continue to perform their tasks in the best interests of a Union with more than 27 members? These are the historic tasks now facing the Union's Member States.

13 December 2007: the Treaty of Lisbon

The process of reforming the EU institution started in 2001, but the work accomplished was dissipated in the ill-fated European Constitution. The Treaty of Lisbon was signed on 13 December 2007 in Lisbon and must be ratified by all twenty-seven Member States before it can enter into force. This is expected to happen by the end of 2008, in time for the 2009 European elections. As of May 29, 2008, fifteen countries have ratified the Treaty.

The generalisation of the qualified majority voting, a prominent change in the Treaty of Lisbon, will reduce chances of stalemate in the EU Council. The role of the European Parliament will increase through extended co-decision with the EU Council. The creation of new posts for greater coherence and continuity in EU policies, such as a long-term President of the European Council and a High Representative for Foreign Affairs will coordinate the Union's foreign policy with greater consistency.

The Treaty of Lisbon is a series of amendments to the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht) and the Treaty establishing the European Community (Rome), the latter being renamed 'Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union'. It consists solely of cross-references amending the existing treaties. In contrast, the European Constitution was a single readable document.