The European History

Why people wanted to create a European Union

Since Middle Ages, the idea of creating a European union with a supranational government was emitted. The idea has benn amplified in the 18th century and the 19th century. In the 20th century, the situation has changed : after two world wars which have destroyed Europe in the first part of this century, European peolple wanted to live in peace again and ''forever''. As soon as the WWII has finished, members of European governments began to have ideas of federation, confederation or customs union.
In 1947, the treaty of Brussels invented the term of ''Union of Europe'', which was the beginning of European Union. The main development in Europe depended on a supranational foundation to ''make war unthinkable and materially impossible'' (with ECSC ''European Coal and Steel Community'') and the idea of reinforcing democracy in Europe. This idea was enunciated in Robert Schuman' speech and others European leaders like Jean Monnet, Paul-Henri Spaak or Alcide de Gasperi in the Europe declaration.
These words came true with the creation of ECSC in the treaty of Paris in 1951. The founding members were Belgium, France, Luxemburg, Italy, the Netherlands and West Germany. Later, in 1957, The treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community for cooperation in developing nuclear energy (Euratom).

The European development since 1957

As Guillaume said it, with the Treaty of Rome in 1957 there were 6 countries that started the European Union. These 6 countries were Italy, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands and Germany. The Treaty of Rome is composed of two treaties which are the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy. These two treaties started really on the 14 of January 1958. At this time the European Union was named European Economic Community and its mission was to get the policies closer, to develop each economy in