To mark the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Treaties of Rome, Agence EUROPE has dipped into its unparalleled archives and is republishing articles from 1957, 1967, 1977, 1987, 1997 and 2007 that reported on the celebrations of this event. EUROPE is also publishing the editorials of its own 'founding fathers', which analysed the match between the treaties and the challenges faced, decade by decade, in the European integration project.
Background
In Rome on Monday 25 March 1957, the six founding countries – Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands – sign the treaties establishing the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community. These treaties, which apply to the six founding countries’ European territories and to their colonial possessions, provide for the creation of a common market in 1972. Institutions are thus created which are the same as those provided for in the ECSC treaty, including an Assembly and a Court.
THE TREATIES ON THE “COMMON MARKET” AND “EURATOM” HAVE BEEN SIGNED IN ROME THIS EVENING
ROME (EU), 25 March 1957 – The Treaties establishing the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom) have been signed this evening by the foreign affairs ministers (Chancellor Konrad Adenauer for Germany) and by the heads of delegation of the six countries, in the Horatii and Curiatii Room at the Capitol.
This morning, the foreign affairs ministers met at 11.00am to settle numerous details, especially the protocol aimed at the particular situation of Berlin, as well as the composition and tasks of the interim Committee (an intergovernmental coordination body as opposed to an international organism).
The signing ceremony opened with a speech from the mayor of Rome. The foreign affairs ministers then made statements, by which they underlined the importance of today’s event.
Mr Gaetano Martino said that the Community, although economic, comes within a wider process of political unification. Mr Christian Pineau referred to those who in the past were the most reluctant about Europe, but who have now understood the lessons of reality and today feel that this date will be one of the most important in the history of our continent.
The Treaties that were signed today commit the signatories for an unlimited period (the Treaty establishing the ECSC had a 50-year validity). The content of the Treaties applies to the European territories of the member states and to the non-European territories under their jurisdiction.
As regards Algeria and the French overseas territories, the arrangements of the Treaty establishing the EEC are applicable to the following sectors once the Treaty enters into force: the customs union, agriculture, the liberalisation of services, competition rules, safeguard measures, and the institutions. The conditions for applying other arrangements will be determined two years after the entry into force of the Treaty at the latest, by decisions of the Council acting unanimously.
The special association regime defined by the Treaty establishing the EEC will be applicable to the following territories: French West Africa (Senegal, Sudan, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Dahomey, Mauritania, Niger and the Upper Volta); French Equatorial Africa (Middle Congo, Ubangi Shari, Chad and Gabon); Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, the Comoros Archipelago, Madagascar, French Somaliland, New Caledonia, the French Establishments in Oceania; the Autonomous Republic of Togo; the Trust Territory of the Cameroons under French administration; the Belgian Congo and Ruanda-Urundi; Somaliland under Italian guardianship; Netherlands New Guinea.
Any European state can ask to become a member of the European Economic Community or of the European Atomic Energy Community. It addresses its request to the Council, which will decide by unanimity once it has consulted the opinion of the Commission. The conditions for entry are the subject of an agreement between the member states, which is subject to ratification by the states.
The arrangements of the Treaties do not change those of the Treaty establishing the ECSC (except by the Convention concerning the common institutions) and do not prevent the existence or completion of regional unions (Belgium-Luxembourg, Benelux).
The Treaties will enter into force on the first day of the month following the deposit of the last ratification instrument. The review procedure is laid down as follows: each government, or the Commission, can submit proposals for review to the Council. After a favourable opinion from the Council (which will have consulted the Assembly and, where appropriate, the Commission), a Conference of Government representatives is called to decide on the amendments that will enter into force after ratification by all the member states.
THE “EUROPEAN ECONOMIC COMMUNITY” AND THE “EUROPEAN ATOMIC ENERGY COMMUNITY” WILL STAND ALONGSIDE THE “EUROPEAN COAL AND STEEL COMMUNITY”
BRUSSELS (EU), 12 March 1957 – The Treaty establishing the EEC (this is the name that has finally been retained for the new integrated organisation) is now complete in its 300 articles. Annexed conventions and protocols settle specific questions.
This Treaty, along with the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC), will be signed in Rome on 25 March, and deposited in the archives of the Italian Republic. The ratification instruments will also be deposited with the Italian government. The Treaty is supposed to enter into force on 1 January 1958. In Brussels, experts are currently updating the German, Italian and Dutch texts, all being equally authentic to the original.
EUROPE is able to report that, through a special protocol, the six Governments will make the necessary amendments to the ECSC Treaty, as regards the common institutions, especially the Common Assembly (Art. 21 of the Treaty), which will be replaced by a single Assembly for the three existing communities. This single assembly will comprise 142 members, including 36 for each of the three countries France, Germany and Italy, 14 for Belgium and the Netherlands, and 6 for Luxembourg.
This protocol also amends Art.32 of the ECSC Treaty, in that the Court will be unique for the three Communities with the internal adjustments that its operation may require.
Weighting of votes at the Council
EUROPE can report that the weighting of the votes in the Council of Ministers remains as follows (with the exception of specific cases where a different weighting is expressly provided for): - France, Germany and Italy: 4 votes each; - Belgium and the Netherlands: 2 votes each; - Luxembourg: 1 vote. A qualified majority is 12 votes out of the total 17.
With regard to the Consultative Committee of the ECSC, nothing is changed in its structure and in its tasks. However, there are plans to create an Economic and Social Committee for the two Communities. This will have a “consultative nature” and will represent all interest groups, especially producers, farmers, workers, traders, craftspeople, general interest and liberal professions. There will be 101 members of this Committee (24 for each of the three countries France, Germany and Italy, 12 each for Belgium and the Netherlands, 5 for Luxembourg), who will be appointed by the Council of Ministers acting unanimously and for a period of 4 years.
The objectives set by the Treaty establishing the EEC will be reached over the course of three stages of four years each. The first can be extended twice by a year, on certain conditions, and a further period of six months is planned for the arbitration procedure. No further time is provided for, however, at the end of the third stage, so that, in the least favourable scenario, the European Common Market will be achieved in 14 and a half years.
The signatories of the treaties are:
Key dates