Chronology of the History of the European Union

We tell you what were the most important facts in the history of the European Union, its causes and consequences, in chronological order.

The European Union was born in 1993 after a long integration process.
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What is the European Union?

The European Union (EU) is an organization of European countries that functions as a community . Its institutions exercise government on common matters of a political, economic and security nature.

The EU He was officially born in November 1993 when the Maastricht Treaty entered into force, but its conformation was part of a process initiated after World War II (1939-1945), whose first results were the Constitution of the European Community of Coal and Steel (1951) and the European Economic Community (1957).

Currently, the EU integrates 27 countries . In 2020, the United Kingdom retired from the EU through a process known as Brexit. In 1999, the EU implemented the euro as a currency, which was replacing most of the national currencies of the member countries.

European Union chronology

1946-1949

1946

  • September 19. Winston Churchill pronounces a speech in Zurich, in which he proposes the Constitution of the United States of Europe.

1948

  • April 16. The European Organization for Economic Cooperation (OECE) is created in order to coordinate the US Marshall Plan. The countries of the Soviet block are excluded, which do not accept to enter the Marshall Plan.
  • May 7. The Hague Congress sessions begin, in which several European personalities are in favor of building cooperation, security and defense of human rights between Western European countries.

1949

  • April 4. The North Atlantic Treaty is signed in Washington that gives NATO birth, the defensive alliance of most Western European countries, the United States and Canada.
  • May 5. The Council of Europe (Treaty of London), based in Strasbourg (France).

1950-1959

The Treaties of Rome created the European Economic Community and the Euratom.

1950

  • May 9. In a speech, inspired by the ideas of banker Jean Monnet, French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman proposes that France, Germany and any other European state that wishes to unify their coal and steel resources (Schuman Declaration).

1951

  • April 18. France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg (“Los Seis”) sign the Paris Treaty that the European Coal and Steel Community (CECA) is founded. The treaty enters into force on July 23, 1952. Jean Monnet presides over high authority and the Belgian Paul-Henri Spaak the common assembly.

1954

  • August 30. The French National Assembly refuses to ratify the treaty created by the European Defense Community (CED). That treaty, which aimed at the military integration of the member countries, had been signed by “Los six” on May 27, 1952.
  • October 23. The Western European Union (UEO), an European military organization and less integrative military alliance of the National Armed Forces is created than it proposed by the CED.

1955

  • June 1 and 2. The Messina Meeting (Italy) takes place. The Foreign Ministers of the six agree to advance in the integration of their countries into the economic field.

1956

  • May 29. The SPAAK report is approved (it raises the possibility of creating a common European market and a European community for the use of atomic energy). In a meeting in Venice, Foreign Ministers agree to open intergovernmental negotiations to sign integration treaties.

1957

  • March 25. The six (France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) sign the Rome treaties established by the European Economic Community (CEE), popularly known as the common market, and the European Community of Atomic Energy (EURATOM).

1958

  • January 1. Rome treaties enter into force. The German diplomat Walter Hallstein is appointed first president of the European Commission (the main institution of the EEC).

1960-1969

1960

  • May 3. Austria, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom constitute the European Free Trade Association, better known by its acronym in English, EFTA (European Free Trade Trade Association), as an alternative to CEE.
  • September 20. The first regulation of the European Social Fund that is part of the EEC and aims to promote employment and work quality comes into force.
  • December 14. The European Organization for Economic Cooperation (OECE) becomes the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which integrates the countries of Western Europe, the United States, Canada and Turkey.

1961

  • July 31 to August 10. Ireland, Denmark and the United Kingdom request their entry into the EEC.
  • September 1. The first regulation on freedom of movement of workers in member countries enters into force.

1962

  • January 14. Common agricultural policy (PAC) is established when a single European market for agricultural products and a financial solidarity policy through the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (FEAGA) is created.
  • April 30. Norway requests adhesion to CEE.

1963

  • January 14. General Charles de Gaulle, president of the French Republic, publicly affirms that France doubts the political will of the United Kingdom to join the EEC. The result is immediate: a few days later, negotiations with the countries that had requested adhesion (United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and Norway) are suspended.
  • July 20. An association agreement between the EEC and 18 recently independent African countries is signed in Yaoundé (Cameroon): Yaoundé's convention. Various conventions will be signed in later years.

1965

  • April 8. An agreement by which the executives of the three communities are signed in Brussels: the CECA, the EUratom and the EEC. The agreement enters into force in 1967.
  • July 1. The “empty chair crisis” begins. France breaks the negotiations that were being carried out for the financing of the common agricultural policy (PAC), in disagreement with the voting method in the European Council. The French government decides not to send any representative to the European Council meetings.

1966

  • January 28 to 29. Luxembourg's commitment “ends with the” empty chair crisis. ” France participates again in the European Council meetings after making the need to make decisions unanimously recognize in the case of topics of great importance.

1967

  • May 11. The United Kingdom, and then Ireland, Denmark and Norway, re -request adhesion to CEE.
  • 1968. The customs union enters into force. Tariffs between member countries are suppressed and a common tariff is adopted for products from third countries.

1970-1979

1971

  • March 22. The European Council adopts the Werner Plan to strengthen the coordination of economic policies. Member States had to adopt measures to harmonize their budgetary policies and to reduce fluctuation margins between their currencies, but the 1973 economic crisis frustrates its implementation.

1972

  • January 22. Denmark's accession treaties, Ireland, Norway and the United Kingdom are signed. These treaties are ratified by the parliaments of the Member States. The exception is Norway, where a referendum of its citizens decides to reject adhesion.
  • April 10. The “monetary snake” is established: the six agree to limit the margin of fluctuation of their currencies to 2.25 %.

1973

  • January 1. Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom enter the EEC, which happens to have 9 member states.

1975

  • February 28. CEE and 46 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries sign the Convention of Lomé I, which replaces Yaoundé's conventions. The Convention gives financial aid to African, Caribbean and Pacific countries and allows its products to access CEE. This convention is renewed several times in later years.
  • March 18. The European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) and the Regional Policy Committee are established.
  • June 12. Greece requests entry into the EEC.

1976

  • November 3. Common fishing policy begins.

1977

  • March 28. Portugal requests entry into the EEC.
  • April 5. The European Parliament, the Council and the Commission sign a joint declaration with respect to fundamental rights.
  • July 1. The common tariff extends to new Member States: Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
  • July 28. Spain requests entry into the EEC.

1978

  • November 29. The commission gives its favorable vote to the Spanish adhesion application. The negotiations begin on February 5, 1979.
  • December 4 to 5. The European Council held in Brussels establishes the European Monetary System (SME) based on the European Account Unit: ECU (for its acronym in English).

1979

  • March 13. The European monetary system enters into force.
  • June 7 to 10. First elections to the European Parliament for universal suffrage.

1980-1989

1981

  • January 1. Greece becomes the tenth Member State of the EEC.

1984

  • February 14. The European Parliament approves by a large majority the draft written by the Italian politician Altiero Spinelli for the establishment of the European Union.
  • June 25 to 26. After arduous debates, the government of Margaret Thatcher (United Kingdom) gets the ten member states to reach an agreement on the compensation that should be reinstated to the United Kingdom to reduce its contribution to the community budget (because with the pre -existing system, what contributed was much greater than what it received).

1985

  • January 7. Jacques Delors assumes the position of president of the European Commission.
  • June 12. The adhesion treaties of Spain and Portugal are signed.
  • June 14. The Schengen agreement, on elimination of border controls, is signed by Belgium, West Germany, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands, in Schengen (Luxembourg). This agreement later joins Italy in 1990, Portugal and Spain in 1991, and Greece in 1992.

1986

  • January 1. Spain and Portugal become new members of the EEC. From now on we talk about the Europe of twelve.
  • February 17 and 28. The European Unique Act is signed in Luxembourg and Hague with the aim of defining a European market for December 31, 1992.
  • May 29. The European flag is first raised in Brussels while the European anthem sounds.
  • June 11. The European Parliament, the Council and the Commission sign a joint declaration against racism and xenophobia.

1987

  • April 14. Türkiye requests its adhesion to the EEC.
  • July 1. The single European act enters into force.

1989

  • April 12. The Delors Committee (that is, the European Commission chaired by Jacques Delors) presents a report on the Economic and Monetary Union. Parliament adopts the declaration on fundamental rights and freedoms.
  • June 19. The peseta enters the mechanism of changes in the European monetary system.
  • July 17. Austria requests entry into the EEC.
  • November 9. Berlin wall falls. The German Democratic Republic opens its borders.
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1990-1999

1990

  • May 29. The establishment of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (BERD) is signed in Paris with the purpose of giving financial support to the countries of Central and Eastern Europe.
  • June 19. The Schengen Convention that complements the agreement for the elimination of border controls is signed.
  • July 1. The first phase of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) begins.
  • July 3. Cyprus requests entry into the EEC.
  • July 16. Malta requests entry into the EEC.
  • October 3. Germany reunification occurs.
  • December 14 to 15. The European Council agrees in Rome the meeting of two intergovernmental conferences (CIG): one on the economic and monetary union, the other on the political union. Both will result in the Treaty of the European Union (1992).

1991

  • July 1. Sweden requests entry into the EEC.
  • December 9-10. The European Council held in Maastricht (Netherlands) reaches an agreement on the draft of the Treaty of the European Union.

1992

  • February 7. The Ministers of Foreign and Economics Affairs of the Member States sign in Maastricht (Netherlands) the Treaty of the European Union, popularly known as the Maastricht Treaty.
  • March 18. Finland presents its application for admission to the European Union (EU).
  • May 2. CEE and EFTA countries create the European Economic Space (EEE), known by its acronym in English as EEA (European Economic Area).
  • May 21. The reform of the common agricultural policy (PAC) is approved.
  • June 2. In a referendum, the Danish majority votes against the ratification of the European Union Treaty.
  • November 25. Norway requests your entry into the EU.
  • December 6. In a referendum, most Switzerland votes against the ratification of the agreement established by the European economic space.

1993

  • January 1. The European single market enters into force.
  • February 1. Negotiations are opened to enter the EU of Austria, Finland and Sweden.
  • April 5. Negotiations are opened to enter the EU of Norway.
  • May 18. In a second referendum, the Danish majority votes in favor of the European Union Treaty, with some specific caveities for Denmark.
  • November 1, 1993. With all the concluded ratification procedures, the European Union Treaty enters into force.

1994

  • January 1. The second phase of the European Economic and Monetary Union begins, and the European Monetary Institute (IME) is created.
  • March 10. The Regions Committee, created by the Treaty of the European Union, celebrates its first meeting.
  • March 31. Hungary requests his entry into the EU.
  • April 5. Poland requests its entry into the EU.
  • July 15. Luxembourgs Jacques Santer is chosen to replace Jacques Delors as president of the European Commission (position that begins in January 1995).
  • November 28. The Norwegian majority rejects in referendum the entry of their country into the EU.

1995

  • January 1. Austria, Finland and Sweden enter as new members of the European Union. Thus forms the fifteen Europe.
  • March 14. The European Council and Parliament sign the Socrates program for the educational field.
  • March 26. The Schengen agreement enters into force in Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Portugal.
  • April 28. Austria joins the Schengen agreement.
  • June 22. Romania requests your adhesion to the EU.
  • June 27. Slovakia requests your adhesion to the EU.
  • October 13. Latvia requests your adhesion to the EU.
  • November 24. Estonia requests his adherence to the EU.
  • December 8. Lithuania requests your adhesion to the EU.
  • December 14. Bulgaria requests your adhesion to the EU.

1996

  • January 17. The Czech Republic requests its adhesion to the EU.
  • March 29. The opening of the Intergovernmental Conference (CIG) takes place in Turin (Italy) to review the Maastricht Treaty.
  • June 10. Slovenia requests your adhesion to the EU.
  • December 19. Denmark, Finland and Sweden sign the Schengen agreement.

1997

  • June 2. The European Council adopts a regulation for the creation of a European Observatory of Racism and Xenophobia.
  • July 16. The European Commission presents the 2000 Agenda “for a stronger and wider Europe” with its conclusions on the accession requests of the countries of Central Europe.
  • October 2. The Foreign Ministers of the Member States of the European Union sign the Amsterdam Treaty that introduces the “reinforced cooperation” mechanism.

1998

  • March 12. A European Conference attended by the 15 Member States and the countries that have officially requested the adhesion to the EU are held in London.
  • March 30. A meeting of ministers starts the Chipre adhesion process and the 10 candidate countries in Central and Eastern Europe (Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria and Romania).
  • May 3. An extraordinary council decides which are the eleven member states that meet the necessary conditions for the adoption of a single currency on January 1, 1999.
  • June 1. The European Central Bank is created.
  • December 31. The Council of the European Union adopts the types of fixed and irrevocable conversion between the national currencies of the eleven participating Member States and the euro.

1999

  • January 1. The euro is officially implanted. Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Portugal adopt the euro as official currency.
  • January 12. Jacques Santer, president of the European Commission, asks for the confidence of Parliament against accusations of corruption against members of the Commission.
  • March 15. The members of the European Commission dimites following the first report of the Independent Committee of Experts on the complaints of fraud, irregularities and nepotism in the Commission.
  • March 24. The Council designates the Italian Roman Prodi as the new president of the European Commission.
  • May 1. The Amsterdam treaty enters into force.
  • May 5. The European Parliament approves the appointment of Romano Prodi as president of the Commission.
  • June 3 to 4. The European Council adopts the first common strategy of the EU in foreign policy regarding Russia (in order to intensify cooperation with this country).
  • Spanish diplomat Javier Solana is appointed high representative for the PESC (common foreign policy) and general secretary of the European Union Council.
  • October 19. The EU Council publishes the “First Annual Report on Human Rights.”

2000-2009

2000

  • February 14. The Intergovernmental Conference (CIG) is inaugurated in Brussels for the reform of the European Union institutions.
  • May 3. The European Commission proposes to Greece as the twelfth state to adopt the euro as a common currency.
  • May 9. European institutions celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Schuman statement.
  • June 19. The European Council gathered in Feira (Portugal) decides that drachma, the Greek currency, joins the euro on January 1, 2001.
  • September 22. Given the weakness of the euro against the dollar, the European Central Bank, in a joint action with the Federal Reserve of the United States and the Bank of Japan, intervenes to support its price.
  • December 7. Outside the framework of the Summit of Nice, the presidents of Parliament, the Council and the European Commission formally proclaim the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
  • December 7-9. The Nice Summit is celebrated. After long discussions, the summit concludes with a commitment specified in the Nice Treaty (2001), which reforms the previous treaties. The Intergovernmental Conference is ended.

2001

  • January 2. Greece becomes the twelfth member that joins the eurozone (that is, the set of states that adopt the euro as currency).
  • February 26. A new treaty (Treaty of Nice) is signed in Nice that modifies the European Union Treaty and the founding treaties of the European communities.
  • June 7. In a referendum with little participation, 53.87 % of Irish rejects ratify the Nice treaty.

2002

  • January 1. Euro tickets and coins enter into circulation in the twelve eurozone member countries.

2003

  • February 1. The Nice treaty enters into force.

2004

  • May 1. They join the European Union: Poland, Malta, Czech Republic, Cyprus, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia and Lithuania.
  • October 29. A constitutional treaty is signed in Rome that is not finally ratified.

2005

  • April 13. The European Parliament approves the entrance of Bulgaria and Romania into the EU.

2007

  • January 1. Bulgaria and Romania enter the EU. Slovenia adopts the euro.
  • December 13. The Lisbon treaty is signed, which grants the EU legal nature to sign international agreements as a community and introduces other reforms to the previous treaties. In addition, it makes binding for all member countries the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

2008

  • January 1. Cyprus and Malta adopt the euro.

2009

  • January 1. Slovakia adopts the euro.
  • December 1. The Lisbon treaty enters into force.

2010-2020

After a referendum, the United Kingdom leaves the European Union in 2020.

2011

  • January 1. The European Banking Authority, the European Insurance and Retirement Pensions, and the European Authority of Securities and Markets are created. Estonia adopts the euro.

2012

  • January 22. In a referendum, most Croatian vote in favor of admission to the EU.
  • March 1. Serbia is recognized as a candidate country to enter the EU.
  • March 2. The Stability, Coordination and Governance Agreement in the Economic and Monetary Union is signed, which enters into force on January 1, 2013.
  • April 1. The European Citizen Initiative, which allows the participation of citizenship at European by the presentation of initiatives to the European Commission.
  • December 10. The Norwegian Nobel Committee delivers the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union.

2013

  • July 1. Croatia enters the European Union.

2014

  • January 1. Latvia adopts the euro.

2015

  • January 1. Lithuania adopts the euro.

2016

  • June 23. In a referendum, most of the United Kingdom choose to retire from the European Union.

2020

  • January 31. The United Kingdom leaves the European Union (Brexit).

References

  • Fernández Navarrete, D. (2022). History of the European Union: from the origins to post-overxit. Autonomous University of Madrid Editions.
  • Gabel, MJ (2022). European Union. Britannica Encyclopedia. https://www.britannica.com/
  • European Union (SF). Principles, countries, history. Official Portal of the European Union. https://european-union.europa.eu/

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