History of the European Union

• The European Union (EU) is an economic and political association that, at present, is made up of 27 countries in Europe.
• His training was part of a long process in which there were countries that adhered and others that retired.
• The EU was born in 1993 from an previous organization, the European Economic Community, which arose after World War II, mainly to restore and strengthen the economies of Europe after the devastation caused by war and to maintain political cooperation between nations and avoid future clashes.

The Treaty of Rome (1957)

The first steps towards European integration occurred with the signing of the Treaty of Paris (1951), which gave rise to the European Coal and Steel Community (CECA), and especially with the treaties of Rome (1957), which entered into force on January 1, 1958 and They created the European Economic Community (CEE) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) .

The EEC was basically a customs union that allowed the free circulation of goods Among the six member countries (France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, West Germany and Italy). It also implemented the common agricultural policy (PAC), which applied protectionist measures for the producers of the member countries.

The institutions created from the Treaties of Paris and Rome had a supranational character they understood about matters that affected the EEC: the European Commission, the Council of Ministers (or simply Council), the European Assembly (then European Parliament), the Court of Justice of the European Communities and the Economic and Social Committee.

In 1973, the European Economic Community was extended with the adhesion of the United Kingdom, Denmark and Ireland, and in 1981 and 1986 Greece, Spain and Portugal were also integrated.

At this time, the European Council (periodic meeting of the heads of State and Government of the Member States) was also created, the European Monetary System (SME) was implemented together with the ECU (European Monetary Unit, antecedent of the euro), the first elections for universal suffrage for the European Parliament and The Schengen agreement was signed for gradual elimination of borders (Initially among five countries, to which the majority of member states later joined).

In 1984, the European Parliament approved the “European Union Treaty Project” (known as the Spinelli Project). This project proposed to replace the Treaty of Rome with a new treaty to tend towards greater European integration. Although He was rejected For the governments of the Member States, this project promoted the debates that led to The elaboration of the Unique European Act (1986) and the Treaty of the European Union (1992) .

The road to the Treaty of the European Union (1986-1992)

The European Unique Act (1986)

The European Unique Act was approved in 1986 and entered into force on July 1, 1987 . It was the first modification of the treaties that had first founded the mint and then the EEC.

The main novelties that the European Unique Act introduced were the following:

• Consecrated the existence of the European Council (that is, the periodic meeting of Heads of State and Government) as the agency where the great political negotiations between the Member States take place and where the main strategic decisions are made. The European Parliament also saw its powers slightly reinforced.
• Adopted a decisive disposition aimed at the progressive establishment of the single market During a period that had to conclude on December 31, 1992, with the consolidation of an area without borders in which the free movement of goods, people, services and capital was insured. This aspiration was reflected in 282 concrete measures and was reached within the planned period.
• Established measures to coordinate the monetary policy of the Member States which prepared the path to the economic and monetary union.
• Approved various initiatives to promote integration into the field of social rights (health and safety health), research and technology, and the environment.
• Agreed to reform the so -called structural funds: European Agricultural Orientation and Guarantee Fund (FEAGA), European Social Fund (FSE) and European Regional Development Fund (FEDER), to achieve greater economic and social cohesion.

Consequences of the Unique European Act (1986-1989)

The European Unique Act was an important impulse in the integration process. The protagonist was The president of the European Commission, Jacques Delors . This French socialist politician promoted the economic and monetary union (key element in the integration process) and, to balance the benefits that entrepreneurs would mainly obtain, proposed the approval of a social letter to guarantee minimum working and social conditions To European workers.

On the other hand, since the beginning of the 1980s, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher had stood out for her policy contrary to progress in European integration and had struggled to achieve a reduction in British contribution to the community budget (which he achieved in June 1984).

Delors, on the other hand, continued calling to accelerate the European integration process, especially before the events that began to take place in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989.

CEE before the collapse of the Soviet block (1989)

In 1989 it occurred The collapse of communist systems in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (The ancient “popular democracies” that integrated the Soviet block).

The most representative fact was The fall of the Berlin Wall on November 9, 1989, which was followed by the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991 . This same year, the Yugoslavia division unleashed a new war in Europe, after a period of peace initiated in 1945.

The first consequence of these facts was the reunification of Germany in October 1990. The Federal Republic of Germany, with 80 million inhabitants and 30 % of the Gross National Product of the EEC, It became an economic power that surpassed France and the United Kingdom.

The French president, François Mitterrand, gave a new boost to the European integration process to prevent Germany from erecting again as a hegemonic power in the region. The German Chancellor, Helmut Kohl, also supported the integration to overcome the distrust it generated in France and the United Kingdom reunified Germany.

The “power vacuum” that was generated in central and eastern Europe with The fall of communism allowed CEE to be seen as an organization that guaranteed stability in the middle of a convulsive Europe . In fact, the new democracies arising in the countries that abandoned communism began to negotiate their adhesion to the European Community.

The Economic and Monetary Union (EMA) and the Political Union

The acceleration of the European integration process was also motivated by an economic factor: financial and monetary instability that characterized the period. The 1987 stock market “Crash” affected the main bags of the world, and the problems of the European monetary system (SME) led to a crisis in 1992: the sterling pound and the Italian lyre had to leave the SME, while the peseta and the Portuguese shield were forced to the devaluation.

All these (political and economic) factors promoted The big step forward on the path of European integration: The Treaty of the European Union.

In 1989, at Delors initiative, an Intergovernmental Conference (CIG) was convened to discuss the definitive adoption of the Economic and Monetary Union. In 1990, another CIG was convened to study the constitution of a political union.

After almost three years of debates, the European Council held in Maastricht (Netherlands) On December 9 and 10, 1991, the European Union Treaty approved popularly known as Maastricht's Treaty. The treaty was signed on February 7, 1992 and He entered into force on November 1, 1993.

The Treaty of the European Union (1992)

The Treaty of the European Union (TUE), known as the Treaty of Maastricht for the city in which it was signed on February 7, 1992, modified pre -existing treaties to promote political unity, in addition to the economic . He entered into force on November 1, 1993.

The Maastricht treaty formalized the name of “European Union”, which replaced that of European Community. Among the novelties he introduced with respect to the previous treaties, the most important were:

• The recognition of European citizenship to every person who had the nationality of a Member State.
• The creation of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMA) with the aim of eliminating national currencies and creating a common currency (the euro), which was introduced on January 1, 1999 as the official currency of eleven countries.
• The creation of the cohesion fund to finance projects (in environmental or infrastructure matters for transport) of less prosperous member states.
• Policies cooperation of transport, industry, agriculture, education, research and technological development, and environment.

• The creation of institutions as the European Committee of the Regions and the European Monetary Institute (European Central Bank since 1998), and the granting of greater powers to pre -existing institutions, such as the European Parliament, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Court of Accounts and the European Economic and Social Committee.
• The strengthening of common foreign policy and security (PESC) to act jointly in foreign policy affairs.
• Police and judicial cooperation Among the governments of the Member States from the Pilar de Justice and Interior Affairs (Jai) and the subsequent creation of Europol (European Police Agency).

The “Fifteen Europe” and the Amsterdam Treaty

Despite the changes that took place in Europe in the late 1980s and early nineties, The European Community (since 1993 European Union) continued to receive candidacies to enter it .

Negotiations with Austria, Sweden, Finland and Norway began in 1993, and were simple due to the high economic development of these countries. The ratification of adhesion treaties was carried out in 1994, with the exception of Norway (where a referendum decided against admission).

Adhesion entered into force on January 1, 1995 and resulted in the “fifteen Europe” .

At the beginning of 1996, an Intergovernmental Conference (CIG) began for the Preparation of a new treaty that will reform the Maastricht Treaty .

The objectives From the new treaty were to develop the “Europe of citizens”, to promote the role of the European Union in international politics, reform European institutions and address an extension to the aspiring countries of central and eastern Europe.

After a long negotiation, a consensus was reached in the European Council held in Amsterdam on June 16 and 17, 1997. The Amsterdam treaty was born, which entered into force on May 1, 1999.

The fifth expansion of the European Union

After the fall of communist regimes in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989, the countries of the region saw accession to the European Economic Community (European Union since 1993) as the best means to solve their economic, political and security problems. For the European Union, incorporating new members was an opportunity to increase its international weight.

The countries of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Cyprus, Malta and Turkey (which had also requested adhesion), had very different economic and political situations, which meant a political challenge for the European Union, which had to agree on institutional reforms.

The European Council of Copenhagen (1993) qualified as legitimate the aspirations of these countries and agreed to Adhesion criteria that applicants should comply with:

• Ensure the existence of stable institutions of democracy the primacy of law, respect for minorities and their protection.
• Have a viable market economy and with the ability to deal with market forces inside the European Union.
• Assume the obligations that derived from adhesion and, specifically, to subscribe the objectives of the political, economic and monetary union.

In 1997, the European Commission published the 2000 Agenda, entitled “For a stronger and wider Europe”, in which it presented its opinions on the requests for Adhesion of Cyprus and the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and established a program of financial aid. The following year, negotiations for adhesion began.

In December 2000, a summit was held in Nice (France) in which the Charter of the Fundamental Rights of the European Union and The institutional reform of the European Union was agreed (embodied in the Nice Treaty signed in February 2001). The objective was to guarantee the effectiveness of the EU In view of the next incorporation of ten new member countries .

The expansion of the European Union occurred on May 1, 2004, when Chipre, Malta, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Hungary entered it . In 2007 they also entered Bulgaria and Romania, and in 2013 Croatia .

Previously, On January 1, 1999, the euro had been adopted as the official currency of most EU countries (Although euro bills and coins began to circulate in January 2002), And several of the new Member States were progressively adopting the euro . There are currently twenty countries whose official currency is the euro.

From Lisbon Treaty to “Brexit”

Some months after the signing of the Nice Treaty, they occurred The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in the United States . These facts Motivated LaEken's statement in which the European Council announced the reinforcement of security and defense policy and the fight against terrorism.

In 2004 The signing of a new treaty that would establish a European Constitution was agreed . This treaty was signed in Rome in October 2004, but received the rejection of two referendums held in France and the Netherlands and,, Finally, it was not ratified .

Anyway, most of the provisions of the European Constitution were incorporated into A new treaty that today is the constitutional basis of the European Union: the Lisbon treaty (signed in 2007 and in force since December 1, 2009). This treaty reformed and simplified the previous treaties. Among its main provisions are:

• The granting of a legal character to the European Union To sign international agreements as a community.
• The attribution of a binding character to the Charter of Fundamental Rights For all Member States.
• The recognition of European citizenship For all people who have the nationality of a member country.
• The increase in the number of Eurodiputados and the assignment of greater power to the European Parliament (in addition to other institutional reforms).

In 2012, the European Union received the Nobel Peace Prize. However, one of the most important facts of recent years was The departure from the United Kingdom of the European Union (process known as Brexit) on January 31, 2020 after a referendum held in that country in June 2016.

Continue with:

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/
• University of Valencia (SF). Open Europe. Educational resources on the European Union. https://www.openeuropeuv.es/