| Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community | |
|---|---|
| Type | Founding treaty |
| Signed | 25 March 1957 |
| Location | Capitoline Hill, Rome, Italy |
| Effective | 1 January 1958 |
| Signatories | (original signatories): Belgium France Italy Luxembourg the Netherlands West Germany |
| Parties | 27[1] (allEuropean Union member states) |
| Depositary | Government of Italy |
| Language | (original): Dutch, German, French and Italian. |
| Languages | all 24[2] officialLanguages of the European Union |
| Full text | |
 Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community atWikisource | |
Consolidated (amended) version of the EURATOM treaty (2009) | |
TheEuratom Treaty, officially theTreaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, established theEuropean Atomic Energy Community. It was signed on 25 March 1957 at the same time as theTreaty establishing the European Economic Community (EEC Treaty).
The Euratom Treaty is less well known because of the lower profile of the organisation that it founded. The EEC has evolved into what is now theEuropean Union, but Euratom has remained much the same as it was in 1957 although it is governed by the institutions of the European Union. It was established with its own Commission and Council, but the 1967Merger Treaty merged these institutions of Euratom and theEuropean Coal and Steel Community with those of the EEC.
The Euratom treaty has seen very little amendment because of later sensitivity surroundingnuclear power in Europeanpublic opinion. That has caused some to argue that it has become too outdated, particularly in the areas of democratic oversight. It was not included as part of the (unratified)Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, which sought to combine all previous treaties, over fears that including nuclear power in the treaty would turn more people against it. Nevertheless, it is one of the activetreaties of the European Union.
Since theend of World War II, mostsovereignEuropean countries have entered into treaties and thereby co-operated and harmonised policies (orpooled sovereignty) in an increasing number of areas, in theEuropean integration project or theconstruction of Europe (French:la construction européenne). The following timeline outlines the legal inception of theEuropean Union (EU)—the principal framework for this unification. The EU inherited many of its presentorganizations,institutions, and responsibilities from theEuropean Communities (EC), which were founded in the 1950s in the spirit of theSchuman Declaration.
| Legend: S: signing F: entry into force T: termination E: expiry de facto supersession Rel. w/ EC/EU framework: de facto inside outside |  European Union(EU) | [Cont.] | ||||||||||||||||
| European Communities(EC) | (Pillar I) | |||||||||||||||||
| European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or EURATOM) | [Cont.] | |||||||||||||||||
 / / / European Coal and Steel Community(ECSC) | ||||||||||||||||||
| European Economic Community(EEC) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Schengen Rules | European Community (EC) | |||||||||||||||||
| TREVI | Justice and Home Affairs(JHA,pillar III) | |||||||||||||||||
 / North Atlantic Treaty Organisation(NATO) | [Cont.] | Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters(PJCC,pillar III) | ||||||||||||||||
  Anglo-French alliance | [Defence armhanded toNATO] | European Political Co-operation (EPC) | Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP,pillar II) | |||||||||||||||
 Western Union (WU) |  / Western European Union (WEU) | [Tasks defined following the WEU's 1984reactivationhanded to theEU] | ||||||||||||||||
| [Social, cultural taskshanded toCoE] | [Cont.] | |||||||||||||||||
| Council of Europe(CoE) | ||||||||||||||||||
Entente Cordiale S: 8 April 1904 | Davignon report S: 27 October 1970 | European Council conclusions S: 2 December 1975 | ||||||||||||||||
Consolidated (amended) Euratom treaty as of 2009.