| European Communities | |
|---|---|
| Pillars of the European Union | |
 | |
| The three pillars which constituted the European Union (clickable) | |
| 1993–2009→ EU | |
| Constituent communities | |
| European Coal and Steel Community | 1952–2002 |
| European Economic Community/European Community | 1958–1993/1993–2009 |
| European Atomic Energy Community | 1958–present |
TheEuropean Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set ofinstitutions. These were theEuropean Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), theEuropean Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), and theEuropean Economic Community (EEC), the last of which was renamed theEuropean Community (EC) in 1993 by theMaastricht Treaty establishing theEuropean Union. The European Union was established at that time more as a concept rather than an entity, while the Communities remained the actual subjects of international law impersonating the rather abstract Union, becoming at the same time itsfirst pillar. In popular language, however, the singularEuropean Community was sometimes used interchangeably with the plural phrase, in the sense of referring to all three entities.[1]
The European Coal and Steel Community ceased to exist in 2002 when its founding treaty expired. The European Community was merged with the second and third EU pillars by theTreaty of Lisbon in 2009, finally allowing the European Union to move beyond being only a concept and to assume the shape of a legally incorporated international organization with juridical personality, designated as thelegal successor to the Community. However, the reformed EU has not become entirely unified, because Euratom, though governed with the EU by the common set of institutions, has been retained as an entity distinct from the EU, along with a number of other international entities, such as theEuropean Investment Bank, theEuropean University Institute, theEuropean Stability Mechanism, and theUnified Patent Court.
The ECSC was created first. Following its proposal in 1950 in theSchuman Declaration,Belgium,France,Italy,Luxembourg, theNetherlands, andWest Germany came together to sign theTreaty of Paris in 1951 which established the Community. The success of this Community led to the desire to create more, but attempts at creating aEuropean Defence Community and aEuropean Political Community failed leading to a return to economic matters. In 1957, the EAEC and EEC were created by theTreaties of Rome. They were to share some of the institutions of the un ECSC but have separate executive structures.[2]The ECSC's aim was to combine the coal and steel industries of its members to create a single market in those resources. It was intended that this would increase prosperity and decrease the risk of these countries going to war through the process ofEuropean integration. The EAEC was working onnuclear energy co-operation between the members. The EEC was to create acustoms union and general economic co-operation. It later led to the creation of aEuropean single market.[2]
The EEC became the European Communitypillar of the EU, with the ECSC and EAEC continuing in a similar subordinate position, existing separately in a legal sense but governed by the institutions of the EU as if they were its own. The ECSC's treaty had a 50-year limit and thus expired in 2002; all its activities are now absorbed into the European Community.[3] The EAEC had no such limit and thus continues to exist. Given thatnuclear power is a very sensitive issue for the European electorate, the Euratom Treaty has gone without amendment since its signing, and was not even to be changed with theEuropean Constitution intended to repeal all other treaties (the Constitution's replacement, theTreaty of Lisbon, likewise makes no attempt at amendment).[4][5]
As the EAEC has a low profile, and the profile of the European Community is dwarfed by that of the EU, the term "European Communities" sees little usage. However, when the EU was established the institutions that dealt solely or mainly with the European Community (as opposed to all three pillars) retained their original names, for example the formal name of theEuropean Court of Justice was the "Court of Justice of the European Communities" until 2009.[6]
In 1967, theMerger Treaty combined these separate executives. The Commission and Council of the EEC were to take over the responsibilities of its counterparts in the other organisations. From then on they became known collectively as the "European Communities", for example the commission was known as the "Commission of the European Communities", although the communities themselves remained separate in legal terms.[2]
| Signed In force Document | 1951 1952 Paris Treaty | 1957 1958 Rome treaties:EEC TreatyEuratom Treaty | 1965 1967 Merger Treaty | 2007 2009 Lisbon Treaty |
| Commission of the European Atomic Energy Community | Commission of the European Communities | European Commission | ||
| High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community | ||||
| Commission of the European Economic Community | ||||
TheMaastricht Treaty built upon theSingle European Act and theSolemn Declaration on European Union in the creation of theEuropean Union. The treaty was signed on 7 February 1992 and came into force on 1 November 1993. The emerging Union integrated the European Communities as its institutional core and one of itsthree pillars. The firstCommission President following the creation of the EU wasJacques Delors, who briefly continued his previous EEC tenure before handing over toJacques Santer in 1994.
The first pillar was the only one established according to then-innovative principles ofsupranationalism.[7] Thepillar structure of the EU allowed the areas of European co-operation to be increased without leaders handing a large amount of power to supranational institutions. The pillar system segregated the EU. What were formerly the competencies of the EEC fell within the European Communities pillar.Justice and Home Affairs was introduced as a new pillar whileEuropean Political Cooperation became the second pillar (theCommon Foreign and Security Policy).
The Communities institutions became the institutions of the EU but the roles of the institutions between the pillars are different. The commission, Parliament and Court of Justice are largely cut out of activities in the second and third pillars, with the Council dominating proceedings. This is reflected in the names of the institutions: the council is formally the "Council of theEuropean Union" while the commission is formally the "Commission of theEuropean Communities". This allowed the new areas to be based onintergovernmentalism (unanimous agreement between governments) rather than majority voting and independent institutions according to supranational democracy.
However, after the Treaty of Maastricht, Parliament gained a much bigger role. Maastricht brought in thecodecision procedure, which gave it equal legislative power with the Council on Community matters. Hence, with the greater powers of the supranational institutions and the operation ofQualified Majority Voting in the council, the Communities pillar could be described as a far morefederal method of decision making.
TheAmsterdam Treaty transferred rule making powers for border controls, immigration, asylum and cooperation in civil and commercial law from the Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) pillar to the European Community (JHA was renamedPolice and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters (PJCC) as a result). Both Amsterdam and theTreaty of Nice also extended codecision procedure to nearly all policy areas, giving Parliament equal power to the Council in the Community.
In 2002, theTreaty of Paris which established theEuropean Coal and Steel Community (one of the three communities which comprised the European Communities) expired, having reached its 50-year limit (as the first treaty, it was the only one with a limit). No attempt was made to renew its mandate; instead, theTreaty of Nice transferred certain of its elements to theTreaty of Rome and hence its work continued as part of the EC area of the Communities remit.
TheTreaty of Lisbon merged the three pillars and abolished the European Community, with the European Union becoming the Community's legal successor. Only one of the three European Communities still exists, thus making the designation of "European Communities" obsolete.
The abolition of the pillar structure was proposed already under theEuropean Constitution which ultimately failed to pass the ratification process.
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 | ||||||||||||||||
By virtue of theMerger Treaty, all three Communities were governed by the same institutional framework. Prior to 1967, theCommon Assembly/European Parliamentary Assembly and theCourt of Justice, established by the ECSC, were already shared with the EEC and EAEC, but they had different executives. The 1967 treaty gave the Council and Commission of the EEC responsibility over ECSC and EAEC affairs, abolishing the Councils of the ECSC and EAEC, the Commission of the EAEC and theHigh Authority of the ECSC. These governed the three Communities until the establishment of the European Union in 1993.
The three Communities shared the same membership, the six states that signed the Treaty of Paris and subsequent treaties were known as the "Inner Six" (the "outer seven" were those countries who formed theEuropean Free Trade Association). The six founding countries wereFrance,West Germany,Italy and the threeBenelux countries:Belgium, theNetherlands andLuxembourg. The first enlargement was in 1973, with the accession ofDenmark,Ireland and theUnited Kingdom.Greece,Spain andPortugal joined in the 1980s. Following the creation of the EU in November 1993, it has enlarged to include a further sixteen countries by July 2013.
| State | Accession |
|---|---|
 Belgium | 25 March 1957 |
 Italy | 25 March 1957 |
 Luxembourg | 25 March 1957 |
| France | 25 March 1957 |
 Netherlands | 25 March 1957 |
 West Germany | 25 March 1957 |
 Denmark | 1 January 1973 |
 Ireland | 1 January 1973 |
| United Kingdom | 1 January 1973 |
 Greece | 1 January 1981 |
 Portugal | 1 January 1986 |
 Spain | 1 January 1986 |
Member states are represented in some form in each institution. TheCouncil is also composed of one national minister who represents their national government. Each state also has a right to oneEuropean Commissioner each, although in theEuropean Commission they are not supposed to represent their national interest but that of the Community. Prior to 2004, the larger members (France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom) had two Commissioners. In theEuropean Parliament, members areallocated a set number seats related to their population, however these (since 1979) have been directly elected and they sit according to political allegiance, not national origin. Most other institutions, including theEuropean Court of Justice, have some form of national division of its members.
At the time of its abolition, the Community pillar covered the following areas:[8]
|
The Protocol on the privileges and immunities of the European Communities[9] grants the European Communities and their institutions certain privileges and immunities such as to allow them to perform their tasks. TheInternational Organizations Immunities Act (22 USC § 288h)[10] of the United States has also been extended to the European Communities.
The working conditions of staff are governed by the Communities' staff regulations[11] and not directly by the labour laws of the countries of employment. Their salaries, wages and emoluments are subject to a tax for the benefit of the European Communities and are, in turn, exempt from national taxes.
The term also commonly refers to the 'European Communities', which comprise ...
The European Community originally consisted of three separate Communities founded by treaty ...
European Community (EC). The often used singular of the European Communities.
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
