European Economic Community
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,[note 1] aiming to foster economic integration among its member states. It was subsequently renamed the European Community (EC) upon becoming integrated into the first pillar of the newly formed European Union in 1993. In the popular language, however, the singular European Community was sometimes inaccurately used in the wider sense of the plural European Communities, in spite of the latter designation covering all the three constituent entities of the first pillar.[2]
This article is about one of the three European Communities that existed from 1958 until 2009 and was renamed European Community in 1993. Not to be confused with the present-day European Union, which incorporated the European Communities in 1993.
European Economic Community/European Community
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Danish: Europæiske Økonomiske Fællesskab Dutch: Europese Economische Gemeenschap French: Communauté économique européenne German: Europäische Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft Greek: Ευρωπαϊκή Οικονομική Κοινότητα Italian: Comunità Economica Europea Portuguese: Comunidade Económica Europeia Spanish: Comunidad Económica Europea
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Danish: Europæiske Økonomiske Fællesskab Dutch: Europese Economische Gemeenschap French: Communauté économique européenne German: Europäische Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft Greek: Ευρωπαϊκή Οικονομική Κοινότητα Italian: Comunità Economica Europea Portuguese: Comunidade Económica Europeia Spanish: Comunidad Económica Europea
Europæiske Økonomiske Fællesskab
Europæiske Økonomiske Fællesskab
Europese Economische Gemeenschap
Communauté économique européenne
Europäische Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft
Ευρωπαϊκή Οικονομική Κοινότητα
Comunità Economica Europea
Comunidade Económica Europeia
Comunidad Económica Europea
25 March 1957
1 January 1958
1 July 1967
1 January 1993
1 November 1993
1 December 2009
In 2009, the EC formally ceased to exist and its institutions were directly absorbed by the EU. This made the Union the formal successor institution of the Community.
The Community's initial aim was to bring about economic integration, including a common market and customs union, among its six founding members: Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany. It gained a common set of institutions along with the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) as one of the European Communities under the 1965 Merger Treaty (Treaty of Brussels). In 1993 a complete single market was achieved, known as the internal market, which allowed for the free movement of goods, capital, services, and people within the EEC. In 1994 the internal market was formalised by the EEA agreement. This agreement also extended the internal market to include most of the member states of the European Free Trade Association, forming the European Economic Area, which encompasses 15 countries.
Upon the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993, the EEC was renamed the European Community to reflect that it covered a wider range than economic policy. This was also when the three European Communities, including the EC, were collectively made to constitute the first of the three pillars of the European Union, which the treaty also founded. The EC existed in this form until it was abolished by the 2009 Treaty of Lisbon, which incorporated the EC's institutions into the EU's wider framework and provided that the EU would "replace and succeed the European Community".
The EEC was also known as the European Common Market in the English-speaking countries[3] and sometimes referred to as the European Community even before it was officially renamed as such in 1993.