The History of the European Union
To celebrate this year’s Europe Day on the 9th of May, at the OFCI we have decided to focus a bit on our beautiful continent and its biggest achievement in the last century, the European Union.
If you have not lived under a rock since you were born, you should know about its existence. I go even further and say that if you are reading this article you probably live in the European Union. But, where does the European Union come from, for how long does it already exist and why does it seem so important for everybody?
To understand the origin and goals of the European Union we will take a look into its particular history with its most important milestones and treaties that have turned it into what it is today.
1945-1952 Change of mentality
It all starts in the aftermath of WWII, where it was clear to the victorious European superpowers, that to avoid any possibility of a new disastrous conflict, the European countries would have to start working together (GENIUS!).
So, after failing in the creation of a Council of Europe which focused on political and peacemaking aspects, the European Superpowers concentrated on what really matters, money.
The first successful economic treaty was the European Coal and Steel Community which focused on the coordination of the resources sent from the US and at the same time on the control of the coal and steel industries of the european countries. These were the two main industries when it came to war and through that treaty, any risks of future conflicts in Europe were significantly sunk, an absolute win!
1957-1992 The European Communities, parents of the European Union
Five years later, happy with the results of the first treaty, the 6 countries that signed the ECSC; France, Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and West Germany, decided to go even further.
The treaty of Rome in 1957 marked the foundation of a new european customs union, the European Economic Community (ECC) and a new treaty to coordinate nuclear energy on an European level, the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom).
These three treaties are the base of the current European Union and in the following years after the Treaty of Rome, more countries decided to join the party. First, Denmark, Ireland and the UK in 1973, then Greece in 1981, Spain and Portugal in 1986 and East Germany in 1990.
The European Communities as they were known up to this point were blooming and made significant progress during these decades. The most remarkable ones, the first election to the European Parliament in 1979, the Schengen-Treaty in 1985 (thanks for that one, imagine having to go through border controls each time you move throughout the EU, oof...) and a bit of branding as the European Flag started to be used in 1986 by the EEC (look how beautiful she is :o).
1992-2020 The European Union is born
With the Maastricht Treaty coming into force in 1993, the European Union was officialized first by the name of the European Community and a further load of countries decided to join, such as Austria, Finland and Sweden.
Moreover, in 2002, the European Union took one of the biggest steps in their history as a common currency was introduced, the Euro. This was a strong symbol of economic power and unity for the Union, and each year, more and more European countries are adopting it as their official currency.
And what happens if things are going well for the countries that joined the Union? Well, you probably guessed it right. In 2004, ten new countries decided to join the European Union in the so-known as Eastern-Enlargement. In addition, in the following years, even more countries would decide to join the Union, Croatia being the last one in 2013 and bringing the total number of the countries in the European Union up to 28 (Correction: 27 - Does the term “Brexit” sound familiar to you?).
However, the last important treaty that changed the structure of the EU was the Lisbon Treaty, established in 2009. This one, finally unified the three treaties into one and gave the European Union the legal structure that it has today.
2020 A bright future?
Looking back in time, you realise how important the European Union has been not only within the continent but also internationally. A united Europe has avoided any new conflict thanks to the cooperation between the different states, even winning the Peace Nobel Prize in 2012 and it has reached an economical importance that would have been unimaginable for the single member countries on their own.
However, although the creation of the EU was no path of roses, the most recent years have been the most difficult ones for the Union. With unfortunate events such as the economic crisis of 2008, the refugee crisis, the nationalist movements within the member states and just in 2020; the official exit of the UK from the EU and the most recent humanitarian crisis because of the Covid-19 virus, the European Union has faced it biggest challenges up to this day.
Now, more than ever, the efficacy of the European Union is highly questioned and a strong cooperation between the different member states is deeply required. The future of the Union will be doubtlessly decided in the upcoming years, so stay informed because right now, we are experimenting first-handed history!
