The obligation of the member states to abide with the European Community rules

Abstract

The foundation stone of a European Community was laid by the then French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman in his declaration of 9 May 1950, in which he put forward the plan to pool Europe's coal and steel industries. This plan became a reality with the conclusion of the founding Treaty of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), by the heads of state of France, Italy, the Federal Republic of Germany and the Benelux countries; on the 18 April 1951 in Paris and its entry into force on 23 July 1952. The objective of such a Community was to remove from national control the basic raw materials for war, i.e. coal and steel. The ECSC joined the family of European organisations, such as NATO, differing in their objectives but characterised by a common acknowledgement of the need for regional collaboration. The most important feature of the ECSC was its supra-national character, it was no longer an inter-governmental but a truly supra-national organisation. An effort was also made to apply the same formula to defence and to political union. On 27 May 1952, a treaty for the creation of the European Defence Community (EDC) was signed in Paris, and a treaty to set up a European Political Community was drafted. Both projects were frustrated by the French National Assembly's failure to approve the EDC Treaty. Upon the initiative of the Assembly of the ECSC, in a resolution of 14 May 1955 and of the Benelux countries on the 20 May 1955, the conference of foreign ministers of the six Member States, meeting in Messina, resolved on 3 June 1955 to call a conference to start preliminary studies. Such studies were completed on 12 February 1956 and presented to the ministers in Venice on 29 May 1956. A conference working in two committees (European Economic Committee and EURATOM) was set up on 26 June 1956. It transformed itself into a Conference of States on 19 February 1957 and after a very short period the Treaty was signed on 25 May 1957. Two Treaties were actually signed, the first treaty established the European Economic Community (EEC) while the second treaty set up the European Community of Atomic Energy (EURATOM). The Treaties came into force on 1 January 1958. The Treaty of Rome created two additional Communities to the former established ECSC. Among the three, the EEC is considered to be the most important due to its wide objectives. Although the three communities were established as separate organisations, based upon separate treaties, their institutional structure was almost uniform and this, together with the obvious need to co-ordinate the overall economic planning of the three, suggested the desirability of common organs. Accordingly, simultaneously with the conclusion of the Rome Treaties, a Convention relating to certain Institutions common to the European Communities was concluded providing a single Court to replace the ECSC Court. The same Convention also provided for one Assembly for all three organisations, to be called the European Parliamentary Assembly. However, it was not until July 1, 1967 that it became possible to merge the executive organs of the three communities, namely the three Councils into one Council and the three Commissions into one Commission. On 1 January 1973 Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland acceded to the Community. The accession of Norway, which had been planned to take place at the same time, was rejected by a referendum in October 1972. In 1976 and 1977 Greece, Portugal and Spain submitted application to join the Community. Greece became a member on 1 January 1981. This extension of the Community was completed with the accession of Spain and Portugal on 1 January 1986. In both the Lisbon Summit in June 1992 and the recent Edinburgh Summit, the Member States gave their approval for the enlarging of the Community's membership. The motivations behind the Communities are various. One of set up of such European such motivations is the political ideal of building a more united polity in Western Europe, by means of laws.