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Building Europe: from coal and steel to union

European integration treaty by treaty: Paris, Rome, Schengen, Maastricht, Lisbon.

Figures Richard WernerWinston Churchill

22 newly added in the last 14 days

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    Congress of The Hague

    also in State, law, and coercion

    Gathering of hundreds of delegates from across Europe, chaired by Winston Churchill, to debate how to unite the continent after the war. It called for a European assembly and a charter of rights, and led directly to the founding of the Council of Europe.

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    Statute of the Council of Europe

    also in State, law, and coercion

    Treaty signed by ten states creating the Council of Europe, the continent's first postwar political body, based in Strasbourg. It was meant to promote human rights, democracy, and the rule of law, though it had no power to make binding law.

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    Schuman Declaration

    also in State, law, and coercion

    French foreign minister Robert Schuman proposed pooling French and German coal and steel production under a shared authority, an idea drafted by Jean Monnet. The plan aimed to make another war between the two countries unthinkable, and it launched the process of European integration. The date is now marked as Europe Day.

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    Treaty of Paris (1951)

    also in State, law, and coercion

    Treaty creating the European Coal and Steel Community among France, West Germany, Italy, and the Benelux states, pooling the industries of war. It was the first step of European integration.

    • two decades later, in 1951, a survey made of 30,000 Los Angeles school children dis- covered that seventy-five percent of eighth graders couldn’t find the Atlantic Ocean on a map and most of them couldn’t calculate fifty percent of thirty-six.
      Dumbing Us Down , p. 128-134
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    Treaty of Rome

    also in State, law, and coercion

    Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, creating a common market among six states. It is the founding treaty of what became the European Union.

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    Common Agricultural Policy

    also in State, law, and coercion

    The six member states of the European Economic Community agreed on a shared farm policy with guaranteed prices, common markets, and subsidies. It became the largest single item in the community budget and one of its most contested programs.

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    Merger Treaty

    also in State, law, and coercion

    Treaty combining the executive bodies of the three European Communities into a single Commission and Council. It streamlined the institutions and took effect in 1967.

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    Schengen Agreement

    also in State, law, and coercion

    Five states signed an agreement aboard a boat on the Moselle to gradually abolish checks at their shared borders. It grew into the Schengen Area, where people can travel between member countries without passport controls.

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    Single European Act

    also in State, law, and coercion

    First major revision of the Treaty of Rome, committing members to complete the single market by 1992 and expanding majority voting. It relaunched European integration.

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    Maastricht Treaty lays foundations for European monetary union

    also in From Bretton Woods to the euro: monetary regimes around Japan, Paper money, central banks, and credit creation, Princes of the Yen: Japan built, bubbled, and broken, The world trade and money order

    The Maastricht Treaty of 1992 laid the foundations for monetary union in Europe and defined the role of a totally independent European Central Bank, becoming the model for central bank independence worldwide.

    • The most forceful case in favor of central bank independence was made in the Maastricht Treaty of 1992, which laid the foundations for monetary union in Europe.
      Princes of the Yen
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    Copenhagen criteria

    also in State, law, and coercion

    At a European Council summit, EU leaders set the conditions a country must meet to join the Union, covering stable democracy, a working market economy, and acceptance of EU law. These rules guided the later expansion into central and eastern Europe.

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    Eastern enlargement of the European Union

    also in State, law, and coercion

    Ten countries joined the EU at once, including Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and the Baltic states, most of them former communist countries. It was the largest single expansion in the Union's history and reunited much of the continent after the Cold War.

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    Rejection of the European Constitution

    also in State, law, and coercion

    Voters in France and then the Netherlands rejected the proposed Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe, halting the plan. Much of its content was later repackaged in the Lisbon Treaty, but the defeat exposed deep public doubts about the pace of integration.

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    Treaty of Lisbon

    also in State, law, and coercion

    EU treaty reforming the Union's institutions, creating a permanent European Council president and strengthening the parliament, after the failed constitutional treaty. It is the current legal basis of the European Union.

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    European sovereign debt crisis

    also in State, law, and coercion

    Greece received the first of several bailouts as high public debt threatened to break up the eurozone, followed by rescues for Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and Cyprus. The crisis forced new bailout funds and tighter budget rules, and tested whether the single currency could survive without deeper political union.

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  1. Linked to "State, law, and coercion" as part of in this story