Limited Integration However, before the EEC was founded, two other plans for
further European integration had faltered. Plans for a European Defence Commu-
nity (EDC) and a European Political Community (EPC) were buried after the
French parliament voted against the signed treaty for the EDC in 1954. At that
time, a transfer of powers from the national states to supranational European
institutions could only take place in the “limited” field of economics. Defense
and politics, in particular foreign relations, were still too sensitive an area.
On January 1, 1958, the EEC came into existence. This organization had a
structure that was comparable to that of the ECSC, with the same built-in tension
between supranationality and intergovernmentalism, but it enjoyed a much broader
range of functions. The aim of the EEC was specified in Article 2 of the EEC
Treaty:
The Community shall have as its task, by establishing a common market and progressively
approximating the economic policies of Member States, to promote throughout the com-
munity a harmonious development of economic activities, a continuous and balanced
expansion, an increase in stability, an accelerated raising of the standard of living and
closer relations between the states belonging to it.
In 1967, theMerger Treatyunified the main institutions of the ECSC, the EEC,
and Euratom. In 1992, the three communities were joined as “the communities” by
means of theMaastricht Treatyor theTreaty on European Union (TEU). These
communities would be the supranational part of the EU, alongside two intergov-
ernmental parts. The supranational part of the EU (the communities) and the two
other parts were later connected by means of theTreaty of Lisbon(2007).
10.2.3 The European Union
The Treaty on European Union, signed in Maastricht in 1992, represented a
substantial step in the direction of European integration. Perhaps the main devel-
opment was the creation of the EU, a complex structure meant to promote European
integration.
According to Article A, Section 2 of the treaty:
This Treaty marks a new stage in the process of creating an ever closer union among the
peoples of Europe, in which decisions are taken as closely as possible to the citizen.
Article B mentions the objectives of the EU, which are, among others:
To promote economic and social progress which is balanced and sustainable, in particular
through the creation of an area without internal frontiers, through the strengthening of
economic and social cohesion and through the establishment of economic and monetary
union, ultimately including a single currency in accordance with the provisions of this
Treaty;
To assert its identity on the international scene, in particular through the implementation of
a common foreign and security policy including the eventual framing of a common defense
policy, which might in time lead to a common defense;
To strengthen the protection of the rights and interests of the nationals of its Member States
through the introduction of a citizenship of the Union;
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