The First Treaties / Developments up to the Single European Act / The Treaty of Nice and the Convention on the Future of Europe

The aim of the Fact Sheets is to provide an overview of European integration and of the European Parliament’s contribution to that process.

Created in 1979 for Parliament’s first direct elections, the Fact Sheets are intended to provide non specialists with a straightforward and concise — but also accurate — overview of the European Union’s institutions and policies, and of the role that Parliament plays in their development.

The Fact Sheets are grouped into six chapters:

+ How the European Union works, which addresses the EU’s historical development, legal system, institutions and bodies, decision-making procedures and financing;
+ Citizens’ Europe, which describes individual and collective rights;
+ The internal market, which explains the principles and implementation of the internal market;
+ Economic and Monetary Union, which outlines the context of EMU and explains the coordination and surveillance of economic policies;
+ Sectoral policies, which describes how the EU addresses its various internal policies;
+ The EU’s external relations, which covers foreign policy, security and defence, trade, development, human rights and democracy, enlargement and relations beyond the EU’s neighbourhood.

A printed verson is published every five years in advance of an election to the European Parlament. The online pages are reviewed and updated at regular intervals throughout the year, as soon as Parliament adopts any important positions or policies.

Drafted by the policy departments and the Economic Governance Support Unit, the Fact Sheets are available in 23 languages.

For any inquiries, please contact the Unit for Coordination of Editorial and Communication Activities: (e mail: editorial-secretariat@europarl.europa.eu).The disastrous effects of the Second World War and the constant threat of an East-West confrontation meant that the Franco-German reconciliation had become a top priority in the 1950s.

The decision to pool the coal and steel industries of six European countries, brought into force by the Treaty of Paris in 1951, marked the first step towards European integration.

The Treaties of Rome of 1957 strengthened the foundations of this integration and the notion of a common future for the six European countries involved.

EP: EPRS: Further Fact Sheets on the European Union http://www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en/search.html?documentTypes=FACT_SHEET

European Parliament: At Your Service: Stay Informed: Fact Sheets on the European Union http://www.europarl.europa.eu/atyourservice/en/displayFtu.html

EP: EPRS: Fact Sheets: Historical development of European integration: Developments up to the Single European Act http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/fiches_techniques/2013/010102/04A_FT(2013)010102_EN.pdf

EP: EPRS: Fact Sheets: Historical development of European integration: The Treaty of Nice and the Convention on the Future of Europe http://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/fiches_techniques/2013/010104/04A_FT(2013)010104_EN.pdf

CVCE.eu: Historical events in the European integration process (1945–2014) https://www.cvce.eu/en/recherche/unit-content/-/unit/02bb76df-d066-4c08-a58a-d4686a3e68ff

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