Group photograph taken at the signing of the Treaty of Paris establishing the European Coal and Steel Community. From left to right: Paul van Zeeland (B), Joseph Bech (L), Joseph Meurice (B), Carlo Sforza (I), Robert Schuman (F), Konrad Adenauer (BRD), Dirk Stikker (NL) and Johannes van den Brink (NL).
On 31 August 1954, the day after the refusal by the French National Assembly to ratify the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community (EDC), the Italian Communist daily newspaper L’Unità gleefully heads its front page with: ‘The EDC is dead’.
From 30 June 1965 to 29 January 1966, in disagreement with the Commission of the European Communities on the financing of the common agricultural policy (CAP), France’s representatives refuse to attend any intergovernmental meetings of the Community bodies in Brussels.
1er juillet 1967: Entrée en vigueur du traité de fusion des exécutifs
On 17 February 1986, in Luxembourg, nine Member States sign the Single European Act (Germany, Belgium, Spain, France, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and the United Kingdom). In the foreground is the Dutch President of the European Council, Hans van den Broek.
1er juillet 1987: Entrée en vigueur de l'Acte unique européen
On 7 February 1992 in Maastricht, the Foreign and Finance Ministers of the 12 Member States of the European Communities sign the Treaty on European Union.
1er janvier 1993: Entrée en vigueur du marché intérieur
On 1 January 1993, the internal market — an area without internal frontiers in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured — enters into force.
On 7 December 2000, on the margins of the opening of the Nice European Council, the Heads of State or Government of the Fifteen sign the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. From left to right: Nicole Fontaine, President of the European Parliament, Hubert Védrine, French Foreign Minister, and Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission.
1er janvier 2001: 1er élargissement de la zone euro
