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From Rome to Nice
Author: Neill Nugent
Published in: The Government and Politics of the European Union
The founding treaties of the 1950s that created the European Communities have been supplemented and amended in various ways by subsequent treaties. This chapter examines these treaties up to the 2001 Treaty of Nice. In addition to accession treaties providing for the enlargements of the Community, a number of other treaties were also concluded in the period between the signing of the Treaties of Rome in 1957 and the Single European Act in 1986. Four of these treaties were of particular significance: Treaty Establishing a Single Council and a Single Commission of the European Communities. Signed in 1965, coming into force in 1967, and generally known as the Merger Treaty, this treaty established a single Council of Ministers for all three Communities (though different individuals would attend different meetings) and merged the High Authority of the ECSC, the Commission of Euratom, and the EEC Commission into one Commission. The powers exercised by these merged bodies were still to be based on the founding treaties: in other words, the treaties and the Communities themselves were not merged.
The Government and Politics of the European Union
Neill Nugent
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