European Economic Community

The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,[note 1] aiming to foster economic integration among its member states. It was subsequently renamed the European Community (EC) upon becoming integrated into the first pillar of the newly formed European Union in 1993. In the popular language, however, the singular European Community was sometimes inaccurately used in the wider sense of the plural European Communities, in spite of the latter designation covering all the three constituent entities of the first pillar.[2]

Quick facts: European Economic Community/European Communi... ▼

European Economic Community/European Community Danish: Europæiske Økonomiske Fællesskab Dutch: Europese Economische Gemeenschap French: Communauté économique européenne German: Europäische Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft Greek: Ευρωπαϊκή Οικονομική Κοινότητα Italian: Comunità Economica Europea Portuguese: Comunidade Económica Europeia Spanish: Comunidad Económica Europea
1958–1993
Flag (1986)[1]
Anthem: "Ode to Joy" (orchestral)
EEC in 1993
Status	Economic union
Institutional seats	Brussels Luxembourg Strasbourg²
Largest city	London
Official languages	9 (1993) Danish Dutch English French German Greek Italian Portuguese Spanish
Commission President
• 1958–1967	Walter Hallstein
• 1967–1970	Jean Rey
• 1970–1972	Franco Maria Malfatti
• 1972–1973	Sicco Mansholt
• 1973–1977	François-Xavier Ortoli
• 1977–1981	Roy Jenkins
• 1981–1985	Gaston Thorn
• 1985–1993	Jacques Delors
Legislature	Council of Ministers European Parliament
Historical era	Cold War
• Treaty signed	25 March 1957
• Established	1 January 1958
• European Communities	1 July 1967
• Single market	1 January 1993
• EEC becomes the European Community, one of the 3 European Communities constituting the I pillar of the EU	1 November 1993
• Pillar abolished	1 December 2009
Currency	13 currencies EUA/ECU (accounting) Belgian franc Danish krone French franc German mark Greek drachma Irish pound Italian lira Luxembourgish franc Dutch guilder Portuguese escudo Spanish peseta Pound sterling
Succeeded by European Union
Today part of	European Union United Kingdom
¹ The information in this infobox covers the EEC's time as an independent organisation. It does not give details of post-1993 operation within the EU as that is explained in greater length in the European Union and European Communities articles. ² De facto only, these cities hosted the main institutions but were not titled as capitals.

Part of a series on the
History of the European Union
Timeline Pre-1948 ideas 1948–1957 1958–1972 1973–1993 1993–2004 2004–present
Organisation European Communities (1958–2009) European Coal and Steel Community (1952–2002) European Economic Community (1958–1993) European Atomic Energy Community (1958–present) European Community (1993–2009) Justice and Home Affairs (1993–2003) Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters (2003–2009) Common Foreign and Security Policy pillar (1993–2009) Western European Union (1954–2011) Western Union (1948–1954)
Treaties Treaty of Paris 1951 Treaty of Rome 1957 Merger Treaty 1965 Single European Act 1986 Maastricht Treaty 1992 Treaty of Amsterdam 1997 Treaty of Nice 2001 Treaty of Lisbon 2007
Commissions Hallstein Commission 1958 Rey Commission 1967 Malfatti Commission 1970 Mansholt Commission 1972 Ortoli Commission 1973 Jenkins Commission 1977 Thorn Commission 1981 Delors Commission 1985 Santer Commission 1994 Prodi Commission 1999 Barroso Commission 2004 Juncker Commission 2014 Von der Leyen Commission 2019
Topics History of Europe History of the euro History of defence integration History of enlargement List of presidents List of founders
European Union portal
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In 2009, the EC formally ceased to exist and its institutions were directly absorbed by the EU. This made the Union the formal successor institution of the Community.

The Community's initial aim was to bring about economic integration, including a common market and customs union, among its six founding members: Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany. It gained a common set of institutions along with the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) as one of the European Communities under the 1965 Merger Treaty (Treaty of Brussels). In 1993 a complete single market was achieved, known as the internal market, which allowed for the free movement of goods, capital, services, and people within the EEC. In 1994 the internal market was formalised by the EEA agreement. This agreement also extended the internal market to include most of the member states of the European Free Trade Association, forming the European Economic Area, which encompasses 15 countries.

Upon the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993, the EEC was renamed the European Community to reflect that it covered a wider range than economic policy. This was also when the three European Communities, including the EC, were collectively made to constitute the first of the three pillars of the European Union, which the treaty also founded. The EC existed in this form until it was abolished by the 2009 Treaty of Lisbon, which incorporated the EC's institutions into the EU's wider framework and provided that the EU would "replace and succeed the European Community".^{[citation needed]}

The EEC was also known as the European Common Market in the English-speaking countries[3] and sometimes referred to as the European Community even before it was officially renamed as such in 1993.