The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was a European organization created after World War II to integrate Europe's coal and steel industries into a single common market based on the principle of supranationalism. It was formally established in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris,signed by Belgium,France,Italy,Luxembourg,the Netherlands,and West Germany. The organization's subsequent enlargement of both members and duties ultimately led to the creation of the European Union.
The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organisation created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957,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.
The European Commission (EC) is part of the executive of the European Union (EU),together with the European Council. It operates as a cabinet government,with 27 members of the Commission headed by a President. It includes an administrative body of about 32,000 European civil servants. The Commission is divided into departments known as Directorates-General (DGs) that can be likened to departments or ministries each headed by a Director-General who is responsible to a Commissioner.
The president of the European Commission is the head of the European Commission,the executive branch of the European Union (EU). The President of the Commission leads a Cabinet of Commissioners,referred to as the College. The President is empowered to allocate portfolios among,reshuffle,or dismiss Commissioners as necessary. The College directs the Commission's civil service,sets the policy agenda and determines the legislative proposals it produces. The Commission is the only body that can propose or draft bills to become EU laws.
The European Union is a geo-political entity covering a large portion of the European continent. It is founded upon numerous treaties and has undergone expansions and secessions that have taken it from six member states to 27,a majority of the states in Europe.
The European Atomic Energy Community is an international organisation established by the Euratom Treaty on 25 March 1957 with the original purpose of creating a specialist market for nuclear power in Europe,by developing nuclear energy and distributing it to its member states while selling the surplus to non-member states. However,over the years its scope has been considerably increased to cover a large variety of areas associated with nuclear power and ionising radiation as diverse as safeguarding of nuclear materials,radiation protection and construction of the International Fusion Reactor ITER.
Walter Hallstein was a German academic,diplomat and statesman who was the first president of the Commission of the European Economic Community and one of the founding fathers of the European Union.
The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC),the European Atomic Energy Community,and the European Economic Community (EEC);the last of which was renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993 by the Maastricht Treaty establishing the European Union. The European Union was established at that time more as a concept rather than an entity,while the Communities remained the actual subjects of international law impersonating the rather abstract Union,becoming at the same time its first pillar. In the popular language,however,the singular European Community was sometimes inaccurately used interchangeably with the plural phrase,in the sense of referring to all three entities. The European Coal and Steel Community ceased to exist in 2002 when its founding treaty expired. The European Community was merged with the second and third EU pillars by the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009,finally allowing the European Union to move beyond being only a concept and to assume the shape of a legally incorporated international organization with juridical personality,designated as the legal successor to the Community. However,the reformed EU has not become entirely unified,because Euratom,though governed with the EU by the common set of institutions,has been retained as an entity distinct from the EU,along with a number of other international entities,such as the European Investment Bank,the European University Institute,the European Stability Mechanism,and the Unified Patent Court.
The Hallstein Commission is the European Commission that held office from 7 January 1958 to 30 June 1967. Its president was Walter Hallstein and held two separate mandates.
The Rey Commission is the European Commission that held office from 2 July 1967 to 30 June 1970. Its president was Jean Rey.
Hans von der Groeben was a German diplomat,lawyer and journalist and member of the European Commission.
Lambert Schaus was a Luxembourg politician,jurist,and diplomat. He held office as a government minister and European Commissioner.
The seven institutions of the European Union (EU) are seated in four different cities,which are Brussels (Belgium),Frankfurt am Main (Germany),Luxembourg (Luxembourg) and Strasbourg (France),rather than being concentrated in a single capital city. All four were chosen,among various reasons,for their location halfway between France and Germany,the countries whose rivalry led to two World Wars and whose reconciliation paved the way for European integration. The EU agencies and other bodies are located all across the union,but usually not fixed in the treaties. The Hague is the only exception,as the fixed seat of the Agency for Law Enforcement Cooperation (Europol). Over the years,Brussels has become the EU's political hub,with the College of the Commissioners –the European Commission's politically accountable executive –and the European Council both meeting at their Brussels-based headquarters,and the European Parliament and Council of the EU holding the majority of their meetings annually within the city. This has led to some referring to it as "the capital of the EU". However,Luxembourg City is the EU capital that can lay claim to having the most of the seven EU institutions based wholly or partly upon its territory,with only the European Council and European Central Bank not having a presence in the city.
Victor Joseph Léonard Larock was a Belgian politician for the country's Socialist Party.
Brussels (Belgium) is considered the de facto capital of the European Union,having a long history of hosting a number of principal EU institutions within its European Quarter. The EU has no official capital but Brussels hosts the official seats of the European Commission,Council of the European Union,and European Council,as well as a seat of the European Parliament. In 2013,this presence generated about €250 million and 121,000 jobs. The main rationale for Brussels being chosen as "capital the European Union" was its halfway location between France and Germany,the two countries whose rivalry played a role in starting the two World Wars and whose reconciliation paved the way for European integration.
The year 1948 marked the beginning of the institutionalised modern European integration. With the start of the Cold War,the Treaty of Brussels was signed in 1948 establishing the Western Union (WU) as the first organisation. In the same year,the International Authority for the Ruhr and the Organization for European Economic Co-operation,the predecessor of the OECD,were also founded,followed in 1949 by the Council of Europe,and in 1951 by the European Coal and Steel Community,with the ensuing moves to create further communities leading to the Treaty of Rome (1957)
The history of the European Communities between 1958 and 1972 saw the early development of the European Communities. The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) had just been joined by the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and the European Economic Community (EEC),the latter of which soon became the most important. In 1967 the EEC's institutions took over the other two with the EEC's Commission holding its first terms under Hallstein and Rey.
The Château of Val-Duchesse is a mansion and estate situated in the municipality of Auderghem in the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. The château,which occupies the site of a former priory,is owned by the Belgian Royal Trust.
The High Authority was the executive branch of the former European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). It was created in 1951 and disbanded in 1967 when it was merged into the European Commission.
Spain and Portugal acceded to the European Communities,now the European Union,in 1986. This was the third enlargement of the Communities,following on from the 1973 and 1981 enlargements. Their accessions are considered to be a part of the broader Mediterranean enlargement of the European Union.
