European Community: Encyclopedia II - European Community - European Economic Community

European Community - European Economic Community

The European Economic Community (EEC) was an organisation established (1958) by treaty between Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany, known informally as the Common Market. The EEC was the most significant of the three treaty organisations that were consolidated in 1967 to form the European Community (EC; known since the ratification 1993 of the Maastricht treaty as the European Union, EU). The EEC had as its aim the eventual economic union of its member nations, ultimately leading to political union. It worked for the free movement of labour and capital, the abolition of trusts and cartels, and the development of joint and reciprocal policies on labour, social welfare, agriculture, transport, and foreign trade.

In 1958, the United Kingdom proposed that the Common Market be expanded into a transatlantic free-trade area. After the proposal was vetoed by France, the UK engineered the formation (1960) of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and was joined by other European nations that did not belong to the Common Market. Beginning in 1973, with British, Irish, and Danish accession to the EEC, the EFTA and the EEC negotiated a series of agreements that would ensure uniformity between the two organisations in many areas of economic policy, and by 1995, all but four EFTA members had joined the European Union.

One of the first important accomplishments of the EEC was the establishment (1962) of common price levels for agricultural products. In 1968, internal tariffs (tariffs on trade between member nations) were scrapped on certain products.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "European Economic Community", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki