ABSTRACT
The idea of a unified Europe arose in the aftermath of the horror and devastation of the Second World War. In order to avoid a repetition of such events, it made sense to pull together on a political and economic level in order to create a European community. The initial inspiration for a unified Europe came from a plan devised in 1950 by Robert Schuman (French Foreign Minister) and Jean Monnet, but it is generally accepted that the European Community’s most tangible origin was in 1952. It was during this year that a treaty was signed forming the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). The participants in this agreement were France, West Germany, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and Italy. In 1957 these six nations formed two other mediums for economic co-operation, namely the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) and the European Economic Community (EEC). In effect, there are three European communities which now share the same basic institutional framework (see below).
