Merger Treaty

Merger Treaty
Treaty establishing a Single Council and a Single Commission of the European Communities
Type	Merging the judicial, legislative and administrative bodies of the three European Communities;; and amending the three community treaties accordingly
Signed	8 April 1965
Location	Brussels, Belgium
Effective	1 July 1967
Expiration	1 May 1999 (Amsterdam Treaty)
Parties	"Inner Six" Belgium; France; West Germany; Italy; Luxembourg; Netherlands;
Depositary	Government of Italy
Citations	Subsequent amendment treaty: Single European Act (1986)
Languages	Dutch, French, German and Italian
Full text
	Merger Treaty at Wikisource

The Merger Treaty, also known as the Treaty of Brussels,^[1] was a European treaty which unified the executive institutions of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and the European Economic Community (EEC). The treaty was signed in Brussels on 8 April 1965 and came into force on 1 July 1967. It set out that the Commission of the European Communities should replace the High Authority of the ECSC, the Commission of the EEC and the Commission of Euratom, and that the Council of the European Communities should replace the Special Council of Ministers of the ECSC, the Council of the EEC and the Council of Euratom.^[2] Although each Community remained legally independent, they shared common institutions (prior to this treaty, they already shared a Parliamentary Assembly and Court of Justice) and were together known as the European Communities. This treaty is regarded by some as the real beginning of the modern European Union.

This treaty was abrogated by the Amsterdam Treaty signed in 1997:

Without prejudice to the paragraphs following hereinafter, which have as their purpose to retain the essential elements of their provisions, the Convention of 25 March 1957 on certain institutions common to the European Communities and the Treaty of 8 April 1965 establishing a Single Council and a Single Commission of the European Communities, but with the exception of the Protocol referred to in paragraph 5, shall be repealed.
— Article 9(1) of the Amsterdam Treaty

Structural evolution of the European Commission

Signed In force Document	1951 1952 Paris Treaty	1957 1958 Rome treaties	1965 1967 Merger Treaty	2007 2009 Lisbon Treaty


		Commission of the European Atomic Energy Community	Commission of the European Communities	European Commission
	High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community
		Commission of the European Economic Community
				v t e

EU evolution timeline

Since the end of World War II, sovereign European countries have entered into treaties and thereby co-operated and harmonised policies (or pooled sovereignty) in an increasing number of areas, in the European integration project or the construction of Europe (French: la construction européenne). The following timeline outlines the legal inception of the European Union (EU)—the principal framework for this unification. The EU inherited many of its present responsibilities from the European Communities (EC), which were founded in the 1950s in the spirit of the Schuman Declaration.

Legend:
  S: signing
  F: entry into force
  T: termination
  E: expiry
    de facto supersession
  Rel. w/ EC/EU framework:
   de facto inside
   outside

European Union (EU)

[Cont.]

European Communities (EC)

(Pillar I)

European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom)

[Cont.]

/

European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)

(Distr. of competences)

European Economic Community (EEC)

Schengen Rules

European Community (EC)

'TREVI'

Justice and Home Affairs (JHA, pillar II)

/

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)

[Cont.]

Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters (PJCC, pillar II)

Anglo-French alliance

[Defence arm handed to NATO]

European Political Co-operation (EPC)

Common Foreign and Security Policy
(CFSP, pillar III)

Western Union (WU)

/

Western European Union (WEU)

[Tasks defined following the WEU's 1984 reactivation handed to the EU]

[Social, cultural tasks handed to CoE]

[Cont.]

Council of Europe (CoE)

Entente Cordiale
S: 8 April 1904

Dunkirk Treaty^[i]
S: 4 March 1947
F: 8 September 1947
E: 8 September 1997

Brussels Treaty^[i]
S: 17 March 1948
F: 25 August 1948
T: 30 June 2011

London and Washington treaties^[i]
S: 5 May/4 April 1949
F: 3 August/24 August 1949

Paris treaties: ECSC and EDC^[ii]
S: 18 April 1951/27 May 1952
F: 23 July 1952/—
E: 23 July 2002/—

Protocol Modifying and
Completing the Brussels Treaty^[i]
S: 23 October 1954
F: 6 May 1955

Rome treaties: EEC and EAEC
S: 25 March 1957
F: 1 January 1958

WEU-CoE agreement^[i]
S: 21 October 1959
F: 1 January 1960

Brussels (Merger) Treaty^[iii]
S: 8 April 1965
F: 1 July 1967

Davignon report
S: 27 October 1970

European Council conclusions
S: 2 December 1975

Single European Act (SEA)
S: 17/28 February 1986
F: 1 July 1987

Schengen Treaty and Convention
S: 14 June 1985/19 June 1990
F: 26 March 1995

Maastricht Treaty^[iv]^[v]
S: 7 February 1992
F: 1 November 1993

Amsterdam Treaty
S: 2 October 1997
F: 1 May 1999

Nice Treaty
S: 26 February 2001
F: 1 February 2003

Lisbon Treaty^[vi]
S: 13 December 2007
F: 1 December 2009

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Although not EU treaties per se, these treaties affected the development of the EU defence arm, a main part of the CFSP. The Franco-British alliance established by the Dunkirk Treaty was de facto superseded by WU. The CFSP pillar was bolstered by some of the security structures that had been established within the remit of the 1955 Modified Brussels Treaty (MBT). The Brussels Treaty was terminated in 2011, consequently dissolving the WEU, as the mutual defence clause that the Lisbon Treaty provided for EU was considered to render the WEU superfluous. The EU thus de facto superseded the WEU.
^ Plans to establish a European Political Community (EPC) were shelved following the French failure to ratify the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community (EDC). The EPC would have combined the ECSC and the EDC.
^ The European Communities obtained common institutions and a shared legal personality (i.e. ability to e.g. sign treaties in their own right).
^ The treaties of Maastricht and Rome form the EU's legal basis, and are also referred to as the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), respectively. They are amended by secondary treaties.
^ Between the EU's founding in 1993 and consolidation in 2009, the union consisted of three pillars, the first of which were the European Communities. The other two pillars consisted of additional areas of cooperation that had been added to the EU's remit.
^ The consolidation meant that the EU inherited the European Communities' legal personality and that the pillar system was abolished, resulting in the EU framework as such covering all policy areas. Executive/legislative power in each area was instead determined by a distribution of competencies between EU institutions and member states. This distribution, as well as treaty provisions for policy areas in which unanimity is required and qualified majority voting is possible, reflects the depth of EU integration as well as the EU's partly supranational and partly intergovernmental nature.

References

^ Brussels Treaty (European history 1965-93) - Britannica Online Encyclopedia
^ EUR-Lex, Treaty of Brussels (Merger Treaty), updated 21 March 2018, accessed 29 January 2021

External links

Merger Treaty European NAvigator

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[ref-1-3] Although not EU treaties per se, these treaties affected the development of the EU defence arm, a main part of the CFSP. The Franco-British alliance established by the Dunkirk Treaty was de facto superseded by WU. The CFSP pillar was bolstered by some of the security structures that had been established within the remit of the 1955 Modified Brussels Treaty (MBT). The Brussels Treaty was terminated in 2011, consequently dissolving the WEU, as the mutual defence clause that the Lisbon Treaty provided for EU was considered to render the WEU superfluous. The EU thus de facto superseded the WEU.

[ref-6-4] Plans to establish a European Political Community (EPC) were shelved following the French failure to ratify the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community (EDC). The EPC would have combined the ECSC and the EDC.

[ref-3-5] The European Communities obtained common institutions and a shared legal personality (i.e. ability to e.g. sign treaties in their own right).

[ref-2-6] The treaties of Maastricht and Rome form the EU's legal basis, and are also referred to as the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), respectively. They are amended by secondary treaties.

[ref-4-7] Between the EU's founding in 1993 and consolidation in 2009, the union consisted of three pillars, the first of which were the European Communities. The other two pillars consisted of additional areas of cooperation that had been added to the EU's remit.

[ref-5-8] The consolidation meant that the EU inherited the European Communities' legal personality and that the pillar system was abolished, resulting in the EU framework as such covering all policy areas. Executive/legislative power in each area was instead determined by a distribution of competencies between EU institutions and member states. This distribution, as well as treaty provisions for policy areas in which unanimity is required and qualified majority voting is possible, reflects the depth of EU integration as well as the EU's partly supranational and partly intergovernmental nature.

[1] Brussels Treaty (European history 1965-93) - Britannica Online Encyclopedia

[2] EUR-Lex, Treaty of Brussels (Merger Treaty), updated 21 March 2018, accessed 29 January 2021

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