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March 25, 1957
European Economic Community (EEC) and
European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) Treaties signed.
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April 8, 1965
Treaty merging the institutions of the
three European Communities signed.
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July 1, 1968
Customs union enters into force.
Remaining customs duties in intra-Community trade are abolished 18 months ahead
of what was scheduled in the Rome Treaty and the Common Customs Tariff is
introduced to replace national customs duties in trade with the rest of the
world.
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January 1,
1973
Denmark, Ireland and
the United Kingdom join the Community.
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February 28,
1975
The Community and
the 46 African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP) sign, in Lome, Togo, a
Convention, known as Lome I, to replace the Yaounde Conventions.
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March 13, 1979
European Monetary System (EMS) becomes
operative
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January 1, 1981
Greece joins the European
Community.
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June 29, 1985
European Council endorses "White Paper"
plan to complete single market by end 1992.
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January 1,
1986
Spain and Portugal join
the Community.
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July 1, 1987
Single European Act enters into
force.
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June 26-27,
1989
Madrid European
Council endorses plan for Economic and Monetary Union.
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October 3, 1990
The five Laender of the former German
Democratic Republic enter the Community as part of a united Germany.
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October 21,
1991
European Community
and European Free Trade Association (EFTA) agree to form the European Economic
Area (EEA).
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December 11,
1991
A European Council
is held in Maastricht, The Netherlands. It reaches an agreement on the draft
Treaty on the European Union.
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December 16,
1991
Poland, Hungary
and Czechoslovakia sign first Europe Agreements on trade and political
cooperation.
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January 1, 1993
European single market is achieved on
time.
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November 1,
1993
Treaty on European
Union enters into force after ratification by the member states.
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January 1, 1995
Austria, Finland and Sweden join the
European Union.
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June 17, 1997
The European Council meets in Amsterdam
and reaches a consensus on a draft Treaty. It approves various proposals
facilitating the smooth passage to the third phase of the Economic and Monetary
Union and adopts a resolution on growth and employment.
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March 12, 1998
European Conference in London launches
Europe-wide consultations on issues related to Common Foreign and Security
Policy and Justice and Home Affairs.
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March 30-31,
1998
EU opens
membership negotiations with Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Poland
and Slovenia
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May
2, 1998
Eleven EU member
states qualify to launch the euro on January 1, 1999.
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July 1, 1998
European Central Bank inaugurated in
Frankfurt,Germany.
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January 1, 1999
EMU and euro launched in eleven EU
countries.
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September 15,
1999
European Parliament approves new Commission
led by Romano Prodi.
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June, 2001
Tony
Blair, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom defeats his euroskeptic
opponents in a landslide election victory.
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Jan - July, 2002
The euro will become legal tender and permanently replace national
currencies in EMU countries.
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December, 2002
European leaders hammered out an agreement to bring 10 new countries
into the European Union. Most of the new members will be former Soviet eastern
block states.
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April, 2003
In
Hungary, more than 80% of the voters vote to approved a referendum on EU
membership.
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June, 2005
France
and the Netherlands rejected the EU constitution in separate referendums.
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