European Integration. Mark Gilbert
World Economic Forum
WEU Western European Union
WTO World Trade Organization
Chronology: 1945–2019
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1940s
February 4–11, 1945: Yalta Conference.
July 17–August 12, 1945: Potsdam Conference.
September 19, 1946: Churchill’s Zurich speech.
March 12, 1947: Truman Doctrine.
June 5, 1947: George C. Marshall’s Harvard address. Beginning of European Recovery Program.
March 17, 1948: Treaty on Western Union (Brussels Pact) signed. Belgium, Britain, France, Luxembourg, and Netherlands form an alliance for mutual defense and economic cooperation.
May 7–11, 1948: Congress of Europe at The Hague.
June 24, 1948: Berlin blockade begins (ends May 12, 1949).
May 5, 1949: Treaty of St. James establishing the Council of Europe.
September 15, 1949: Konrad Adenauer becomes first chancellor of West Germany.
1950s
May 9, 1950: Schuman Plan announced.
October 24, 1950: Announcement of Pleven Plan.
November 4, 1950: Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms signed in Rome by thirteen European countries. Greece and Sweden sign on November 28.
April 18, 1951: ECSC treaty signed in Paris by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, and West Germany.
May 27, 1952: EDC treaty signed in Paris by the same countries.
March 10, 1953: EPC proposals presented to the government of the Six by the ECSC Assembly.
August 30, 1954: French Parliament rejects the EDC treaty.
October 23, 1954: WEU treaty signed in Paris.
June 1–2, 1955: Messina conference of the Six delegates to an intergovernmental committee headed by Paul-Henri Spaak the task of drawing up plans for an economic community and a community to govern atomic energy.
October 13, 1955: Jean Monnet forms his Action Committee for a United Europe.
May 29, 1956: Spaak committee presents its report to foreign ministers of the Six in Venice.
October 30–November 6, 1956: Suez Crisis.
March 25, 1957: Treaties of Rome instituting Euratom and the EEC signed by the Six.
January 7, 1958: Walter Hallstein (Germany) becomes the first president of the EEC Commission, which begins operations.
November 14, 1958: French government blocks the British idea of a free trade area encompassing all OEEC countries.
1960s
May 3, 1960: EFTA formed by Austria, Denmark, Great Britain, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, and Switzerland.
July–August 1961: Britain, Denmark, and Ireland apply for EEC membership.
November 2, 1961: Plan for an “indissoluble Union of States” presented by the French government.
January 14, 1962: Agreement on CAP reached. Second stage of EEC begins.
January 14, 1963: De Gaulle’s press conference opposing British membership.
January 22, 1963: Franco-German pact of friendship signed in Paris.
January 28, 1963: France vetoes British membership.
July 20, 1963 : Association agreement signed with eighteen African states at Yaoundé (Cameroon).
March 31, 1965: The Commission presents its proposals regarding the EEC’s “own resources” and the budget question.
April 8, 1965: Merger treaty signed. ECSC, EEC, and Euratom are fused into the EC.
July 6, 1965: Empty Chair Crisis begins. France boycotts the Community.
September 9, 1965: De Gaulle casts doubt on future of EEC if national veto not preserved.
January 28–29, 1966: Luxembourg compromise agreed. France retakes her place at the table.
May 1, 1967: Wilson government formally applies for British membership.
June 30, 1967: The Commission signs the Kennedy Round trade deal on behalf of the Six.
July 6, 1967: Jean Rey (Belgium) becomes second president of the EC Commission.
November 27, 1967: De Gaulle blocks British membership.
July 1, 1968: Customs union begins, eighteen months ahead of the schedule anticipated in the EEC treaty.
December 1–2, 1969: The Hague summit of EC leaders.
1970s
July 2, 1970: Franco Maria Malfatti (Italy) becomes third president of the EC Commission.
October 7–8, 1970: Werner Report on monetary union adopted.
October 27, 1970: Luxembourg Report on political cooperation adopted.
August 15, 1971: United States ends dollar convertibility with gold.
January 22, 1972: Britain, Denmark, Ireland, and Norway sign accession treaties. Norway rejects membership in a referendum on September 25.
March 22, 1972: Sicco Mansholt (Netherlands) becomes fourth president of the EC Commission following Malfatti’s resignation.
October 19–21, 1972: At Paris, EC Nine commit themselves to creating a European Union by 1980.
January 1, 1973: Britain, Denmark, and Ireland join the EC.
January 6, 1973: François-Xavier Ortoli (France) becomes fifth president of EC Commission.
April 23, 1973: Kissinger announces the “Year of Europe.”
December 9–10, 1974: Paris summit of EC leaders establishes European Council.
January 7, 1976: Publication of Tindemans Report.
September 20, 1976: Treaty authorizing direct elections to the European Assembly.
January 6, 1977: Roy Jenkins (Great Britain) becomes sixth president of the EC Commission.
October 27, 1977: Jenkins appeals for monetary union in a speech at the European University Institute.
December 4–5, 1978: Brussels European Council decides to introduce the EMS.
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