Merger Treaty

The Merger Treaty, also called the Brussels Treaty, combined the executive institutions of the three European Communities, the European Coal and Steel Community, the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community, into a single Commission and a single Council of Ministers. Before it, each of the communities had its own High Authority or Commission and its own Council, which was seen as wasteful and confusing. The treaty entered into force in 1967 and from then on the three communities are collectively called the European Communities, although their legal personalities remained separate. It was an important step in the institutional integration of Western Europe and was later replaced by the Maastricht Treaty, which created the European Union.

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