Treaty of Rome

The Treaty of Rome was signed on 25 March 1957 by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany. In fact the day saw two treaties: one creating the European Economic Community, which aimed to establish a common market with free movement of goods, people, services and capital, and another founding the European Atomic Energy Community, known as Euratom. The founders hoped that closer economic ties would make another war in Western Europe unthinkable, building on the earlier European Coal and Steel Community. Both treaties took effect in 1958. The EEC later grew in membership and powers and, after the Maastricht Treaty, became the core of the European Union.

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