1950 - Schuman Plan on the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community presented |
1951 – Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community signed (the Treaty of Paris) |
1952 – Treaty establishing the European Defence Community signed |
1957 – Treaty establishing the European Economic Community and the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community signed (Treaties of Rome) |
1960 - European Free Trade Association (EFTA) founded |
1962 – Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) introduced |
1973 – The first wave of enlargement (Denmark, Ireland, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) |
1974 – Heads of governments and states of EU member states decided to meet 2 to 4 times a year as the European Council |
1974 – It was decided that MEPs for the European Parliament would be elected by direct election |
1979 – European monetary system entered into force |
1979 – First direct elections for the European Parliament held |
1981 – Second wave of enlargement (Greece) |
1986 – Third wave of enlargement (Spain, Portugal) |
1986 – Single European Act signed |
1989 – Fall of the Berlin Wall |
1989 - PHARE programme initiated
|
1990 – Agreement establishing the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development signed |
1990 – Schengen Convention on the abolition of border checks between signatory states concerning issues and guarantees for the free movement of people introduced |
1990 – Germany re-united |
1992 – Treaty on European Union (the Treaty of Maastricht) was signed |
1993 – Single market created |
1993 - Single criteria for membership of the European Union (the Copenhagen criteria) established |
1995 – Schengen Convention entered in force |
1995 – fourth wave of enlargement (Austria, Finland, Sweden) |
1995 – Madrid criteria (administrative criteria) for EU membership defined |
1997 – Treaty of Amsterdam signed |
1997 – European Commission published Agenda 2000 |
1999 - Eleven EU countries entered into the third phase of monetary union and accepted the euro |
2000 – Greece fulfilled the convergence criteria for the adoption of the euro
|
2001 – Treaty of Nice on the composition and activities of EU institutions after enlargement signed |
2002 – Euro coins and bills entered into circulation |
2002 – Convention on the Future of Europe started |
2003 - Draft of the Constitutional Treaty presented |
2004 – Fifth wave of enlargement (Cyprus, The Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia) |
2004 – European Council adopted the final text of the Constitutional Treaty |
2006 – Council of the European Union adopted a new instrument of pre-accession assistance – the IPA, replacing the previous pre-accession financial instruments - PHARE, ISPA, SAPARD and CARDS |
2007 – Finalisation of the fifth wave of enlargement – accession of Bulgaria and Romania |
2007 - Slovenia introduced the euro
|
2007. –
Heads of state and governments signed up to a detailed mandate for an
Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) to hammer out the details of a new
"Reform Treaty" to be adopted at the end of the year. |