Timeline of European Union history

This is a timeline of European Union history and its previous development.

European Coal and Steel Community European Economic Community European Communities European Union Since the end of World War II, sovereign European countries have entered into treaties and thereby co-operated and harmonised policies (or pooled sovereignty) in an increasing number of areas, in the European integration project or the construction of Europe (French: la construction européenne).

The following timeline outlines the legal inception of the European Union (EU)—the principal framework for this unification.

The EU inherited many of its present responsibilities from the European Communities (EC), which were founded in the 1950s in the spirit of the Schuman Declaration.