Portal:European Union/Selected article/5

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The Treaty of Rome established the European Economic Community and was signed by France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg on March 25, 1957. According to George McGhee, former US ambassador to West Germany, it was nurtured at Bilderberg meetings. The treaty's original full name was the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community -- however the Treaty of Maastricht amended it and among other things removed the word "Economic" from the name of both the community and the treaty. The treaty is therefore now generally called the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC) or the EC Treaty.

Another treaty was signed the same day establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), which expired in 2002. As well as the Treaty of Rome the Euratom Treaty came into force on 1 January 1958. The original Treaty was amended by all the subsequent treaties; the Treaty of Nice sought to consolidate all treaties into one document but the EC Treaty as amended remains a single section within this, with its own article numbering.