The Treaty of Rome, signed in 1957, created the European Economic Community and helped shape today’s European Union.
Representatives of Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany signed the treaty in Rome on 25 March 1957. It entered into force on 1 January 1958. The agreement sought to create a common market, promote economic cooperation, and reduce the risk of conflict through increasing interdependence.
The treaty established the European Economic Community, often abbreviated EEC, and set out a process for removing tariffs and coordinating policies among the six founding states. A second treaty signed the same day created the European Atomic Energy Community, or Euratom.
The EEC gradually expanded in membership and responsibilities. The Single European Act later advanced the single market, while the Maastricht Treaty of 1992 created the European Union and introduced the framework for European citizenship and the euro. The Treaty of Rome is therefore not the treaty that established the EU by that name, but it is one of the organization’s foundational legal documents.