European Community

The denomination European Community replaces that of European Economic community since November 1st 1993. The “economic” adjective was withdrawn from its name by the Traité of Maastricht in 1992. It is, with the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), an element of what is called the European Communities (plural), which in their turn is a pillar of the European Union.

Contrary to the European Union, European Community with the legal personality, being a Moral person of public International law.

History

The European Economic community was founded by the the Treaty of Rome the March 25th 1957, after the success of the Conférence of Messine.

Operation

The goal of the EC is to establish an economic and monetary union among its members. It is based on “four principles”:

Free movement of the goods : the goods can circulate freely, without tax, quota or restriction, between the Member States.
Freedom of movement of the services : the people and the companies of a Member State are free to provide services to other Member States.
Freedom of movement of the capital : the people of a Member State can freely invest in other Member States and are free to transfer from the funds between these countries.
Freedom of movement of the people : the citizens of a Member State can freely reside and work in another Member State.

The European directives are based on the treaty of the European Community, even if usually one wrongly allots them to the European Union, whose European Community is only one of the communities.

Bodies

The principal bodies of the European Community are:

the European commission,
the the Council of the European Union (sometimes called the Council of Ministers , not to confuse with the the Council of Europe),
the the European Parliament,
the Court of justice of the European Communities,
the European Court of Auditors
the Economic and Social Committee (THESE)
the Committee of the areas (CDR)

Chronology of the European Union

See too

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