Dana 25. ožujka 1957. godine, Njemačka, Belgija, Francuska, Italija, Luksemburg i Nizozemska potpisale su ugovor o osnivanju Europske ekonomske zajednice (EEZ), preteče Europske unije. Ugovor je stupio na snagu 1. siječnja 1958. godine.

Rimski ugovor omogućio je Europi da se ujedini (stvorio je priliku da se ujedini). Cilj je bio da se razvijanjem trgovinskih veza postigne integriranje Europe i ekonomski boljitak država članica. Ugovorom je također omogućio potvrđivanje političkih ciljeva integranja. Do tada je ovih šest zemalja već bile dio Europske zajednice za ugljen i čelik. Europska zajednica za ugalj i čelik je bila ekonomska organizacija koja je uglavnom imala za cilj stvaranje zajedničkog tržišta uglja i čelika kako bi potencijalni budući ratovi u Europi bili "ne samo nezamislivi, već i materijalno nemogući”, kako je rekao tadašnjem francuskom ministru vanjskih poslova, Robert Schuman. Europska ekonomska zajednica je politički bila veoma značajna. Ona je predstavljala novi koncept Europe nakon Drugog svjetskog rata i jedan od prvih značajnih koraka koje su Francuske i Njemačke zajedno, načinile u cilju uspostavljanja mira i suradnje u Europi.

Tokom prelaznog razdoblja/razdoblja tranzicije, Europska ekonomska zajednica je nastojala smanjivati carinske barijere među državama članicama, što je primarno omogućilo slobodan promet robe. To je značilo da su države članice imale povlaštene tarife prilikom međusobnog trgovanja, za razliku od trgovisne razmene država koja nisu bile članice. Slobodan promet ljudi, kapitala i usluga, kakav danas poznajemo, stigao je kasnije, 1987. godine, donošenjem Jedinstvenog europskog akta.

Članak 2. Ugovora vrlo dobro sažima ciljeve: „Zadaće zajednice su uspostavljanje zajedničkog tržište i progresivno približavanje ekonomskih politika država članica, promicanje skladnog razvitka ekonomskih aktivnosti u čitavoj zajednici, kontinuirano i uravnoteženo širenje, povećanje stabilnosti, ubrzano podizanje životnog standarda i uspostavljanje bližih odnosa između država koje pripadaju zajednici".

Također, zahvaljujući ovom Ugovoru, uspostavljene su Europska komisija, Europski parlament i Vijeće Europske unije, neke od najvažnijih institucija Europske ekonomske zajednice. Godine 1957., imena ovih institucija promijenjena su u Visoka vlast, Parlamentarna skupština i Vijeće ministara. Europska ekonomska zajednica omogućila je osnivanje više politika, poput zajedničke poljoprivredne politike i zajedničke politike prometa. Štoviše, Europska ekonomska zajednica ostvarila je ekonomski napredak za države članice i njihove građane, osnivanjem Europskog socijalnog fonda koji je podigao životni standard radnika i pružio im mogućnosti za rad, kao i osnivanjem Europske investicione banke koja je Europskoj ekonomskoj zajednnici dala nova financijska sredstva.

Međutim, manje je poznato kako ovom prilikom nije potpisan samo ugovor o osnivanju Europske ekonomske zajednice, već i ugovor o osnivanju Europske zajednica za atomsku energiju (EUROATOM). Oba ugovora potpisana su 25. ožujka 1957. godine. Europska zajednica za atomsku energiju stvorena je radi promicanja i poticanja miroljubive upotrebe nuklearne energije. Tokom godina, EURATOM je proširio svoje područje djelovanja na područja poput zaštite od zračenja i zaštite nuklearnih materijala. Ugovor o pristupanju Europskoj zajednici za atomsku energiju do danas je potpisalo 27 država članica Europske unije, kao i Švicarska, koja ima ulogu pridružene države.

Ugovor Europske ekonomske zajednice preimenovan je 2009. godine, te je danas poznat kao Ugovor o funkcioniranju Europske unije. Ovaj ugovor je jedan od dva najvažnije ugovora Europske unije. Do danas je 27 država članica Europske unije potpisalo ovaj Ugovor. Bez Rimskih ugovora, posebno ugovora Europske ekonomske zajednice, Europska unija kakvu poznajemo danas ne bi mogla postojati.

63 years ago, on the 25th March 1957, the Treaty of Rome was signed by the six countries which founded the European Economic Community. It was a turning point in European history, and one of the first steps towards European Integration. This treaty laid the foundations for the European Union we know today and allowed for decades of international cooperation and peace.

On the 25th March 1957, Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxemburg and the Netherlands signed the treaty establishing the European Economic Community (TEEC), the ancestor of the European Union. The treaty came into force on the 1st January 1958.

The treaty of Rome allowed Europe to come together, and to aim for greater European integration and economic growth by developing trade between the member states. The treaty also allowed for the goal of political integration to be affirmed. Up to then, the countries involved were all members of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), but this was an economic organisation aiming mainly to create a common market for coal and steel in order to make potential future wars in Europe “not only unthinkable but materially impossible”, according to the then French foreign minister Robert Schuman. The TEEC was very politically significant: it represented a new concept of Europe after the Second World War and was notably one of the first steps of France and Germany working together for peace and cooperation in Europe.

The Treaty aimed for the European Economic Community (EEC) to progressively, over a transition period, to reduce tariff barriers between the member states. This allowed for the free circulation of goods in the first instance. This meant that he member states had preferential tariffs when trading with each other, as opposed to if they were trading with a state not part of the EEC. Free circulation of people, capital and services, as we know it today, arrived later in 1987 with the Single European Act.

Article 2 of the treaty sums up the objectives very well: “The Community shall have as its task, by establishing a common market and progressively approximating the economic policies of Member States, to promote throughout the Community a harmonious development of economic activities, a continuous and balanced expansion, an increase in stability, an accelerated raising of the standard of living and closer relations between the States belonging to it.“.

It is also thanks to this treaty that some of the EEC’s most important institutions, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, could emerge. In 1957, they were respectively given the names High Authority, Parliamentary Assembly and Council of Ministers. The TEEC also allowed for the creation of multiple policies, such as the Common Agriculture Policy and the Common Transport Policy. What’s more, the TEEC made economic progress for the member states and their citizens with the creation of the European Social Fund which raised the standard of living for workers and gave them job opportunities, and the European Investment Bank which gave the EEC new financial resources.

Less known however, is that the not only the treaty establishing the EEC was signed on this occasion. Indeed, two treaties were signed on the 25th March 1957, the other one allowing the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or EURATOM) to be created. This treaty was created to promote and to encourage a pacific use of nuclear power. Over the years, EURATOM has increased its areas of action to things such as radiation protection and the safeguarding of nuclear materials. Today, the 27 members states of the European Union and Switzerland, which has the role of an associated state, have adhered to EURATOM.

The TEEC is today known as the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union since it was renamed in 2009 and is one of two of the most important treaties for the European Union. Today in 2020, the 27 member states of the European Union have adhered to the treaty. Without the Treaties of Rome, especially the TEEC, the European Union we know today wouldn’t be able to exist.