Timeline of European Union history

Distinct periods

• Ideas before 1948
• 1948–1957
• 1958–1972
• 1973–1993
• 1993–2004
• 2004–present

Individual years

Key events

• 1948 – Treaty of Brussels establishing the Western Union;
• 1948 – Formation of the International Authority for the Ruhr
• 1949 – Treaty of London establishing the Council of Europe
• 1950 – Schuman Declaration proposes pooling French and German markets for coal and steel
• 1951 – Treaty of Paris creates the European Coal and Steel Community
• 1954 – Paris Agreements; Western Union transformed into Western European Union
• 1957 – Treaty of Rome creates European Economic Community
• 1963 – Ankara Agreement initiated a three-step process toward creating a Customs Union which would help secure Turkey's full membership in the EEC.
• 1963 – Charles de Gaulle vetoes UK entry
• 1967 – ECSC, EEC and Euratom merged
• 1973 – Accession of Denmark, Ireland and the UK
• 1979 – First direct elections to Parliament
• 1981 – Accession of Greece
• 1985 – Delors Commission, Greenland leaves Community.
• 1986 – Single European Act; Accession of Portugal and Spain; flag adopted
• 1987 – Turkey has applied to join the membership.
• 1989 – The fall of the Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe
• 1992 – Maastricht Treaty formally called the Treaty on European Union - The European Union is born and Euro was introduced as the fellow currency.
• 1993 – Copenhagen criteria defined
• 1995 – Accession of Austria, Finland and Sweden; Schengen area established
• 1997 – Treaty of Amsterdam
• 1999 – Fraud in the Commission results in resignation
• 1999 - The Euro as an 'accounting currency' officially replaces twelve national currencies
• 2002 – Euro banknotes and coins physically replace the twelve national currencies
• 2003 – Treaty of Nice
• 2004 – Accession of ten countries ; signing of Constitution
• 2005 – France and the Netherlands reject the Constitution after own internal referendums
• 2005 – Accession negotiations for full membership started with Croatia and Turkey.
• 2007 – Accession of Bulgaria and Romania
• 2009 – Lisbon Treaty abolishes the three pillars of the European Union
• 2013 – Accession of Croatia
• 2016 – UK holds a Membership Referendum and votes to leave the European Union
• 2017 – Start of Brexit: On 29 March 2017, the Government of the United Kingdom invoked Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union. The UK was due to leave the EU on 29 March 2019 at 11 p.m. GMT, when the period for negotiating a withdrawal agreement was set to end
• 2017 – Negotiations between UK and the EU officially started in June 2017
• 2020 – UK leaves the EU after the Brexit withdrawal agreement takes effect on 31 January 2020 at 11 p.m. GMT
• 2022 – Granted full candidacy status with Ukraine and Moldova.
• 2024 – Accession negotiations for full membership started with Moldova and Ukraine.