Today In History: March 25 1957

The European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC) were constituted by the Treaty of Rome.

On this day in 1957 the EEC was formed, based on the current European Union. After a year of negotiations, France, Italy, the Federal Republic of Germany, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg signed the Treaty of Rome. It was a series of agreements that began the construction of a new Europe that through economic integration would be a political union. The treaties established several stages in the process of integration in such a way that the first union would follow the establishment of a common market, after which it would establish economic and monetary union and, finally, political union. On January 1, 1958 the treaties entered into force and the construction process of the European Union has since grown to encompass currently 28 countries.