Part II
Gheorghe IANCU, Ph.D. in Law, Reader, The creation and evolution of the idea of European integration and of European Union. Contemporary constitutional European context
The creation and evolution of the idea of European integration and of the European union is a lont term process which may be divided in two periods: one regarding the efforts towards integration (until 1993) and one regarding the implementation of rules pertaining to integration and European Union (since 1993 up to now).
The idea of European unity is quite old and has been influenced by the antique one of unity. An important role belongs to the Roman Empire and the fall of the Western Roman Empire. Alliances between states created after 476 was the cause of the unity of many among them. The first doctrines pertaining to the need to unify Europe were known only during the Middle Age, against the background of a divided Europe, and they evolved up to federalist theories.
A general climate favourable to integration created the premises for the first organisations of this type, at the beginning of military nature and then of economic nature. An important moment is the signature of the Treaty on the European Community of Coal and Steel on April 18, 1951; another one the signature on March 25, 1957 of the Treaty on the European Economic Community and of the Treaty on the European Community of Atomic Energy, known as the Treaties of Rome. In 1965 the Treaty of Brussels was signed, which allowed for institutional consolidation.
In 1973 the enlargement process started, with its five waves, the last one, of 2007, allowing for the accession of Romania and Bulgaria.
On the 1st of November 1993 the Treaty of Maastricht on the European Union came into force, but it did not succeed to consolidate the three European Communities created in 1951 and 1957; it is based on the principles of autonomous will, attribution of competencies and structural and institutional equilibrium.
In 2001 at Laeken the Declaration on the future of European Union has been adopted, on the basis of which a Convention on the future of Europe (2002 – 2003) and then an Intergovernmental Conference (2004) have been organised, the latter adopting the Treaty creating a Constitution for Europe. As a consequence of the rejection of the Treaty by France and Holland, at the European Council of June 2007 in Brussels the major problems concerning this Treaty were unlocked and an agreement has been signed to find solutions for the different views of Member States. Therefore, this European Council is known as the Reference Council and the document that will replace the Treating creating a Constitution for Europe will be called the Simplified Treaty.
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