Signing of the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe (October 29, 2004)

• The origins of the European idea (Before 1918)
• The European idea at the beginning of the 20th century (1918-1944)
• The beginnings of European integration (1945-1956)
• From the Six to the Nine (1957-1973)
• Overcoming the crises (1974-1984)
• The relaunch of the European idea (1985-1991)
• The birth of 'political union' (1992-2008)
• The poet Hesiod is the first to refer to the myth of Europa (-8th century BCE)
• The apogee of the Roman Empire (2th century CE)
• Charlemagne crowned Emperor of the West (800)
• The abdication of Charles V puts an end to his dream of unifying Christendom (1556)
• Johannes Althusius, the first thinker on federalism (1603)
• Coronation of Napoleon (1804)
• Saint-Simon proposes the creation of a European Parliament (1814)
• The awakening of the nations inspires Victor Hugo's speech on the United States of Europe (August 21, 1849)
• Louise Weiss and the pacifist movement (1918)
• Creation of the Pan-Europa movement (November 1922)
• The League of Nations, a platform for Europe (1922)
• The Treaty of Locarno, the first step towards Franco-German rapprochement (October 16, 1925)
• The New Order, for a humane Europe (1930)
• The European movement in the Resistance (1941)
• Winston Churchill writes a memorandum on the United States of Europe (1942)
• Speech by Winston Churchill at the University of Zurich (September 19, 1946)
• The Hague Congress (May 7-May 10, 1948)
• Creation of the OEEC (April 16, 1948)
• The birth of NATO (April 4, 1949)
• Creation of the Council of Europe (May 5, 1949)
• The Schuman Declaration (May 9, 1950)
• Inaugural session of the Consultative Assembly of the Council of Europe (August 10, 1949)
• Signing of the Treaty of Paris instituting the ECSC (April 18, 1951)
• France rejects the EDC (August 30, 1954)
• Conference of Messina (June 1955)
• Jean Monnet announces a new stage in European integration (October 14, 1955)
• Signing of the Treaties of Rome (March 25, 1957)
• Creation of the European Social Fund (January 11, 1960)
• De Gaulle on Europe (May 15, 1962)
• Launch of the CAP (July 30, 1962)
• Signing of the Elysée Treaty (January 22, 1963)
• Signing of the treaty merging the Community executives (April 8, 1965)
• Beginning of the 'empty chair crisis' (July 1, 1965)
• De Gaulle calls for realism in European matters (December 14, 1965)
• The United Kingdom seeks to join the European Communities (January 31, 1967)
• Entry into force of the Customs Union (July 1, 1968)
• Georges Pompidou speaks of a supranational Europe (January 21, 1971)
• Entry into force of the European 'currency snake' (April 24, 1972)
• First enlargement of the Communities (January 1, 1973)
• The Paris Summit (December 9-December 10, 1974)
• The first Lomé Accords (February 28, 1975)
• Creation of the European Monetary System (July 7, 1978)
• First elections to the European Parliament by direct universal suffrage (June 10, 1979)
• Ariane, a success for European cooperation (December 24, 1979)
• Greece becomes a member of the European Communities (January 1, 1981)
• The European Council at Fontainebleau brings an end to the budget crisis (June 25-June 26, 1984)
• Helmut Kohl and François Mitterrand shake hands at Verdun (September 22, 1984)
• Presentation of the White Paper by Jacques Delors (June 14, 1985)
• Enlargement of the Communities to take in Spain and Portugal (January 1, 1986)
• Signing of the Single European Act (February 17, 1986)
• Launch of the Erasmus programme (June 30, 1987)
• Fall of the Berlin Wall (November 9, 1989)
• Informal European Council in Paris (November 18, 1989)
• Germany reunited within the European Communities (October 30, 1990)
• Signing of the Maastricht Treaty on European Union (February 7, 1992)
• Enlargement of the European Union to take in Austria, Finland and Sweden (1995)
• Signing of the Treaty of Amsterdam (October 2, 1997)
• Jacques Santer promises to introduce the euro (March 25, 1998)
• Inauguration of the European Central Bank in Frankfurt (June 30, 1998)
• The Franco-British summit at Saint-Malo gives fresh impetus to European defence (December 4, 1998)
• Faced with revolt from MEPs, the Santer Commission prefers to resign (March 16, 1999)
• Signing of the Treaty of Nice (February 26, 2001)
• The euro in the pockets of European consumers (January 1, 2002)
• Enlargement of the European Union to take in ten new members (May 1, 2004)
• ITER and Galileo: Europe at the forefront of science (2005)
• Bulgaria and Romania join the 25 (January 1, 2007)
• 50th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome (March 25, 2007)
• Signing of the Treaty of Lisbon (2007)

October 29, 2004

Signing of the Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe

Very soon, the Twenty-Five wanted to move beyond the Treaty of Nice. The European Council decided to convene a new assembly, the European Convention, chaired by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, and made up of members of the European and national parliaments and representatives of the Commission. The Convention drew up a draft European Constitution, with the final text being signed by the Heads of State and Government on 29 October 2004. This Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe never entered into force as it was not ratified by all the Member States, particularly in the wake of referendums in France and the Netherlands.

Vidéo : © Parlement européenPhoto © Communauté européenne, 2006

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