The 1965 Merger Treaty: The First Reform of the Founding European Community Treaties

Abstract

After the entry into force of the Paris and Rome treaties there were three European Communities (EC). They had separate ‘executives’ in the form of the High Authority of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and one Commission for the European Economic Community (EEC) and another Commission for the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or EURATOM). The three Communities also had separate Councils of Ministers. However, when the Treaties of Rome were negotiated it was decided that the three Communities would share the European Court of Justice (ECJ) and the Parliamentary Assembly. No single Commission was created in 1957 because the negotiators wanted to avoid a re-opening of the discussions of the powers of the High Authority (Houben 1965–6, 71). The Assembly incidentally started calling itself the European Parliament in March 1962 (Gerbet 2007, 194).