Get European Community

The European Community (EC) was an economic association formed by six European member countries in 1957, consisting of three communities that eventually were replaced by the European Union (EU) in 1993.

The European Communities (EC) comprised the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom).

These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), and the European Economic Community (EEC); the last of which was renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993 by the Maastricht Treaty establishing the European Union.

The European Community consisted of three economic associations: the European Economic Community (EEC), the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), and the European Atomic Energy Community.

The term also refers to the “European Communities,” which originally comprised the European Economic Community (EEC), the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC; dissolved in 2002), and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). In 1993 the three communities were subsumed under the European Union (EU).

promote peace, its values and the well-being of its citizens. offer freedom, security and justice without internal borders, while also taking appropriate measures at its external borders to regulate asylum and immigration and prevent and combat crime. establish an internal market.

The Origins of the European Community The six founding countries included France, Germany (West), Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. In 1967, the three communities were brought together to be known as the European Communities – the European Economic Community being the most important one.