EU treaties

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The European Union is based on the rule of law. This means that every action taken by
the EU is founded on treaties that have been approved voluntarily and democratically
by all EU member countries. For example, if a policy area is not cited in a treaty, the
Commission cannot propose a law in that area.
A treaty is a binding agreement between EU member countries. It sets out EU
objectives, rules for EU institutions, how decisions are made and the relationship
between the EU and its member countries.
Treaties are amended to make the EU more efficient and transparent, to prepare for
new member countries and to introduce new areas of cooperation such as the single
currency.
Under the treaties, EU institutions can adopt legislation, which the member countries
then implement.

Paris, Treaty of (1952)

a treaty signed in Paris on May 27, 1952, by the foreign ministers of France, the Federal Republic of
Germany (FRG), Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, establishing the European Coal
and Steel Community (ECSC. It provided for the creation of the European Defense Community
(EDC)military groupings of the signatories. The members of EDC were to furnish military forces for a
supranational European army under the leadership of the Supreme Commander of NATO forces in
Europe. In flagrant violation of the decisions of the Potsdam Conference (1945), the Treaty of Paris
(1952) provided for the rearmament of the FRG and its inclusion in the military alliance established by the
treaty.
The signing of the Treaty of Paris (1952) evoked a wave of protest throughout Western Europe. On Aug.
30, 1954, the French National Assembly refused to ratify the treaty, thus defeating the plans for the
creation of the EDC. However, the plans of the authors of the Paris treaty were revived in a modified form
with the conclusion of the Paris Agreements of 1954 and the creation of the Western European Union,
which consisted of the members of the EDC and Great Britain.