European integration: KEY DATES

1945: UN founded
1946: Churchill "Iron curtain" speech (5 March) marks start of Cold War
1946: Churchill "United States of Europe" speech (19 September)
1948: Benelux created
1948: OEEC set up to manage Marshall Plan aid (April)
1948: Hague Congress (7-11 May)
1949: Washington Treaty sets up NATO (4 April)
1949: Treaty of London sets up the Council of Europe (5 May)
1950: Schuman Declaration (9th May)
1951: Treaty of Paris creates the ECSC, first supranational European institution
1952: European Defence Community rejected in 1954
1955: Messina Conference
1957: Treaties of Rome signed by 6 countries (EEC and Euratom)
1958: European Court of Justice set up
1958: Charles de Gaulle elected President Vth Republic
1963: Charles de Gaulle vetoes UK entry (also in 1967)
1963: Élysée Treaty
1965: Merger Treaty
1969: Georges Pompidou elected president, Willy Brand elected Chancellor

1969: Hague Summit

1972: Paris European Summit
1973: +3 (9)
1975: British referendum on continued EEC membership
1979: Universal suffrage to the European Parliament
1979: Margaret Thatcher elected Prime Minister
1981: +1 (10)
1985: Schengen Accords (comes into force in 1995)
1986: +2 (12)
1986: Single European Act
1992: Treaty Establishing the European Union ("Maastricht")
1995: +3 (15)
1995: Constitution rejected
1997: Treaty of Amsterdam
2001: Treaty of Nice (+ Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union)
2002: Eurozone
2004: +10 (25)
2007: +2 (27)
2007: Great Recession starts
2007: Treaty of Lisbon
2013: +1 (28)