European Community

The European Community is the umbrella term for the multinational organization of Western European countries that came into existence just after the close of World War II. The European Community grew out of the European Economic Community (1958), the European Atomic Energy Committee (1958) and the European Coal and Steel Community (1951).

The three entities merged in 1965 with the signing of the Merger Treaty and created a unified Council of Ministers, a joint Commission of the European Communities and a European Parliament. With each subsequent treaty -- the single European Act of 1986, the Treaty on European Union signed in Maastricht in 1992 and the Treaty of Amsterdam executed in 1997 -- Europe became even more unified. After the signing of the Treaty of Maastricht in 1992, the European Community officially became known as the European Union.