Treaty of Rome

The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU; also referred to as the Treaty of Rome) is one of two treaties forming the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU), the other being the Treaty on European Union (TEU; also referred to as the Treaty of Maastricht). The Treaty of Rome brought about the creation of the European Economic Community (EEC), the best-known of the European Communities (EC). It was signed on 25 March 1957 by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany and came into force on 1 January 1958. It remains one of the two most important treaties in the modern-day European Union (EU). The TEEC proposed the progressive reduction of customs duties and the establishment of a customs union. It proposed to create a single market for goods, labour, services, and capital across the EEC's member states. It also proposed the creation of a Common Agriculture Policy, a Common Transport Policy and a European Social Fund, and established the European Commission. Initially known as the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (or EEC Treaty in short), its name has been retrospectively amended on several occasions since 1957. The Maastricht Treaty of 1992 removed the word 'economic' from the Treaty of Rome's official title and, in 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon renamed it the 'Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union'.