The Brussels Treaty establishing a single Council and single Commission of the
European Communities (known as the ‘Merger Treaty’) was signed with the explicit
intention of unifying the 3 then-existing European Communities (EC) — the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or more commonly known
as ‘Euratom’).
While keeping the 3 communities legally independent, the Merger Treaty rationalised
their institutions by merging their then still independent executive bodies — thus
bringing to 5 the number of common European institutions — and amended the 3
community treaties accordingly.
KEY POINTS
A single Council and a single Commission
The executive bodies were merged as follows:
The Council of the European Communities — today’s Council of the European Union — replaced as a
single body the Special Council of Ministers of the ECSC, the Council of
the EEC and the Council of Euratom;
The Commission of the European Communities — today’s European Commission — replaced as a single body
the High Authority of the ECSC, the Commission of the EEC and the
Commission of Euratom.
However, the new single executive bodies would continue to act in
accordance with the treaties governing each of the 3 communities,
as well as in accordance with the new articles of this treaty.
The rules governing their composition and functioning were assembled in
a single body of text and the corresponding articles of the EC
treaties were repealed.
Where there were differences between the 3 treaties regarding the
Council:
the duration of the presidency was aligned with the longer one provided
by the EEC and Euratom Treaties;
the rules on decision-making were harmonised only in so far as required
for acts adopted on the basis of the 3 treaties (i.e. concerning the
common institutions, budget and administration);
Coreper was formalised as a preparatory body of
the Council and extended to the ECSC Treaty.
Where there were differences between the 3 treaties regarding the
Commission:
the number of members was set at 9;
the rules on the designation of the members and their status, and on the
functioning of the Commission in general, were aligned with those of the
EEC Treaty;
the date on which the Commission is required to publish its general
report on the activities of the European Communities was harmonised, as
well as the date on which the Parliamentary Assembly should meet in
order to examine this report;
the rules on how the Commission is politically accountable to the
Parliamentary Assembly were aligned with those of the EEC and Euratom
Treaties, with the possibility of censuring the Commission’s management
at any time (and not only upon the examination of the yearly general
report).
A single administrative budget for the EC
The budget covers the expenditure of all the EC institutions, including those of
the Parliamentary Assembly and of the Court of Justice.
The expenditure for interventions under the ECSC Treaty and the Research and
Development expenditures under the Euratom Treaty were, however, kept under
separate budgets.
A single administration for the EC
All the officials and other agents of the EC institutions belong to a single
administration.
The rules governing them and their rights and obligations are uniform and derive
from a single status.
The rules on the responsibility of the EC in the case of injury caused by a
personal fault of an official or agent for their action are unified.
The privileges and immunities granted to the EC institutions as well as to their
officials and other agents are also unified in a single protocol to the
treaty.
The seats of the EC institutions
To respond to legal objections raised by Luxembourg, the governments of the EC
countries were given the power to decide by mutual agreement on the solution to
be found with regard to establishing the seats of the executive bodies of the EC
in Brussels. The decision was taken the same day as the signing of the Treaty
and consisted of designating Brussels as the
provisional seat.
The Merger Treaty was a major stepping stone toward the modern EU. The treaty was
repealed — with the exception of the Protocol of on the privileges and immunities of the European Communities — by
the Amsterdam Treaty signed on which entered into force on .
Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty on European Union, the
Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts (OJ C 340,
, pp.
1-144)