Editing European Economic Community (section)

===Background===
In April 1951, the [[Treaty of Paris (1951)|Treaty of Paris]] was signed, creating the [[European Coal and Steel Community]] (ECSC). This was an international community based on [[Supranational union|supranationalism]] and international law, designed to help the [[Economy of the European Union|economy of Europe]] and prevent future war by [[European integration|integrating]] its [[Member state of the European Union|members]].

With the aim of creating a [[European Federation|federal Europe]] two further communities were proposed: a [[Treaty establishing the European Defence Community|European Defence Community]] and a [[European Political Community (1952)|European Political Community]]. While the treaty for the latter was being drawn up by the [[European Parliament|Common Assembly]], the ECSC parliamentary chamber, the proposed defence community was rejected by the [[French Parliament]]. ECSC President [[Jean Monnet]], a leading figure behind the communities, resigned from the High Authority in protest and began work on alternative communities, based on economic integration rather than political integration.<ref>Raymond F. Mikesell, ''The Lessons of Benelux and the European Coal and Steel Community for the European Economic Community'', The American Economic Review, Vol. 48, No. 2, Papers and Proceedings of the Seventieth Annual Meeting of the American Economic Association (May 1958), pp. 428–441</ref> Following the [[Messina Conference]] in 1955, [[Paul-Henri Spaak]] was given the task to prepare a report on the idea of a [[customs union]]. The so-called [[Spaak Report]] of the [[Spaak Committee]] formed the cornerstone of the intergovernmental negotiations at Val Duchesse conference centre in 1956.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://aei.pitt.edu/995/|title=Spaak report|year=1956}}</ref> Together with the [[Ohlin Report]] the Spaak Report would provide the basis for the [[Treaty of Rome]].

In 1956, [[Paul-Henri Spaak]] led the [[Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom]] at the [[Château of Val-Duchesse|Val Duchesse]] conference centre, which prepared for the [[Treaty of Rome]] in 1957. The conference led to the signature, on 25 March 1957, of the [[Treaty of Rome]] establishing a European Economic Community.