European Community (EC)

The European Communities was a forerunner organisation to today’s European Union. The EC was the umbrella organisation for the European Coal and Steel Community, the European Atomic Energy Community and the European Economic Community (EEC). The EEC formally adopted a new name of the European Community at the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993, which gave rise to the creation of the European Union. The 2009 Treaty of Lisbon saw the European Community subsumed into the EU.