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1960: EFTA: ANOTHER EUROPE?.
An alternative to the EEC Six emerges when the "Seven" - Austria, Denmark, Norway Portugal Sweden, Switzerland and the UK - set up EFTA, the European Free Trade Association. Finland, Iceland and Liechtenstein also join later. .
Like the EEC, EFTA aims to establish free trade in western Europe but it differs in that it opposes uniform external tariffs and does not want to put member countries under the authority of supranational institutions. .
Eighteen months after EFTA is set up, its driving force, the UK, applies to join the EEC. UK membership of the EEC is stalled when French President Charles de Gaulle vetoes it, but eventually all but three of EFTA's members end up leaving the Association to join the EEC. .
1965: MOVÃ"NG CLOSER.
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A treaty is signed merging the three communities - the European Economic Community, the European Coal and Steel Community, and the European Atomic Energy Community. But they are still most commonly referred to as the EEC, which remains the most powerful of the three. .
A single Council of Ministers and European Commission for the unified communities are established. .
1973: THE FÃ"RST EXPANSÃ"ON.
The European Community expands to include Denmark, Ireland and the UK. .
Britain had faced strong opposition to its membership from French President Charles de Gaulle, who vetoed its application a decade earlier. .
Britain only holds a referendum on its membership two years later in 1975 and the British public votes to stay in the EEC. .
Norway had also been gearing up to join in this round of expansion, but in its referendum in 1972 Norwegians decided against membership and negotiations to join were stopped.
1979: THE ROAD TO THE EURO BEGÃ"NS.
The European Monetary System (EMS) is introduced on the initiative of the Commission President Roy Jenkins setting Europe on the road towards the euro. .
The EMS is made up of the European Currency Unit (Ecu) and the Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM).