Under the name “Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union”, it remains one of the two most important treaties in what is now the European Union. Officially the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, brought about the creation of the European Community. The treaty was signed on 25 March 1957 by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany, and it came into force on 1 January 1958.

**The room that hosted the signature of the Treaty of Rome in 1957 / Image: via romanjourneys.com**

The treaty proposed the progressive reduction of customs duties and the establishment of a customs union. It proposed to create a single market for goods, labor, services, and capital across 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.

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”.