European Integration to 1955

This 1957 Treaty of Rome was a highpoint in the achievement of a vision, or perhaps more accurately visions, which had preoccupied a number of European political leaders since the darkest days of World War. While Brussels Treaty led directly to the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) a year later, it also forms a part of the history of European integration. The American sponsored Marshall Plan of 1947, followed by the creation of the Organization for European Economic Cooperation (OEEC) continued these efforts. While both Americans and Europeans hoped that a means for the unification of Europe, the OEEC - much later, in 1961 - became the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and thus this was a stream which diverged and did not join the European river. Even without the relance, European integration had made considerable progress by 1955, more than the small number of relatively minor European institutions would suggest.