50 Years of the Treaties of Rome

At the centre, the treaty document signed by the six founding members, set against Michelangelo's star-patterned pavement on the Piazza del Campidoglio in Rome, where the Treaty was signed on 25 March 1957. Directly above the treaty, the word "Europe" is engraved in the respective language. Above, the commemorative occasion; below, the issuing country in the relevant language version(s) and the year 2007.

First joint issue of the European Union. All 13 euro-area states issued a coin with the same design on the anniversary date of 25 March 2007. The coins differ only in the inscription, which appears in each country's national language.

On 25 March 1957, the foreign ministers of Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands signed two treaties on Rome's Capitoline Hill that fundamentally transformed the post-war European order. The more significant of the two established the European Economic Community (EEC), laying the foundation for a common market with free movement of goods, people, services, and capital. As the venue, the statesmen deliberately chose the Piazza del Campidoglio, whose geometric paving pattern Michelangelo had designed in the 16th century — a symbolically charged site embodying both continuity and the will to shape the future. The treaties entered into force on 1 January 1958, creating institutional structures from which the European Union would later emerge.

Ireland did not join the European Community until 1973, but is among the countries that have since substantially helped shape the integration process. Irish accession marked an economic turning point: with the help of European structural funds, the island developed from one of the poorest EC member states into a modern economic nation. That Ireland, together with all other euro states, marked the 50th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome in 2007 with a pan-European joint issue reflects this close integration with the European project. The issue appeared in the anniversary year in which the Berlin Declaration was also adopted — another milestone on the road to today's EU.