The driving force behind the creation of the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) was France's desire to develop nuclear power and nuclear weapons without having to rely on the United States and/or the United Kingdom.[6] The costs of nuclear development were also large, motivating France to share the costs with the other member states of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC).[6] During the negotiations to create Euratom, the United States and the United Kingdom sought to gain influence over nuclear development in Europe.[6] Hence, the US and the UK created the European Nuclear Energy Agency (ENEA) as a way to limit the value of Euratom and gain influence over the spread of nuclear technology.[6] The Soviet Union launched a propaganda campaign against Euratom, as it sought to stoke fears among Europeans that the organization would enable West Germany to develop nuclear weapons for its own military purposes.[6]
The Common Assembly proposed extending the powers of the ECSC to cover other sources of energy. However, Jean Monnet, ECSC architect and President, wanted a separate community to cover nuclear power.[a] The President of the European Commission, Louis Armand, was put in charge of a study into the prospects of nuclear energy use in Europe; his report concluded that further nuclear development was needed to fill the deficit left by the exhaustion of coal deposits and to reduce dependence on oil producers. However, the Benelux countries and West Germany were also keen on creating a general single market, although it was opposed by France due to its protectionism, and Jean Monnet thought it too large and difficult a task. In 1957, Monnet proposed the creation of separate atomic energy and economic communities to reconcile both groups.[13] To save on resources, these separate executives created by the Rome Treaties were unified by the Merger Treaty in 1967. The institutions of the EEC would take over responsibilities for the running of the ECSC and Euratom, with all three then becoming known as the European Communities even if each legally existed separately. In 1993, the Maastricht Treaty set the foundation of the European Union (EU), which absorbed the Communities into the European Community pillar, while Euratom still maintained a distinct legal personality.
The European Constitution was intended to consolidate all previous treaties and increase democratic accountability in them. The Euratom Treaty had not been amended as the other treaties had, so the European Parliament had been granted few powers over it. However, the reason it had gone unamended was the same reason the Constitution left it to remain separate from the rest of the EU: a strong anti-nuclear sentiment among the European electorate, which may unnecessarily turn voters against the treaty.[14][15][16] The Euratom treaty thus remains in force relatively unamended from its original signing.
^ abcdeAlthough not EU treaties per se, these treaties affected the development of the EU defence arm, a main part of the CFSP. The Franco-British alliance established by the Dunkirk Treaty was de facto superseded by WU. The CFSP pillar was bolstered by some of the security structures that had been established within the remit of the 1955 Modified Brussels Treaty (MBT). The Brussels Treaty was terminated in 2011, consequently dissolving the WEU, as the mutual defence clause that the Lisbon Treaty provided for EU was considered to render the WEU superfluous. The EU thus de facto superseded the WEU.
^Between the EU's founding in 1993 and consolidation in 2009, the union consisted of three pillars, the first of which were the European Communities. The other two pillars consisted of additional areas of cooperation that had been added to the EU's remit.
As of 2024, Euratom maintains Co-operation Agreements of various scopes with ten countries: Armenia,[18] Australia,[19] Canada,[20] India,[21] Japan,[22] Kazakhstan,[23] South Africa,[24] Ukraine,[25] United States,[26] and Uzbekistan.[27]
The United Kingdom announced its intention to withdraw from the EAEC on 26 January 2017, following on from its decision to withdraw from the European Union.[17][28][29][30] Formal notice to withdraw from the EAEC was provided in March 2017, within the Article 50 notification letter, where the withdrawal was made explicit.[31] Withdrawal only became effective following negotiations on the terms of the exit, which lasted two years and ten months.
A report by the House of Commons' Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, published in May 2017, questioned the legal necessity of leaving Euratom, and called for a temporary extension of the United Kingdom's membership of Euratom in order to allow time for new arrangements to be made instead.[32] In June 2017, the European Commission's negotiations task force published a Position paper transmitted to EU27 on nuclear materials and safeguard equipment (Euratom), titled "Essential Principles on nuclear materials and safeguard equipment".[33] The following month, a briefing paper from the House of Commons Library assessed the implications of leaving Euratom.[34]
In July 2017, an article published by The Independent questioned the availability of nuclear power to the United Kingdom after 2019 if the country were to withdraw from the Euratom Treaty, and the need for new treaties relating to the transportation of nuclear materials.[35] During the same month, an article published by the New Scientist stated that radioisotope supply for cancer treatments would also need to be considered in new treaties.[36]
British politicians speculated that the United Kingdom could retain its membership in the EAEC. In 2017, some argued that this would require—beyond the consent of the EU27—amendment or revocation of the Article 50 letter of March 2017.[37] The Nuclear Safeguards Act 2018, making provision for safeguards after withdrawal from Euratom, received royal assent on 26 June 2018.[38]
The EU–UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, outlining the United Kingdom's relationship with the European Union from 1 January 2021 onwards, makes provision for the country's participation "as an associated country of all parts of the Euratom programme".[5]
^Nuclear power has been used since the 1950s as a low-carbon source of baseload electricity.[10] Nuclear power plants in over 30 countries generate about 10% of global electricity.[11] As of 2019, nuclear generated over a quarter of all low-carbon energy, making it the second largest source after hydropower.[12]
^European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Act 2017 (c. 9) EXPLANATORY NOTES, p. 4: "The power that is provided by section 1(1) applies to withdrawal from the EU. This includes the European Atomic Energy Community (‘Euratom’), as the European Union (Amendment) Act 2008 sets out that the term “EU" includes (as the context permits or requires) Euratom (section 3(2))."
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