To view the timeline you will need Adobe Flash Player. This may already be installed on your computer but if the timeline does not open you will need to visit the Adobe website to download a free version of Adobe Flash Player.

Original data contained within the timeline was compiled by Ian Bache, Stephen George, and Lori Thorlakson. Revised and updated by Professor Nigel Foster, FRSA, Visiting Professor of European Law at the University of Buckingham and at the Europa Institut, Saarland University, Saarbruecken, Germany.

To access the information for a particular year select a five year period from the main dateline, this will display the first year of the five. Navigate between the five years using the second dateline. Each year of the timeline can be printed using the 'Print' button to the right of the date lines.

Interactive timeline

If you are using a screenreader please use the following PDF version of the timeline.

PDF timeline

(PDF 145kB)

For further information you may also wish to refer to the EU Commission's website on the history of the European Union:
http://europa.eu/about-eu/eu-history/index_en.htm