March 25, 1957

Treaty of Rome

Six states sign the treaty establishing the European Economic Community

Twelve men signed not one founding treaty but two, plus a Final Act, protocols and a convention on shared institutions. No tariff changed that afternoon.

The Sala degli Orazi e Curiazi

On 25 March 1957, twelve plenipotentiaries representing Belgium, France, the Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands signed the treaty establishing the European Economic Community in Rome.

The ceremony took place in the Sala degli Orazi e Curiazi in the Palazzo dei Conservatori, on the Capitoline Hill.

The same representatives separately signed a treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community — Euratom — along with a Final Act, protocols and a convention on common institutions. Two founding treaties, not one.

What the EEC treaty committed them to

The six states undertook to establish a common market, eliminate internal customs duties and quotas, create a common external tariff and remove obstacles to the movement of persons, services and capital.

The text was authentic in four languages: Dutch, French, German and Italian.

Nine months of waiting, and one legend

Signature did not make the EEC operational. The treaty required ratification and entered into force on 1 January 1958, with the Italian government as depositary.

A famous story holds that printing delays — or cleaners discarding sheets left out to dry — forced the leaders to sign bindings filled largely with blank pages. Council archivists describe this as a tale rather than an established archival finding.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 8 sources 2 audit passes

How this was checked

Researched from the web into a fact sheet, rewritten from that sheet, then audited against it by a different model. How the pipeline works →

What the sources leave uncertain

A famous story says printing delays—or cleaners discarding sheets left to dry—forced the leaders to sign bindings filled largely with blank pages. Council archivists describe this as a tale, not an established archival finding.
“Treaty of Rome” can mean the EEC treaty specifically or, in the plural “Treaties of Rome,” both the EEC and Euratom treaties signed at the same ceremony.