European Atomic Energy Community

European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC / Euratom) Europæiske Atomenergifællesskab  (Danish) Europese Atoomenergie Gemeenschap  (Dutch) Communauté européenne de l'énergie atomique  (French) Europäische Atomgemeinschaft  (German) Ευρωπαϊκή Κοινότητα Ατομικής Ενέργειας  (Greek) Comunità europea dell'energia atomica  (Italian) Comunidade Europeia da Energia Atómica  (Portuguese) Comunidad Europea de la Energía Atómica  (Spanish)
Flag of Europe
Member states   Participating associated state
Administrative body	European Commission
Official languages	24 languages
Type	International organisation
Members	28 EU member states 1 associated state
Establishment	1958
• Euratom Treaty	1 January 1958
• Merger Treaty	1 July 1967

The European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom) is an international organisation founded in 1957 with the purpose of creating a specialist market for nuclear power in Europe, developing nuclear energy and distributing it to its member states while selling the surplus to non-member states. It is legally distinct from the European Union (EU), but has the same membership, and is governed by the EU's institutions. Since 2014, Switzerland has also participated in Euratom programmes as an associated state.

Currently, its main focus is on the construction of the International Fusion Reactor ITER financed under the nuclear part of FP7. Euratom also provides a mechanism for providing loans to finance nuclear projects in the EU.

It was established by the Euratom Treaty on 25 March 1957 alongside the European Economic Community (EEC), being taken over by the executive institutions of the EEC in 1967. Although other communities were merged in 1993 and 2009, the nuclear program has maintained a legally distinct nature from the European Union.

The Common Assembly proposed extending the powers of the European Coal and Steel Community to cover other sources of energy. However, Jean Monnet, ECSC architect and President, wanted a separate community to cover nuclear power. 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 states and 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 the end, Monnet proposed the creation of separate atomic energy and economic communities to reconcile both groups.