The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was an experimental six-nation international organisation and the first to be based on supranational principles and served as the foundation for the modern-day European Union.
It was created by the Treaty of Paris (1951), following a proposal from French foreign minister Robert Schuman, and created a common market for coal and steel between its members: France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
In 1969 its institutions merged with two new communities, the EEC and Euratom, forming the European Communities. The ECSC continued to exist as part of this, as the Communities became part of the European Union, but the Treaty of Paris expired in 2002. The Community was not replaced but its activities and resources were absorbed by the European Community.
