in 1967, the institutions of the eec, ecsc and euratom were merged to form the european communities. consequently, the three organisations were represented on the board of governors by the european commission of the european communities, the successor institution to the high authority of the ecsc. taking advantage of the powers conferred to it by the 1957 statute, the board of governors signed an agreement with the european patent organisation - a separate intergovernmental organisation - in december 1975 allowing for the creation, in 1977, of a european school in munich, germany for the education and instruction together of children of its staff. in 1973, the first enlargement of the european communities sawthe united kingdom, denmark and ireland join, who all likewise acceded to the 1957 statute. in 1978, a european school was established at culham, uk in order to serve the children of the staff posted to the joint european torus joint undertaking (jet), supervised by euratom, for the development of a common nuclear fusion programme. by 1986, following the enlargement of the european communities to include greece, spain and portugal and their ratification of the statute, the schools were obliged to provide an education to the students of officials originating from the 12 ec member states. finland acceded to the statute in 1995 after its accession to the european union.