When the European Economic Community was established in 1957, the six founding member states (Belgium, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands) had a shared interest, though each for their own reasons, in ensuring that provisions to promote the harmonisation of national social protection systems figured in the treaties. Progressively, and as membership of the Community expanded and diversified, the social dimension came to be accepted as a legitimate, albeit contested and subordinate, component in European law and policy. Whereas the social protection systems of the six original member states could be considered as variants of the continental model of welfare, the new waves of membership in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s brought different conceptions of social protection, making harmonisation ever-more difficult to achieve. Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom in the second wave were characterised by their universal welfare systems. Greece, Portugal and Spain in the third wave had less developed, minimalist provision for social protection. In the fourth wave, Austria was closer to the founding member states, whereas Finland and Sweden represented the Nordic model with their universalist system based on social democratic criteria.