The paper gives a retrospective on the development of equal opportunities policy in the European Union. It investigates the path of development and the process of gender equality institutionalization as the specific and most developed form of the EU social policy. The milestones that destined the policy’s path and course of development from the Treaty of Rome to the Treaty of Lisbon are identified. It shows how the institutionalization of the equal opportunities policy for women and men contributes to creation of the value system which underlies the EU. Also, it is a retrospective of the contribution the equal opportunities policy offers to the Europeanization process, producing the obligation for institutionalisation at the national level in the Member States as well as in those in the association process. Finally, the main constraints for development and institutionalisation of the equal opportunities policy for men and women in the EU are identified and possible future development trends are viewed.