Text 2: The European Union

The EU is the largest political and economic entity on the European continent. The EU is a supranational and intergovernmental union of democratic member states which are located primarily in Europe.

The European Union was set up to end frequent and bloody wars between neighbours, which had culminated into World War II. It was important to rebuild Europe eliminating the possibility of another World War.

Thus, West European nations created the Council of Europe in 1949. It was the first step towards cooperation among countries. In 1950, the European Coal and Steel Community united European countries economically and politically in order to secure lasting peace. The six founders were Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

In 1957, the Treaty of Rome created the European Economic Community (EEC), or the ‘Common Market’. Later it was transformed into to the European Community. As for the European Union, it was established in 1993 by the Treaty of Maastricht. Thus, the EU managed to evolve from a trade body into an economic and governmental partnership.

The Union has a single market consisting of a Customs union with a single currency called the euro - the official currency of the Eurozone. It has a common agricultural, trade and fisheries policy, a common external customs tariff, a common position in international trade negotiations, a Common Foreign and Security Policy, a common policy on asylum and immigration and a common funding of research and technological development.

The Schengen Agreement has abolished passport control for the EU member states. Customs checks have been abolished at many of the EU's internal borders, creating a single area of free movement for the EU citizens to live, travel, work and invest.

The EU's decision-making process in general and the co-decision procedure in particular involve three main institutions.

12. the European Parliament (EP), which represents the EU’s citizens and is directly elected by them

13. the Council of the European Union, which represents the individual member states

14. the European Commission, which seeks to uphold the interests of the Union as a whole.

This ‘institutional triangle’ produces the policies and laws that apply throughout the EU. In principle, it is the Commission that proposes new laws, but it is Parliament and Council that adopt them. The Commission and the member states then implement them, and the Commission ensures that the laws are properly taken on board. There are two other institutions that have a vital part to play: the Court of Justice upholds the rule of European law, and the Court of Auditors checks the financing of the Union’s activities.

The EU has no official capital and its institutions are divided between several cities: Brussels, Luxembourg, Strasbourg and Frankfurt.

11. Brussels is the seat of the European Commission (staff of about 18,000) and the Council of Ministers. It is also the venue of the European Parliament's committee meetings and mini-sessions. Since 2004 it has become the host city for all European Council summits.

12. Strasbourg is the seat of the European Parliament (785 members) and the venue of its twelve week-long plenary sessions each year. Strasbourg is also the seat of the Council of Europe and the European Court of Human Rights, which are not the bodies of the EU.

13. Luxembourg City is the seat of the European Court of Justice, the European Court of Auditors, the Secretariat of the European Parliament and the European Investment Bank.

14. Frankfurt is the seat of the European Central Bank.

The European Union law is the first and the only example of a supranational legal framework. Becoming EU members, sovereign nation states pool their authority for the mutual social and economic benefit of their peoples.

The EU has significant religious diversity, mirroring its diverse history and culture. A nominal majority of the population professes Christianity, (predominantly Roman Catholicism, Protestantism and Eastern Orthodoxy), Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism and Judaism.

The European Union has the largest economy in the world considered as a single entity. The EU has 23 official languages and three official alphabets: Latin, Greek and Cyrillic. There are only three internal working languages in the European Commission: English, French and German.

Questions for discussion:

1. What kind of entity is the EU?

2. What is the primary goal of the EU?

3. What does the term “Common market” mean?

4. What is the official currency of the Eurozone?

5. What opportunities does the Schengen Agreement give to the EU member states?

6. What are the main Institutions of the EU?

7. What is the Court of Justice responsible for?

8. What is the Court of Auditors responsible for?

9. What can be said about the European Union law?

10. What are the internal working languages in the European Commission?