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European Union - Introduction

The European Union is a politico-economic union of 28 member states located primarily in Europe. It was established in 1951 by six countries through the Treaty of Paris to promote free circulation of coal, iron, and steel. Over the years, both its membership and scope have expanded to include cooperation across many policy areas. Key EU institutions that make decisions for the union include the European Commission, Council, and Parliament. The EU is unique from other international bodies in that member states have delegated elements of sovereignty to shared EU institutions.

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41 views1 page

European Union - Introduction

The European Union is a politico-economic union of 28 member states located primarily in Europe. It was established in 1951 by six countries through the Treaty of Paris to promote free circulation of coal, iron, and steel. Over the years, both its membership and scope have expanded to include cooperation across many policy areas. Key EU institutions that make decisions for the union include the European Commission, Council, and Parliament. The EU is unique from other international bodies in that member states have delegated elements of sovereignty to shared EU institutions.

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European Union Introduction

The European Union (EU) is a politico-economic union of 28 member states that are located
primarily in Europe. The EU operates through a system of supranational institutions and
intergovernmental negotiated decisions by the member states. The institutions are: the European
Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Council, the Court of Justice of
the European Union, the European Central Bank, the Court of Auditors, and the European
Parliament. The European Parliament is elected every five years by EU citizens1
The European Union (EU) has its origins in 1951 when Belgium, France, (West) Germany, Italy,
Luxembourg, and the Netherlands signed the Treaty of Paris, establishing the European Coal and
Steel Community (ECSC), which called for the free circulation of coal, iron, and steel and the
related workers and capital.
Both the number of member states and the scope of the organization have expanded over the
years. Today there are twenty-eight member states in the EU: Denmark, Ireland and the United
Kingdom joined in 1973; Greece became a member in 1981; Portugal and Spain joined in 1986;
Austria, Finland, and Sweden became members in 1995; and the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta , Poland, Slovenia, and Slovakia joined on May 1,
2004. The countries of the EU have agreed to cooperate in many areas of trade, social policy and
foreign policy, and 12 out of the 28 share a common currency--the Euro.
The EU is different from other international organizations because the member states have
delegated sovereignty to common institutions representing the interests of the EU as a whole.2

1 Available at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Union. Accessed on 13th


Febuary,2015
2 Available at https://law.duke.edu/ilrt/int_orgs_5.htm.Accessed on 13th
Febuary,2015

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