Chapter 1. The European Union Unit 1.1. The European Union and Its Bodies

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The History of the European Union

Pre-reading tasks

1. Suggest a purpose for reading the text.

2. What can the text be about? Give your own predictions.

3. Do you agree with the necessity to increase the number of the EU member-states?

The European Union (EU) is European supranational organization dedicated to increasing economic integration and strengthening cooperation among its member states. The European Union was established on November 1, 1993, when the Treaty on European Union, or Maastricht Treaty, was ratified by the 12 members of the European Community (EC)—Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, and Spain. The countries of the Benelux Economic Union—Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, or Benelux—continue to act in some capacities as a single economic entity within the EU. Upon ratification of the treaty, the countries of the EC became members of the EU, and the EC became the policy-making body of the EU. In 1994 the EU admitted three more members—Austria, Finland, and Sweden. By 1997 more than a dozen countries had applied for EU membership, but the EU had admitted only three—Austria, Finland and Sweden. Austria applied for membership in 1989, Sweden in 1991, and Finland in 1992. The EU admitted all three in June 1994. The EU also offered membership to Norway at that time, but the people of Norway voted not to enter the EU. One reason Norway rejected membership was because of the strength of its own economy.

By 2007 the EU had admitted such countries as Cyprus, Malta, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, and Czech Republic. At present the EU comprises 27 countries.

Under the Treaty on European Union, European citizenship was granted to citizens of each member state. Customs and immigration agreements were enhanced to allow European citizens greater freedom to live, work, and study in any of the member states, and border controls were relaxed. The EU also set a goal of establishing a single European currency by 1997; this date was later extended to 1999. The euro was introduced in 2002.

Prior to November 1993, the European Union was called the European Community. The EC was composed of three originally separate organizations: the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), created in 1951; and the European Economic Community (EEC, often referred to as the Common Market) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), both set up in 1957. The three institutions merged in 1967, creating the EC and establishing headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

Decision-making in the EU is divided between supranational European institutions (the European Commission and the European Parliament, which are both administered by the EU) and governments of the member states, which send ministers to the Council of Ministers. The Court of Justice serves as the final arbiter in legal matters or disputes among EU institutions or between EU institutions and member states.