European Union

The European Union grew from institutions created after the Second World War to bind European economies together. The European Coal and Steel Community began in 1951, followed by the European Economic Community and Euratom in 1957 through the Treaties of Rome.² The Maastricht Treaty, which entered into force in 1993, formally created the European Union and introduced the goal of economic and monetary union, a common foreign and security policy, and cooperation in justice and home affairs.

Later treaties expanded the EU’s competences and revised its institutions, especially the Treaty of Lisbon, which entered into force in 2009. The EU is not a federal state: its authority rests on treaties agreed by member states, and the principle of conferral limits EU action to powers granted in those treaties.³

The EU makes policy through a system that combines supranational and intergovernmental representation. The European Commission proposes legislation, oversees implementation, and manages the EU budget; the directly elected European Parliament shares legislative and budgetary authority with the Council of the European Union, which represents national governments.⁴

The European Council, composed of national leaders, sets broad political priorities but normally does not pass legislation. The Court of Justice of the European Union ensures that EU law is interpreted and applied consistently. Depending on the policy area, decisions may require unanimity or may use qualified majority voting, while the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality constrain action at the EU level.

The single market is the EU’s central economic achievement, enabling the movement of goods, services, capital, and people among member states subject to common rules. Its legal framework supports cross-border trade, competition, consumer protection, and professional mobility.⁵ Twenty EU countries share the euro, although all member states participate in the economic union and most are expected to adopt the currency when they meet the required conditions.

EU citizenship supplements national citizenship and includes rights such as free movement and residence within the union, voting in European Parliament and municipal elections in the member’s country of residence, and consular protection from another member state when a person’s own country is not represented. The Schengen Area, which removes many internal border checks, overlaps with but is not identical to the EU.

The EU’s influence extends beyond its formal membership through regulatory and financial relationships with neighboring countries. The European Economic Area includes Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway in much of the single market, while Switzerland participates through bilateral agreements; neither arrangement makes those countries EU members.¹

Not all EU policies apply uniformly. Denmark has an opt-out from the euro, Ireland maintains a separate arrangement concerning Schengen participation, and some areas of justice and home affairs use differentiated participation. The United Kingdom left the EU in 2020 after the Brexit process, the first withdrawal by a member state. EU programs also have effects that are less visible than legislation: Erasmus+ supports mobility and cooperation in education, while cohesion policy directs investment toward reducing regional economic disparities.⁶

Acquis communautaire

The accumulated body of EU law, rules, court decisions, and policies that member states and candidate countries must accept and apply.

Qualified majority voting

A Council voting method generally requiring support from at least 55% of member states representing at least 65% of the EU population.

Single market

The EU economic area based on the free movement of goods, services, capital, and people.

Subsidiarity

The principle that the EU should act only when objectives cannot be sufficiently achieved by member states acting alone.