When was the European Union created? See what the "European Union" is in other dictionaries

The European Union is an economic and political union of 28 European states.

With a population of more than 510 million inhabitants and an area of ​​4,324,782 thousand square kilometers, the share of the EU as a whole in the world gross domestic product (GDP) in 2012 was about 23% (16.6 trillion dollars) in nominal terms and about 19 % (16.1 trillion dollars) - at purchasing power parity.

At the moment, the EU includes the following states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Portugal , Romania, Finland, France, Croatia, Czech Republic, Sweden, Estonia. Potential candidates for EU membership are: Iceland, Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, Montenegro.

European Union- international education combining features international organization and the state, but formally is neither one nor the other. Decisions are made by independent supranational institutions or through negotiations between member states. The most important EU institutions are the European Council, the European Commission (Government), the Council of the European Union (Council of Ministers), the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Court of Auditors, the European Central Bank and the European Parliament (elected every five years by the citizens of the Union).

With the help of a standardized system of laws in force in all countries of the union, a common market has been created that guarantees the free movement of people, goods, capital and services. Passport control has been abolished within the Schengen area, which includes both member states and other European states.

The Union adopts laws (directives, statutes and regulations) in the field of justice and home affairs and develops a common policy in the field of trade, Agriculture, fisheries and regional development.

Nineteen countries of the Union introduced a single currency, the euro, to form the eurozone.

The Union is a subject of international public law, has the authority to participate in international relations and conclusion international treaties. The common foreign and security policy provides for a coordinated foreign and defense policy. Permanent diplomatic missions of the Union have been established around the world, there are representations in the United Nations, the WTO, the G8 and the G20, EU delegations are headed by EU ambassadors.

Prerequisites for the creation of the EU

The idea of ​​creating a united Europe has been repeatedly put forward in the past, especially in connection with the bloody conflicts in the history of the European continent. The first projects for the unification of Europe date back to the 13th-15th centuries. In the twentieth century in the interwar period between the first and second world wars, the ideas of Europeanism received a new breath. But attempts to unite Europe at that time did not bring success.

It began in order to prevent war and the cooperation of European peoples after the Second World War. The documents signed at Yalta and Potsdam seemed to create certain prerequisites for cooperation; but the confrontation between the two systems (capitalist and socialist) after the war led to the fact that this cooperation was brought to naught. The anti-Hitler coalition was replaced by Europe, divided into 2 camps; began another thirty-year war in the history of Europe in the form of " cold war". The confrontation between these two camps led to the creation of military-political organizations.

In this environment, the integration processes went in different ways:

In Western Europe, they led to the creation of various associations of Western European states, often under the auspices of the United States, for example, Western European Union (based on the Brussels Pact of 1947), included in NATO in 1949;

In Eastern Europe, their own associations appeared under the leadership of the USSR: the military-political Warsaw Pact organization, and the goals of economic integration had to be met by the creation Council for Mutual Economic Assistance(CMEA). Unfortunately, different ways integrations were based on various principles, which played a decisive role in their fate both in the West and in the East. In the East of Europe, neither the PTS nor the CMEA have stood the test of time. The integration process itself in the East developed within the framework of direct coercion, often in the form of military force. Together with the collapse of totalitarianism, these integration associations disintegrated and ceased to exist.

History of the creation of the EU

The idea of ​​creating a united Europe has a long history. On the territory of Europe, the Western Roman Empire, the Frankish State, and the Holy Roman Empire were single state entities comparable in size to the European Union. During the last millennium, Europe has been fragmented. European thinkers tried to come up with a way to unite Europe. The idea of ​​creating the United States of Europe originally arose after the American Revolution.

This idea has received new life after World War II, when Winston Churchill announced the need for its implementation, calling on September 19, 1946 in his speech at the University of Zurich to create a "United States of Europe", similar to the United States of America. Then, after the destruction brought by the second World War, European leaders have come to believe that cooperation and common efforts are the best way ensuring peace, stability and prosperity in Europe.

The process has begun May 9, 1950 speech Robert Schumann , the French Foreign Minister, who proposed to unite the coal and steel industries of France and the Federal Republic of Germany, as a measure to prevent further wars between Germany and France.

This concept has been implemented in 1951 year Paris Treaty who established European unification coal and steel(1957-2002) with six member countries: France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. The success of the Treaty encouraged these six countries to expand the process to other areas.

In order to deepen economic integration, the same six states in 1957 established European Economic Community(EEC, Common Market, 1957-1993) (EEC - European Economic Community) and European Atomic Energy Community(Euratom - European Atomic Energy Community). The EEC was created primarily as a customs union of six states, designed to ensure the freedom of movement of goods, services, capital and people. Euratom was supposed to contribute to the unification of the peaceful nuclear resources of these states.

The most important of these three European communities was the European Economic Community, so that later (in the 1990s) it was simply referred to as the European Community (EC - European Community). The EEC was founded Treaty of Rome 1957 which went into effect on January 1, 1958.

AT 1959 year, members of the EEC created European Parliament- a representative advisory, and later a legislative body.

Even at the preparatory stage for the signing of the Rome Treaties, some Western European countries considered the proposed federalist version of socio-economic integration to be excessive. Countries such as Austria, UK, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland formed in 1960 year European Free Trade Association(EFTA). Within the framework of this organization, integration was limited to building a free trade zone. However, as the EEC successfully developed, one after another, the EFTA countries began to strive for a transition to the EEC.

April 8, 1965 was signed in Brussels "Merger Agreement"(or the Brussels Treaty), which brought together the bodies of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and the European Economic Community (EEC) into a single organizational structure. The treaty entered into force on July 1, 1967.

The first priority after the signing of the Treaty of Rome was to create Customs Union(English European Union Customs Union) - the customs union of the countries of the European Union and a number of other countries, an important component of the common market. Its creation was completed in 1968 year. The main activities were:

Ø cancellation of all customs duties and restrictions between member countries;

Ø the introduction of a single external tariff for goods from third countries, the same for the entire European Community (the profit from its collection has become one of the sources for the formation of the Community's own resources)

Ø common trade policy as an external aspect customs union(at the international level, the Community expresses the common position of all Member States).

AT 1985 year in the village of Schengen (Luxembourg) an agreement was signed to establish Schengen area, which is on this moment includes twenty-six European states. In terms of international travel, the Schengen area operates much like a single state with border controls at the external border - at the entrance and exit from the zone, but without border controls at the internal borders of the states included in this zone.

The Schengen area came into existence March 26, 1995, when border controls were abolished at internal borders between seven states: Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. Italy and Austria joined in 1997. In 1999, under the Amsterdam Treaty, the agreement became part of the acquis communautaire (the current set of EU legal norms adopted by a country upon accession to the EU). In 2000, Greece joined the zone, and in 2001, the member states of the Scandinavian Passport Union (Denmark, Finland, Sweden), as well as states that were not members of the European Union, Iceland and Norway, entered the Schengen zone.

In 2007, 9 more countries entered the zone - the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia (all of which became EU members three years earlier). Switzerland joined the Schengen area on December 12, 2008, Liechtenstein - on December 19, 2011, they became respectively the third and fourth states in the area outside the European Union.

Originally separate from the European Union, the legal framework of the Schengen Area was incorporated into a single community law with the entry into force of the Amsterdam Treaty in 1999, although the Schengen Area officially includes four non-EU countries: Iceland, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, and also de facto includes three more European micro-states: Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican, which are also not members of the EU. In addition, from the side of another country, Andorra, there is no internal border control at the borders with the countries of the Schengen zone. All European Union countries except the UK and Ireland have committed to join the Schengen area, and all but Romania, Bulgaria, Cyprus and Croatia have already done so. At the moment, the zone covers an area of ​​4,312,099 km², which is home to over 400 million people.

Achievements of integration in the socio-economic field, as well as global changes in the world economy and politics required the creation of closer forms of interaction between the integrating states. This was reflected in a number of initiatives in the 1980s, chief among them the adoption Single European Act 1986 year (EEA). The act was signed in Luxembourg on February 17, 1986, and in The Hague on February 28, 1986. Entered into force on July 1, 1987, under the Delors Commission. The act aimed the European Community at the creation of a common market by December 31, 1992, and formulated the principles of European political cooperation.

With the fall of the communist regime in the countries of central and of Eastern Europe, Europeans have become closer to each other. Signing of the Treaty on European Union in 1992 year in Maastricht (Netherlands) gave the European Communities not only a new official name - the EU, but legislatively consolidated the goals voiced in the EEA.

Treaty of Amsterdam 1997 of the year confirmed the main goals of the Union and supplemented the section on the mechanisms for implementing the common foreign and security policy. The Treaty also included a separate section on the observance by the EU member states of the principles of democracy, human rights and the rule of law, strengthening cooperation between member states in the fight against terrorism, racism, smuggling, crime, etc.

In the 1990s, when it became clear that the largest expansion of the EU in history (from 15 to 25 members) would take place in the near future, the question arose of the need to change the principles of the EU's governance and the structure of its governing bodies. Until now, the EU has acted on the principle of consensus when making the most important decisions - but with the expansion of the composition, there was a possibility that the most important decisions would be blocked for a long time.

The decision to start work on the creation pan-European constitution was adopted at the EU summit in December 2001. The working body for the development of the draft constitution was called the convention, headed by ex-president France Valerie Giscard d'Estaing. Work on the draft constitution lasted three years. The final text of the document was approved at a special EU summit in June 2004.

October 29, 2004 the heads of all 25 EU member states signed in Rome a new European constitution. The uniqueness of this document lies in the fact that it appeared immediately in 20 languages ​​and became the most extensive and comprehensive constitution in the world. The European constitution, according to its authors, was supposed to contribute to the emergence of a common European identity and make the EU a model of a new world order.

For the Constitution to come into force, it had to be ratified by all EU countries. If at least one member country does not ratify the Constitution, it will not enter into force. In referendums in 2005 in France and the Netherlands, the project was rejected.

At the EU summit on June 22-23, 2007, an agreement was reached in principle on the development of a "Reform Treaty" instead of the Constitution - a simplified version containing mainly provisions on the procedure for the functioning of EU institutions in the new conditions. Such an agreement was signed in Lisbon on December 13, 2007.

Treaty of Lisbon(official name - “Treaty of Lisbon amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community”). It was intended to replace the EU Constitution that has not yet entered into force and to amend the existing agreements on the European Union in order to reform the EU governance system.

The Treaty amending the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty establishing the European Community, or the EU Reform Treaty, created to improve the functioning of the European Union of 28 member countries and strengthen its role and position on the world stage in an environment of global change, was finally agreed at the Intergovernmental Conference in Lisbon on October 19, 2007.

Conceived as a "toolkit", this largely innovative treaty is designed to lay the foundations for the functioning of the European Union for the next 15-20 years. The signing of the Treaty on December 13, 2007 opened the period when the member countries carried out the process of its ratification. Complications arose in countries such as Ireland and the Czech Republic, where it required the support of 3/5 of parliament to approve it, and in the case of Ireland, also the support of the country's population in a referendum.

However, the approval in parliaments and referendums of 27 countries ended a 15-year discussion on the political and institutional reform of the EU, which began with the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. The need to amend the fundamental EU treaties was caused by the fact that in just two years half a year (April 2004 - January 1, 2007), the number of member countries increased from 15 to 27, and their combined population reached almost half a billion people. The treaty is intended to replace the failed draft EU Constitution (which was signed in June 2004). When the Constitution was rejected in referendums in France and the Netherlands in 2005, the European Union found itself in an institutional stalemate. In order to move forward, it was necessary to seriously simplify the structure of collective bodies, the principles and procedures for their work, and make their activities more understandable and transparent. The Lisbon Treaty is aimed at solving this two-pronged task.

The Reform Treaty secured a balance between the goals and interests of the EU member states, giving the latter the status of a "superpower". The text of the Treaty amends three fundamental documents of the EU: the Treaty establishing the European Community (Treaty of Rome, 1957), the Maastricht Treaty, 1992 and the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community, 1957. After signing and ratifying the Reform Treaty ceases to exist as a single text, and innovations are incorporated into the three documents listed above.

EU enlargement

60 years have passed from the year of creation. However, a year earlier, Great Britain presented a "surprise": a national referendum revealed the desire of the British to withdraw from this interethnic organization. On March 29, 2019, the Kingdom of Great Britain will become the first and so far the only country in history to leave the European Union. What countries are in the European Union? What are its prospects?

Which countries are in the European Union? List

By compiling such a table, we, I think, have answered the question of how many countries and which ones are included in the European Union.

"Non-European" European Union

But the European Union also includes those not located within Europe, the following overseas territories of the EU countries that have a special status are:

Despite these precedents, the EU does not include the equivalent territories of Great Britain, Holland and Denmark.

eurosceptics

However, this is not surprising. After all, even not everyone aspires to become its members. Northerners-Scandinavians treat him coldly. For example, Sweden and Denmark did not completely switch to the euro, retaining their national currencies. What Scandinavian country is not part of the European Union? There are even two of them - Norway and Iceland. Norway was not satisfied with the restrictions imposed by the entry conditions, although the country applied for participation three times. Today, Norway is part of other European agreements like the Schengen one, but no more. For Iceland, this is not a relevant issue at all. Especially after the negotiations that have already taken place.

The eternally neutral Switzerland is also not a member of the European Union. The government was thinking about joining, but the population in the 1992 referendum clearly said: "No!". Belarus and Russia are Euroskeptics and do not look to the West.

The dwarf Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Liechtenstein do not consider the prospects of becoming "unified Europeans". But, however, does not prevent those who wish to connect. These are the Balkan countries.

"School" of the European Union

Here is a list of countries that have an association agreement with here - candidates for joining it. But the association is much broader than Europe.

These are the countries that are included in the "school" of the European Union. After all, in order to become a member, you need to meet the requirements put forward, that is, in fact, to undergo training and pass "exams".

Three graduates

Today Albania, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Turkey, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo are passing it. In Tirana and Skopje, they are still frozen at the stage of the middle "classes": they have the status of candidates. Belgrade, Podgorica and Ankara are on the "release": they are negotiating with Brussels (the capital of the European Union). Moreover, the Turkish "repeated" has been doing this for almost ten years (since 1999), but it is constantly failing in the "exams". In Sarajevo and Pristina - "junior students". The former have just applied for membership, while the latter have so far only verbally announced their intentions.

Changes are also possible in reverse side. For example, there is talk of an "anti-European Union" referendum in Holland.

So perhaps the answer to the question "which countries are part of the European Union?" in a few decades it will sound completely different. The composition may change.

Which countries were the first to join the European Union?

The history of this national association dates back to 1951, when Germany, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland and Italy established the European Coal and Steel Community to improve the development of these

In 1957, these same countries decided to expand the "platform" to the EEC (European Economic Community). Now cooperation concerned not only metallurgy and coal mining and everything else. Then the answer to the question of which countries are members of the European Union was short. In the 60s, trade duties between the member countries of the Union were removed. And then there were: 1973, 1981, 1986, 1995, 2004, 2007, 2013. During these years, other countries joined the European Union. The European Union worked to its fullest in the period from 1995 to 1999, when the "Schengen zone" became not a project, but a reality, when a new common European currency, the euro, was put into circulation, when supranational political authorities began to work.

Should the European Union be?

Unfortunately, recent developments in the world economy and politics have added weighty grams to the scales of Eurosceptics. The global financial crisis, poorly controlled migration of the population from the war-torn and unrest-ridden Libya and Syria to the EU countries, the chronic lagging behind the northerners of the economy and social institutions of the southerners, which cannot be overcome in any way, the default in Greece, the difficulties of the newcomers to the European Union, hoping for their rapid economic growth , and not stagnation, or, in general, degradation. They added problems and sanctions against Russia, because significant volumes of entire sectors of the economy of the EU countries were oriented to the east.

The Europeans also fear the statement of US President Donald Trump about a possible revision of relations within the NATO military bloc. Create your own army? For what money? Who will command her?

Nietzsche knows

Now the EU is in crisis, and this is good for him. "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger" - German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche used to say. Today is a challenge for the European Union, if it survives it, it will become much stronger than it was before.

Should the European Union be? Time will tell, but it's unlikely to collapse overnight. Its backbone - the same six founding countries - have done and are doing everything so that the European Union lives and develops.

The European Union is an association of 27 European states that have signed the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty). The EU is a unique international entity: it combines the characteristics of an international organization and a state, but formally it is neither one nor the other. The Union is not a subject of international public law, but it has the authority to participate in international relations and plays an important role in them.

The European Union includes 28 states: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Great Britain, Hungary, Germany, Greece, Denmark, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia , Finland, France, Croatia, Czech Republic, Sweden and Estonia.

The number of countries participating in the union has grown from the initial six - Belgium, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and France - to today's 28 through successive expansions: by joining the treaties, countries limited their sovereignty in exchange for representation in the institutions of the union, acting in common interests.

The first step towards the creation of a modern European Union was taken in 1951: Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, France, Italy signed an agreement establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the purpose of which was to pool European resources for the production of steel and coal, by virtue of This agreement entered into force in July 1952.

In order to deepen economic integration, the same six states in 1957 established the European Economic Community (EEC, Common Market) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). The most important and broadest of these three European Communities was the EEC, so in 1993 it was officially renamed the European Community (EC).

structure of the European Union are the main institutions or bodies. The division into executive, legislative and judicial bodies, traditional for states, is not typical for the EU. The main four institutions of the European Union were laid down in 1952, when the European Coal and Steel Community was created, and the idea of ​​the European Council was not even visible yet. These institutions, namely the Assembly, the Council, the Commission and the Court, have essentially not changed since then. The Assembly has become a supranational parliament, and the European Court has become a super-arbitrator. At the same time, the role of the Council, which consists of representatives of the governments of the member states, has somewhat decreased, while the role of the European Commission as an executive body has not changed significantly.

European Council . The Council determines the main strategic directions for the development of the EU. The development of a general line of political integration is the main mission of the European Council. Along with the Council of Ministers, the European Council has the political function of amending the founding treaties European integration. Its meetings are held at least twice a year - either in Brussels or in the presiding state under the chairmanship of a representative of the member state currently heading the Council of the European Union. The meetings last two days.

European Commission . Commission plays leading role in ensuring the day-to-day activities of the EU aimed at the implementation of the fundamental Treaties. It comes up with legislative initiatives, and after approval controls their implementation. In case of violation of EU legislation, the Commission has the right to resort to sanctions, including appeal to the European Court of Justice. The Commission has significant autonomy in various policy areas, including agricultural, trade, competition, transport, regional, etc. The Commission has an executive apparatus, and also manages the budget and various funds and programs of the European Union (such as the Tacis program - European Union program to help accelerate the process of economic reforms in the CIS).

Council of the EU . The Council plays a key role in those areas of European integration where decision-making takes place at the intergovernmental level. In the terminology of the temple structure of the Maastricht Treaty, one can say that the Council is most competent in those issues that can be attributed to the second and third pillars of European integration (common foreign and security policy and cooperation on domestic issues). At the same time, the Council of the EU is part of the body of institutions of the legislative power of the European Union. In fact, any legal act of the European Union must be approved by the Council, but a number of legal acts, as well as the budget of the European Union, are subject to a joint decision of the Council and the European Parliament.

European Parliament . The main role of the European Parliament is the approval of the EU budget. In addition, almost any decision of the Council of the EU requires either the approval of the Parliament, or at least a request for its opinion. Parliament controls the work of the Commission and has the right to dissolve it (which, however, he never used).

European Court . The Court regulates disputes between member states; between Member States and the European Union itself; between EU institutions; between the EU and natural or legal persons, including members of its organs (a Civil Service Tribunal was recently created for this function). The court gives opinions on international agreements; it also issues preliminary (prejudicial) rulings on requests from national courts for the interpretation of the founding treaties and EU regulations. Decisions of the EU Court of Justice are binding on the territory of the EU. As a general rule, the jurisdiction of the EU Court of Justice extends to the areas of competence of the EU. The Court is composed of 27 judges (one from each of the Member States) and eight Advocates General. They are appointed for a six-year term, renewable. Half of the judges are renewed every three years.

European Union Chamber of Auditors . The Chamber of Auditors examines the income and expenditure accounts of the European Union and all its institutions and bodies that have access to European Union funds; monitors the quality of financial management; draws up a report on its work after the end of each financial year, as well as submits to the European Parliament and the Council conclusions or comments on individual issues; helps the European Parliament to control the implementation of the budget of the European Union.

Aims and methods of the European Union.

The leading place among the fundamental tasks facing the EU is occupied by a common foreign and security policy.

Among the main goals that the EU set out to achieve some ten years ago were:

1. pursuing a balanced and long-term social and economic policy, in particular by creating without internal borders, by strengthening economic and social equalization and creating an Economic and Monetary Union, with the ultimate goal of introducing a single currency;

2. assertion of European identity in the international arena, in particular by pursuing a common foreign and public security policy that could lead, at the right time, to the creation of a system of common defence;

3. strengthening the protection of the rights and interests of the citizens of the Member States by holding citizenship of the Union;

4. development of close cooperation in the field judicial practice and internal affairs;

5. Preserving and developing Community achievements, in order to determine to what extent the policies and forms of co-operation established by the treaty need to be reviewed in order to ensure the effectiveness of EU mechanisms and institutions.

To illustrate the scale of the activities of the Union, it is enough to indicate only some of its main results:

In the socio-economic sphere: building a common market, introducing a single currency "euro", issuing extensive legislation in relation to various sectors of the economy (transport, banking, customs, antimonopoly, agrarian, labor legislation, etc.);

In the political field: the functioning of a very efficient system of "European" authorities, which includes the European Parliament elected directly by the citizens, the courts of the Union, the Commission, the Council, the European Central Bank, etc.;

In the law enforcement and humanitarian spheres: the formation of the Union citizenship institution, the adoption of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the creation of the European Police Office (Europol) and a similar institution to coordinate the work of national prosecutors (Eurojust), the formation of unified information systems and data banks (“Schengen Information System” (Note 3), the centralized database of fingerprints “Eurodac”, etc.), the establishment in the legislation of the Union of common signs and standards of criminal liability in relation to a number of criminal acts (counterfeiting, terrorism, human trafficking, etc.), replacement of the ineffective institution of extradition” European arrest warrant”, etc.

In addition to this (by no means exhaustive) list of changes already made, the European Union is now preparing to take another step that could have very far-reaching consequences for the whole of Europe. It's about on the adoption of a single Constitutional Treaty of the Union, designed to replace the current constituent documents of the organization.

The history of the formation of the European Union began in 1951 with the formation of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which included six countries (Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, France and Germany). Within countries, all tariff and quantitative restrictions on trade in these goods were lifted.

March 25, 1957 signed the Treaty of Rome establishing European Economic Community(EEC) on the basis of the ECSC and the European Atomic Energy Community.

In 1967, three European communities (the European Coal and Steel Community, the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community) merged to form the European Community.

On June 14, 1985, the Schengen Agreement on the free movement of goods, capital and citizens was signed - an agreement providing for the abolition of customs barriers within the European Union while simultaneously tightening control at the external borders of the EU (entered into force on March 26, 1995).

On February 7, 1992 in Maastricht (Netherlands) an agreement on the establishment of the European Union was signed (entered into force on November 1, 1993). The agreement completed the work of previous years on the settlement of the monetary and political systems of European countries.

In order to achieve the highest form of economic integration between the EU states, the euro was created - the single monetary unit of the EU. In a non-cash form in the territory of the EU member states, the euro was introduced from January 1, 1999, and cash banknotes - from January 1, 2002. The euro replaced the ECU - the conventional unit of account of the European Community, which was a basket of currencies of all EU member states.

The jurisdiction of the European Union includes matters relating, in particular, to the common market, the customs union, the single currency (with the preservation of its own currency by some of the members), the common agricultural policy and the common fisheries policy.

The organization includes 27 European states: Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Great Britain, Denmark, Ireland, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Austria, Finland, Sweden, Hungary, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Estonia. On January 1, 2007, Bulgaria and Romania officially joined the European Union.

Institutions of the European Union:

The highest political body of the European Union is European Council. As a summit meeting of heads of state, the Council actually determines the tasks of the Union and its relations with the member states. The sessions are chaired by the president or prime minister of the country that presides over the governing bodies of the EU in turn for six months.

Higher executive agency European Union - European Commission (CES, Commission of the European Communities). The European Commission consists of 27 members, one from each member state. The Commission plays a major role in ensuring the day-to-day activities of the EU. Each commissioner, like the minister of the national government, is responsible for a specific area of ​​work.

European Parliament is an assembly of 786 deputies directly elected by the citizens of EU member states for a term of five years. Deputies unite in accordance with political orientation.

The highest judicial body of the EU is European Court(official name - Court of Justice of the European Communities). The Court is composed of 27 judges (one from each of the Member States) and nine Advocates General. The Court regulates disagreements between Member States, between Member States and the European Union itself, between EU institutions, gives opinions on international agreements.