The European Union

The European Union (EU) is a union of 27 European countries. The European Union was established under that name in 1992 by the Treaty on the European Union (the Maastricht Treaty). However, many aspects of the EU existed before that date and have been laid down in treaties already since 1951.

The European Union's activities cover all areas of public policy, from agriculture and economic policy to health and social policy, to foreign affairs and defence. However, the extent of the EU's powers in these areas differs greatly. This is reflected in the institutional design of the EU.

The Institutional Setting of the European Union

The architecture of the European Union is unique in its nature. It is not a copy of a nation state in the traditional sense, and at the same time it is much more than an international organisation. It pools parts of national sovereignty in some fields and simply co-operates in others. It is a "sui generis" concept.

The institutional setting of the EU reflects the attempt to combine the interest in dealing with an issue as a sovereign nation state on the one hand and the need for efficiency and productive negotiations in the union on the other. The result is the so-called "pillar structure" of the EU. Presently the EU is built on three of those pillars :

• integrated policies (also called Community policies). These represent areas where national sovereignty has been shifted towards common EU institutions (first pillar);

• the Common Foreign and Security Policy. This is the intergovernmental branch, but with highly elaborate rules aimed at establishing common ground through close cooperation (second pillar);

• police and judicial cooperation. This is partly integrated (wherever the functioning of the internal market is concerned) and partly intergovernmental in nature (third pillar).

The EU Institutions

Three main political institutions have been set up to ensure the effective functioning of the European Union: the European Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the European Commission. Their way of functioning, the so-called "Community method", implies that none of these institutions can act without the assistance of the other. It ensures that not only the individual national interests, but also European interests are taken into account when developing common policies. The existence and powers of the European Court of Justice are also a key component of this Community method.