The European Union (EU).PPTVIP

The European Union (EU) The World’s Strongest Supranational Organization What is it? The European Union (EU) is a family of democratic European countries, committed to working together for peace and prosperity. It is not a State intended to replace existing states, but it does represent a greater compromise of sovereignty than any other international organization. The EU is unique; its Member States have set up common institutions to which they delegate some of their sovereignty so that decisions on specific matters of joint interest can be made democratically at European level. This pooling of sovereignty is also called European integration? European Coal and Steel Community Founded in 1951 (Treaty of Paris) Purpose was to reduce potential for conflict between the member states by pooling vital resources Fore-runner of the EEC, EC, and EU History of the EU The historical roots of the European Union lie in the Second World War. Idea of European integration conceived to prevent such killing and destruction from ever happening again First proposed by the French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman in a speech on May 9, 1950. This date, the birthday of what is now the EU, is celebrated annually as Europe Day Phases of growth Initially, the European Economic Community (EEC) consisted of just six countries: Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands (1958) European Communities (EC) (1967) Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined in 1973 Greece in 1981 Spain and Portugal in 1986 European Union (EU) (after 1992) (Maastricht Treaty) Austria, Finland and Sweden in 1995 Largest enlargement took place with 10 new countries joining May 9, 2004 Creation of the EU How does it work? There are five EU institutions, each playing a specific role: European Parliament (one of two legislative bodies in the EU; elected by the peoples of the Member States)? Council of the European Union (EU’s highest Legislative Body; has legislative initiative; is made up of