European Union

The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of sovereign states.

History

The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was established in 1952 to encourage economic cooperation between Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany. It included several foundational institutions, such as the Common Assembly. Note however that this assembly was consultative and not elected.

The Treaty of Rome in 1957 then expanded the role of this institution, creating the European Economic Community (EEC). The Common Assembly renamed itself the European Parliamentary Assembly at this time, in preparation of becoming an elected body.

For much of this early era, the EEC was dominated by French interests. De Gaulle personally had an outsized role in how the institutions developed. He obstructed membership applications, forced a summit of national heads of state to be included in institutional design, and dictated the terms of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The Council of the European Union was established by the Treaty of Rome and tasked with organizing elections for an actually elected parliament. They then deferred any action on this for two decades. Only following intervention by the ECJ did the first elections finally occur in 1979.

The Maastricht Treaty was agreed in 1992 and came into effect the following year. This set in motion a series of reforms that would establish the EU, including transforming the EEC into the European Community.

Members

The founding members of the ECSC and EEC were:

• Belgium

• France

• West Germany

• Italy

• Luxembourg

• Netherlands

The following states joined the EEC subsequently and can be considered founding members of the EU.

• Denmark

• Greece

• Ireland

• Portugal

• Spain

• United Kingdom

The following states joined the EU after its establishment:

• Austria

• Bulgaria

• Croatia

• Czechia

• Cyprus

• Estonia

• Finland

• Hungary

• Latvia

• Lithuania

• Malta

• Poland

• Romania

• Slovakia

• Slovenia

• Sweden

The UK left the EU in 2020.

Structure

The executive branch of the EU includes:

• the European Commission

• the European Council

• the European Court of Auditors

• the European Central Bank

The legislative branch of the EU includes:

• the European Parliament

• the Council of the European Union

For judicial matters, the EU has the Court of Justice. It largely deals with interpretation of constitutional and human rights laws.

Embedded within the union are the Eurosystem and the ESCB.

Politically and socially embedded into the union are a number of multinational parties and alliances, such as the Visegrád Group.

Reading Notes

• Dolce far niente? Non-compliance and blame avoidance in the EU; Lisa Kriegmair, Berthold Rittberger, Bernhard Zangl, and Tim Heinkelmann-Wild; 2021

• Bureaucratic politics in customized implementation of the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive in France and Germany, Anna Simstich, 2025

CategoryRicottone