European
Commission
Rue de la Loi
200
B-1049 Brussels
Belgium
Telephone:+32 - 2 - 299 - 1111
Facsimile: +32 - 2 - 295 - 0138
Internet: http://www.europa.eu.int
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
European Union works toward and oversees the economic and political integration of these states. The European Union consists of the European Community (q.v.; formerly European Economic Community) and a framework for unified action by member countries in security and foreign policy and for cooperation in police and justice matters. Within the Union, goods, services, capital and people move freely. The monetary union has advanced to its third stage, and in 1999, a single currency, euro, is going to be introduced. Negotiations with the five new member canditates (Hungary, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Estonia) start in 1998.
The European Economic Community (EEC) had been founded in 1957-58 to oversee the economic integration of the nations of western Europe. In 1967 the EEC joined together with the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community to form the European Communities, or EC (the plural was dropped from the name in the 1980s).
The success of the liberalized trade and internal market policies sponsored by the EEC (or EC) in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s made its members more receptive to the greater integration of the EC. Subsequent efforts toward greater economic and political union of the EC's members eventually yielded the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty), concluded in December 1991. The treaty's enactment (Nov. 1, 1993) created the European Union out of the European Community; in addition, the European Economic Community was renamed the European Community, and the EC's Council of Ministers was renamed the Council of Ministers of the European Union.
One of the main goals of the EC was the integration of its members' economies into a single frontierless market that would have a common currency and a common central bank. The measures the EC took in this regard were obtained by the unanimous consensus of its members. The EC oversaw the establishment of the European Monetary System (EMS) in 1978 to regulate currency exchange rates and aid monetary stability among its members. The EMS, which took effect in 1979, linked the currencies of the EC member countries (excepting those of the United Kingdom, Spain, and Portugal, who declined to participate) so as to avoid large day-to-day fluctuations in currency rates while permitting periodic realignments. In the interest of encouraging the mobility of labour, restrictions on the movement of labour among the EC countries also were effectively removed.
In 1987 the EC member states adopted the Single European Act, by which they declared their eventual intention to create a unified, free-trade market in western Europe. Measures implementing this declaration began in 1990 with the lifting of exchange controls and the elimination of barriers to Europe-wide banking, insurance, securities, and other financial services. The economic agreements of the Maastricht Treaty further advanced this process by establishing the European Monetary Institute (effective Jan. 1, 1994) at Frankfurt am Main, Ger., and by creating a vast free-trade zone--the European Economic Area (EEA)--between the members of the EC and EFTA. The EEA also was implemented on Jan. 1, 1994, with the participation of all EC and EFTA members except Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
In 1997, the member states agreed on the new Treaty for Europe, the Amesterdam Treaty. The Treaty of Amsterdam consolidates each of the three great "pillars" which have been the foundation for the Union's work since the Maastricht Treaty of 1 November 1993: the European Communities (first pillar); the common foreign and security policy (second pillar); and cooperation in the fields of justice and home affairs (third pillar). After agreement on the Treaty of Amsterdam had cleared the way, the Commission presented a detailed strategy for strengthening and widening the Union in the early years of the 21st century.
The original members of the EEC were Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands. Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom joined in 1973, Greece in 1981, and Portugal and Spain in 1986; the former East Germany was admitted as part of reunified Germany in 1990. Greenland, a dependent state of Denmark that had entered the EC when under full Danish rule, withdrew in 1985. The Maastricht Treaty paved the way for other European countries to join the EU. Austria, Finland, and Sweden--all members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA)--became members of the EU in 1995.
European Parliament is the directly-elected democratic expression of the political will of the peoples of the European Union, the largest multinational Parliament in the world. The European Parliament represents the 370 million citizens of the Union, its primary objectives are like the of any Parliament - to pass good laws and to scrutinise and control the use of executive power. Now more than ever before, it is in a much better position to do both because its responsibilities have been gradually widened and its powers strengthened first by the Single Act of 1987 and then by the Treaty of European Union of 1993.
The Council of European Union is usually known as the Council of Ministers, and has no equivalent anywhere in the world. Here, the Member States legislate for the Union, set its political objectives, coordinate their national policies and resolve differences between themselves and with other institutions. The Council is a body with the characteristics of both a supranational and intergovernmental organisation, deciding some matters by qualified majority voting, and others by unanimity. In its procedures, its customs and practices, and even in its disputes, the Council depends on a degree of solidarity and trust which is rare in relations between states.
European Commission dentifies three distinct functions: initiating proposals for legislation, guardian of the Treaties, and the manager and executor of Union policies and of international trade relationships. The role and responsibilities of the European Commission place it firmly at the heart of the European Union's policy-making process. In some respects, it acts as the heart of Europe, from which the other institutions derive much of their energy and purpose.
Court of Justice provides the judicial safeguards necessary to ensure that the law is observed in the interpretation and application of the Treaties and, generally in all of the activities of the Union.The success of Community law in embedding itself so thoroughly in the legal life of the Member States is due to its having been perceived, interpreted and applied by the citizens, the administrative authorities and the courts of all of the Member States as a uniform body of rules upon which individuals may rely in their national courts. The decisions of the Court have made Community law a reality for the citizens of Europe and often have important constitutional and economic consequences.
Court of Auditors is the taxpayers' representative, responsible for checking that the European Union spends its money according to its budgetary rules and regulations and for the purposes for which it is intended. Some see the Court as the "financial conscience" of the Union, others as a "watchdog" over its money. In either case, it is a guarantor that certain moral, administrative and accounting principles will be respected. The Court's reports are a rich source of information on the management of the Union's finances, and a source of pressure on the institutions and others with administrative responsibility to manage them soundly.
European Investment Bank is the European Union's financing institution, it provides loans for capital investment promoting the Union's balanced economic development and integration.The EIB is an enormously flexible and cost-effective source of finance whose ECU 20 billion volume of annual lending makes it the largest international financing institution in the world.
Economic and Social Committee: in accordance with the Treaties, the Committee advises the Commission, the Council and the European Parliament. The opinions which it delivers (either in response to a referral or on its own initiative) are drawn up by representatives of the various categories of economic and social activity in the European Union. The members of the Committee, who are divided into three groups (workers, employers and various interests), draw up opinions on draft Community legislation and the main issues affecting society. They represent the different sectors of civil society.
Committee of the Regions is the European Union's youngest institution whose birth reflects Member States' strong desire not only to respect regional and local identities and prerogatives but also to involve them in the development and implementation of EU policies. For the first time in the history of the European Union, there is now a legal obligation to consult the representatives of local and regional authorities on a variety of matters that concern them directly.
European Ombudsman: every citizen of each Member State is both a national and a European citizen. One of his/her rights as a European citizen is to apply to the European Ombudsman if he/she is a victim of an act of "maladministration" by the EU institutions or bodies. The Ombudsman has wide ranging powers of inquiry: the Community institutions and bodies are required under certain conditions to provide all the documents and evidence that he requests; he may also obtain information from national authorities. The Ombudsman is empowered to act as a conciliator between citizens and the Community administration. The Ombudsman is entitled to make recommendations to EC institutions and he can refer the case to the European Parliament so that the latter can, where appropriate, draw political conclusions from the attitude taken by the administration.
European Monetary Institute: the function of the EMI is to make possible the monetary unification. EMI is not the European Central Bank; this will not be established until the end of the monetary union process. The two main tasks of the EMI are: (1) to contribute to the fulfilment of the conditions necessary to reach the last stage of monetary union, in particular the convergence of the main macroeconomic indicators; (2) to make the preparations required for the establishment of the European System of Central Banks ("ESCB") and the conduct of a single monetary policy and for the creation of a single currency.
see the Treaty of Amsterdam and EU enlargement