What is the European Union or EU?
Description
This article is from the European Union FAQ, by Roland Siebelink & Bart Schelfhout with numerous contributions by others.
What is the European Union or EU?
+European Union; is the name of the organization for the member countries
that have decided to co-operate on a great number of areas, ranging from a
single market to foreign policy, and from mutual recognition of school
diplomas to exchange of criminal records. This co-operation is in various
forms, officially referred to as three +pillars;:
The [three] European Communities (EC, supranational)
The Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP, intergovernmental)
The Co-operation in the Fields of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA,
intergovernmental)
The Conservative government of the UK decided not to take part in
co-operation on social matters, which was designed to be part of the revised
EEC Treaty (and thus of the first pillar). All other member states then
decided to include this co-operation in a separate Social Chapter, or
rather a separate social protocol, added to the Maastricht Treaty, and which
is not applicable to the UK. As such, this area could now be considered a
fourth pillar, although most observers still consider it part of the first
pillar as it is a supranational form of cooperation. Note: The UK Labour
party has repeatedly promised to remove the British opt-out to the Social
Chapter if it gets elected.
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