EUROPEAN UNION

BACKGROUND STUDY

 The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of 27

member states that are located primarily in Europe. 
 The union has a total area of 4,233,255.3 km2 (1,634,469.0 sq mi) and an estimated
total population of nearly 447 million.
 The EU has often been described as a sui generis political entity (without precedent or
comparison) combining the characteristics of both a federation and a confederation.
 Containing 5.8 per cent of the world population in 2020, the EU generated a
nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of around US$17.1 trillion in 2021, constituting
approximately 18 per cent of global nominal GDP.

Additionally, all EU states but Bulgaria have a very high Human Development Index according
to the United Nations Development Programme. Its cornerstone, the Customs Union, paved
the way to establishing an internal single market based on standardized legal framework and
legislation that applies in all member states in those matters, and only those matters, where
the states have agreed to act as one.

The eurozone is a group composed of the 20 EU member states that have fully implemented
the economic and monetary union and use the euro currency. Through the Common Foreign
and Security Policy, the union has developed a role in external relations and defense. It
maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at
the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G7 and the G20. Due to its global
influence, the European Union has been described by some scholars as an emerging
superpower.

WHEN HAS IT BEEN ESTABLISHED?

The union was established along with its citizenship when the Maastricht Treaty came into
force in 1993, and was subsequently incorporated as an international law juridical person upon
entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009,  but its beginnings may be traced to its earliest
predecessors incorporated primarily by a group of founding states known as the Inner
Six (Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany) at the start of
modern institutionalized European integration in 1948 and onwards, namely to the Western
Union (WU, 1954 renamed Western European Union, WEU), the International Authority for the
Ruhr (IAR), the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Economic
Community (EEC, 1993 renamed European Community, EC) and the European Atomic Energy
Community (Euratom), established, respectively, by the 1948 Treaty of Brussels, the
1948 London Six-Power Conference, the 1951 Treaty of Paris, the 1957 Treaty of Rome and
the 1957 Euratom Treaty. These increasingly amalgamated bodies, later known collectively as
the European Communities have grown since, along with their legal successor, the EU, both in
size through accessions of further 21 states as well as in power through acquisitions of various
policy areas to their remit by the virtue of the abovementioned treaties, as well as numerous
other ones, such as the Modified Brussels Treaty, the Merger Treaty, the Single European Act,
the Treaty of Amsterdam and the Treaty of Nice. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel
Peace Prize.

After the creation by six states, 22 other states joined the union in 1973–2013. The United
Kingdom became the only member state to leave the EU in 2020; ten countries are aspiring or
negotiating to join it.

PURPOSE

EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services and capital within the
internal market; enact legislation in justice and home affairs; and maintain common policies
on trade, agriculture, fisheries and regional development. Passport controls have been
abolished for travel within the Schengen Area. 

Stimulus to GDP growth, more jobs, higher wages and pensions; Growing internal market and
domestic demand; Free movement of labor, goods, services and capital; Free access to 450
million consumers.

The perks of holding EU citizenship are plentiful, including the unrestricted right to live, retire,
work, study, and run a business in Europe. The process of obtaining an EU passport varies
depending on the country. Generally, EU nationals are entitled to a passport if they are citizens
of an EU member state.

EU MEMBERS

Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Republic of Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

European Commission president – Ursula von der Leyen

DECEMBER 01, 2019

President of the European Parliament- Roberta Metsola

11 January 2022,