International Business

The European Union

The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of 28 member states that are located primarily inEurope.[12][13] The EU operates through a system of supranational independent institutions and intergovernmentalnegotiated decisions by the member states.[14][15] Institutions of the EU include the European Commission, the Council of the European Union, the European Council, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank, theCourt of Auditors, and the European Parliament. The European Parliament is elected every five years by EU citizens.

History

The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Economic Community(EEC), formed by the Inner Six countries in 1951 and 1958, respectively. In the intervening years the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. The Maastricht Treaty established the European Union under its current name in 1993.[16] The latest major amendment to the constitutional basis of the EU, the Treaty of Lisbon, came into force in 2009.

1952 :Creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, which was declared to be "a first step in the federation of Europe", starting with the aim of eliminating the possibility of further wars between its member states by means of pooling the national heavy industries The founding members of the Community were Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany.

1957, the six countries signed the Treaty of Rome, which extended the earlier co-operation within the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and created the European Economic Community (EEC), establishing a customs union. They also signed another treaty on the same day creating the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) for co-operation in developing nuclear energy. Both treaties came into force in 1958.  Euratom would integrate sectors in nuclear energy while the EEC would develop a customs union between members.

 1960s, tensions began to show with France seeking to limit supranational power. However, in 1965 an agreement was reached and hence in 1967 the Merger Treaty was signed in Brussels. It came into force on 1 July 1967 and created a single set of institutions for the three communities, which were collectively referred to as theEuropean Communities (EC), although commonly just as the European Community

1973, the Communities enlarged to include Denmark (includingGreenland, which later left the Community in 1985), Ireland, and the United Kingdom. Norway had negotiated to join at the same time, but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a referendum.

1979, the first direct, democratic elections to the European Parliament were held.

Greece joined in 1981; Portugal and Spain in 1986.

1985, the Schengen Agreement led the way toward the creation of open borders without passport controls between most member states and some non-member states.

1986, the European flag began to be used by the Community and the Single European Act was signed

1990, after the fall of the Eastern Bloc, the former East Germany became part of the Community as part of a reunited Germany. With further enlargement planned for former Communist states, Cyprus, and Malta, the Copenhagen criteria for candidate members to join the EU were agreed upon in June 1993.

1993 The European Union was formally established when the Maastricht Treaty

1995, Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU.

2002, euro banknotes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 of the member states. Since then, the eurozone has increased to encompass 18 countries

2004, the EU saw its biggest enlargement to date when Cyprus, the Czech

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