The European Union (EU) was founded in the 1990s to unite, or bring together, the democratic countries of Europe. The aim of the EU is to help its member countries with issues of trade, security, and the rights of their citizens. By 2004 the group consisted of 25 member countries.

The branches of the European Union

The European Union has a number of branches that do different things. The European Council is made up of the heads of state or government of the member nations. It meets regularly to make policy. Policy includes such things as setting general rules and goals and planning for the future. The Council of Ministers is made up of one person from each of the member nations. This council decides how treaties, or agreements, are carried out. The council also deals with the business policies of the member nations and makes sure that they work together.

The European Commission makes sure that treaties of the EU are carried out. It also makes sure that the rules are followed. The European Parliament is made up of people voted into office by the citizens of member nations. Its work is to make laws for the EU. The number of people who represent each country is based on its size. The European Court of Justice runs the courts of the EU.

The euro

The money of the EU is called the euro. It was introduced in 1999. Most of the member countries switched from their own currencies, or form of money, to the euro by early 2002.

History

World War II caused a lot of damage in Europe. Afterward, European leaders believed they needed to cooperate to have strong economies and to prevent another war.

In 1952, the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was formed. It was designed to bring together the coal and steel businesses of France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The ECSC was successful, and the six nations decided to cooperate even further. The European Economic Community (EEC) was formed in 1957–58. Its goals were to establish free trade and to have a single trade policy toward countries that did not belong to the group. In 1958, the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) was established. Atomic energy is energy made in nuclear power plants. The Euratom wanted to form a single market for making nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

In 1967, the EEC joined together with the ECSC and the Euratom to form the European Communities (EC). Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Ireland joined the EC in 1973. Greece joined in 1981, Spain and Portugal joined in 1986, and Germany joined in 1990.

The success of the group in matters of trade led the member countries of the EC to seek greater cooperation in other matters as well. The Maastricht Treaty in 1991 established the European Union, and even more European countries joined. Austria, Finland, and Sweden became members of the EU in 1995. In 2004 the group gained ten new members: Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia.