Guide to Foreign and International Legal Citations - New York ...

I. ORGANIZATION PROFILE
EUROPEAN UNION
In the aftermath of World War II, many European countries believed that closer
economic and political integration was the best way to achieve lasting peace. In 1957, six
countries — France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg — entered into
the Rome Treaties, which provided for the creation of three new institutions: the European
Economic Community (EEC), the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), and the
European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom). The original Member States were joined by
Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom in 1973, Greece in 1981, Portugal and Spain in 1986,
and by Austria, Finland, and Sweden in 1995, bringing the total number of member states to
fifteen.
Over time, the activities of the Communities extended far beyond their initial goal of a
common market to encompass the harmonization of Member States’ national economic laws and
the promotion of free movement of labor and capital.
Major changes to the political agenda and organizational structure of the Communities
were introduced by four significant amendments to the Treaty of Rome on the EEC. The 1986
Single European Act provided the EEC with new powers in the fields of the environment,
research, and development. The Act also attempted to create a framework for a common foreign
policy of the Member States.
The 1992 Maastricht Treaty on the European Union further increased the scope of the
EEC’s powers (and renamed the institution the European Community (EC)), granting it some
aspects of education, culture, public health, and consumer protection powers. The Maastricht
Treaty balanced these new powers with the introduction of the principle of subsidiarity as a
general principle of Community law.
Moreover, the Treaty of Maastricht provided for the creation of a new entity—the
European Union, which was superimposed over the existing structure. Its task is to organize, in
a manner demonstrating consistency and solidarity, relations between the Member States and
between their peoples.
The European Union is based on three pillars. The first relates to cooperation in the
fields of economic, social and monetary policy. This remains the task of the EC. The second
relates to cooperation in the areas of justice and domestic affairs. The third relates to the
development and implementation of a common foreign and security policy, possibly leading to a
common defense. The European Union exists mainly as a cooperative framework and does not
possess any juridical personality as such. The last two pillars are thus independent from the
original Treaty of Rome framework and do not, therefore, constitute Community law.
The 1997 Treaty of Amsterdam further enlarged the powers of the Community in areas of
visa, asylum, immigration, and employment. The Treaty of Amsterdam also completely
renumbered the articles of the previous Treaties.
Finally, the 2001 Treaty of Nice revised certain aspects of Community governance
necessary for enlargement of the EU beyond fifteen Member States, particularly the size and
composition of various political bodies and the decision-making processes used. On May 1,
2004, the EU added ten Member States, incorporating much of Central and Eastern Europe.
Although the three Communities were established as separate organizations, their
institutional structure has rapidly become uniform (although the the treaty establishing the
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