The European Union – more than the amalgamation of 27 Nations and States

The European Union has its seat in Brussels. At the highest political level, the European Council, EU Member States Heads of State come together to set out the direction of the EU. Further, the EU has a directly elected European Parliament, which represents the citizens, and a Council of the European Union, which represents the 27 Member States.

The EU’s executive body, which can be likened to “ministries” in national terms, is known as the European Commission and comprises 27 “Directorates Generals”. The Commission implements a wide range of policies from agriculture to education, climate change, and foreign and security policy.

In certain areas, the EU even has the exclusive right to define and carry out policies on behalf of the 27 Member States, notably on international trade, agriculture, fisheries and regional policies. The EU has its own autonomous budget and is accountable to its parliament and independent judiciary.

The EU-Parliament acts as a co-legislator, sharing with the Council of the EU, the power to adopt and amend legislative proposals and to decide on the EU’s budget. It also supervises the work of the Commission and other EU bodies and cooperates with national parliaments of EU Member States.

This admittedly complex institutional set-up ensures that interests between the European Union, its treaties, its citizens and the 27 state’s governments are balanced. The checks and balances and the degree of autonomy make the European Union unique and fundamentally different from intergovernmental bodies such as the United Nations or SADC.

The EU is one of the largest market in the world, with a GDP of over 17 trillion Euros and a combined population of almost 450 million people. The EU operates as a single market where goods, services, capital and persons can move freely.

Internationally, the EU accounts for around 14% of the world's trade in goods. The EU and its Member States also remain the biggest global provider of Official Development Assistance, with 95.9 billion Euro provided in 2023.

Above all, the EU is a Peace project. It all started in 1957, close on the heels of the devastating Second World War, with the creation of the European Economic Community. The six founding members, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and the then Federal Republic of Germany signed the Treaty of Rome in the desire to reunify the continent through peace and economic interdependence.

Over the past 70 years, the EU passed through several phases of integration, enlargement and treaties. Today it is made up of 27 Member States: 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. In 2007, the Member States signed the Treaty of Lisbon, whereby the European Community was replaced by the ‘European Union’, a distinct international body and legal personality. In 2012, the European Union was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, in recognition of the advances it has made in peace, reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe.

The United Kingdom, which had joined the European Community in 1973, exited in January 2020 after an internal referendum. Yet, the EU’s appeal has not faded, with ten Candide Countries knocking on the EU’s doors for accession: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey and Ukraine.