The European Union

The United Kingdom is made up of four countries; Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. The UK is on the continent of Europe which includes 49 countries altogether.

The European Union is a group of 27 European Countries who have come together in order to benefit their citizens.

Through working together the EU officially aims to;

• Remove trade barriers between countries in order to boost growth and create work - Europeans are now generally free to live and work in many other European countries.
• Improve product standards and consumer rights - you can send something you bought back to anywhere within the EU if it breaks within 2 years.
• Fight international crime and illegal immigration.
• Bring peace and stability by getting countries to work together.
• Tackle climate change.
• Maintain food standards. Under EU law, all food ingredients must be listed, and the standard of things like organic food, and food from a particular region - like Parma ham for instance - must be maintained.
• Provide Europe with a voice in order to make negotiations with Russia and the USA easier.

The EU as we know today was established by the Maastricht Treaty and came into being on 1 November 1993.

Since its creation, the EU has divided its policies into three areas called 'pillars'.

• The Community pillar to deal with economic, social and environmental policies.
• The Common Foreign and Security Policy pillar to deal with foreign and military matters.
• The Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters pillar to deal with the co-operation of countries in the fight against crime.

Creating the EU had been an ambition of some European countries for many years. In 1957 a collection of European countries; France, Belgium, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Luxembourg came together to create the European Economic Community (EEC). The reason for this was to make trade between these countries easier and to create a common market. Having suffered two world wars, all countries were keen to avoid future conflict. The EEC was therefore a preventative measure as it was thought countries wouldn't want to fight each other if they were dependent on one another for trade and were at risk of losing out economically. Working together would also make them allies which would hopefully stop future conflict.

The UK joined the EEC in 1973 in order to ensure easier trading with European countries.

The EU is made up of 27 different Member States. These include

• Austria
• Belgium
• Bulgaria
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Denmark
• Estonia
• Finland
• France
• Germany
• Greece
• Hungary
• Ireland
• Italy
• Latvia
• Lithuania
• Malta
• The Netherlands
• Poland
• Portugal
• Romania
• Slovakia
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Sweden
• The UK
• Luxembourg

There are also official candidate countries including Turkey, Croatia and Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and potential candidate countries including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo.

There are over 500 million citizens in the EU and 23 official languages.

Countries have to have the following attributes in order to become a member state in the EU;

• A stable democracy which respects human rights
• A good economy able to compete within the EU
• An acceptance of EU laws

The EU works using a combination of Inter-governmental-ism and Super-nationalism.

The EU is organised by five main important bodies.

• The Council of Ministers
  This includes Government Ministers from each Member State and these vary depending on what law or issue is being discussed. New member states are chosen and accepted by the Council of Ministers.

• European Parliament
  This includes 785 Members of European Parliament or MEPs. MEPs are elected by EU citizens in European Elections which take place every five years. Each Member State is divided into different constituencies. Wales for example is one constituency and elects four MEPs to represent it in European Parliament. European Parliament meets in both Strasbourg in France and Brussels in Belgium.

• The European Commission
  This includes 27 representatives from each Member State and is headed by a President who is chosen by the European Council and the European Parliament. The 27 representatives are chosen by the President and each Member States' National Government who decide what issues each representative will be responsible for.
  
  The Commission manages the day to day running of the EU and initiates laws, as a Government would do. Member States can initiate laws by getting their representative to propose it in the Commission.

• European Court of Justice
  The European Court of Justice has the ultimate say on matters concerning EU law and makes sure each Member State carries out these laws properly.

• European Central Bank
  The European Central Bank is one of the world's most important central banks, responsible for monetary policy covering the 16 member states who use the Euro.

EU laws are created and passed by the Council of Ministers, the European Commission and the European Parliament. A law is created in the following steps;

• The European Commission proposes a new law
• The new law may be amended by the Council Of Ministers if the majority want to change something
• Amendments and suggestions from Parliament are taken into account but don't have to be followed
• The final drafts are given to the Council Ministers
• If the law is approved by a majority of the Council Ministers it becomes law

When the EU creates a law it overrides the laws in each Member State such as the UK. This means Wales now has the same laws as other EU Member States regarding issues such as health and safety, advertising, working conditions and equality.

If Member States aren't happy with a new EU law they can use a veto - which means they can choose to stop something from becoming a law across the entire EU and derogation - which allows Member States to stop something becoming law in their own country or provides them the opportunity to introduce laws in their own countries at a more suitable time.

Issues such as tax, foreign policy and defence are still dealt within Member States rather than on a European level.

The EU's standardised system of laws have developed a single market* across all countries within the European Union.

The Euro was introduced in 2002 and is now used as currency in 16 of Member States. The UK's Conservative government at the time decided to opt out of this common currency and the current UK Labour government supports it in principle, but will only introduce it when the country's economic conditions are perfect. "Working Time Directive" makes sure that everyone living and working in Europe gets paid for at least four weeks holiday every year, and lunch breaks if you work for more than 6 hours a day. Many Americans only get two weeks of paid holidays.

The EU also gives money to its Member States. The Welsh Assembly Government has received grants from the EU's Objectives 1, 2 and 3 which aim to help revive areas where industry is in decline, create employment and training opportunities and boost economic development.

For more information on the EU go to www.europa.eu and to contact the MEPs who represent Wales, visit www.writetothem.com.