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Community full menu: European Unit
European Unit - Overview of the European Union
The European Unit – Economic Development Service - October 2008
europe@kirklees.gov.uk
Short history of the EU
The ground rules of the European Union are set out in a series of treaties:
- the Treaty of Paris, which set up the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951
- the Treaties of Rome, which set up the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) in 1957.
These founding treaties were subsequently amended by:
- the Single European Act (1986),
- the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht, 1992)
- the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) and
- the Treaty of Nice (2001).
These treaties have forged very strong legal ties between the EU's member states. European Union laws directly affect EU citizens and
give them very specific rights.
To find out more about the history of the EU visit the page The history of the European Union (external site)on the Europa website.
EU institutions
The EU has five main institutions:
In general, initial proposals for legislation and policy are drafted by the Commission for consideration and
decisions made by the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.
The Court of Justice upholds the rule of European law and the Court of Auditors checks the financing of the EU's
activities.
In addition to these five institutions, there are five bodies that play an important role:
MEPs for Yorkshire and the Humber
There are currently 785 MEPS, 78 of whom come from the UK.
At the 2004 European Parliament elections, 732 MEPS were elected from the then 25 member states of the EU. With
the addition of Romania (35 MEPs) and Bulgaria (18 MEPs), there will be an extra 53 MEPS until the June 2009
European elections.
After the 2009 elections, under present arrangements there would be a total of 736 MEPs, of which 72 would come
from the UK. Once the Reform Treaty comes into force the Parliament will consist of 751 seats, of which 73 will
come from the UK.
MEPs do not sit in national delegations in the Parliament, but in multinational political groups. The centre-right
European People's Party (EPP) and European Democrats, which includes British Conservative, is the largest
political group. British Labour MEPs belong to the Party of the European Socialists, the second biggest group.
The Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), where the largest national contingent is from the UK, is
third biggest, closely followed by the Green/European Free Alliance which has brought together Green MEPs from 13
countries, including Britain’s two Green members, and nationalist parties, including Plaid Cymru and SNP members.
Number of Members of European Parliament elected in 2004 compared with 1999
| Party |
MEPs 2004 |
MEPs 1999 |
| Conservative Party |
27 |
36 |
| Labour Party |
19 |
29 |
| UK Independence Party |
12 |
3 |
| Liberal Democrats |
12 |
10 |
| Green Party |
2 |
2 |
| Scottish National Party |
2 |
2 |
| Plaid Cymru |
1 |
2 |
| Democratic Unionist Party |
1 |
1 |
| Sinn Féin |
1 |
0 |
| Ulster Unionist Party |
1 |
1 |
| SDLP |
0 |
1 |
| Total |
78 |
87 |
Yorkshire and the Humber were allocated six seats.
Enlargement
May 2004 marked a historic landmark for the European Union as it grew from 15 to 25 member states. Six of the new
member states from central and eastern European countries did not even exist just over a decade ago! In 2007 two
further member states, Bulgaria and Romania joined bringing the total to 27.
Here are the key dates in the growth of the European Union:
- 1951 - Belgium, France, Germany (Federal Republic), Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands sign the Treaty of
Paris establishing the ECSC
- 1973 - Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom join the European Communities
- 1981 - Greece joins the European Communities
- 1986 - Spain and Portugal join the European Communities
- 1995 - Austria, Finland and Sweden join the European Union. Norway stays out, following a referendum in which
most people voted against membership
- 2004 - Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic and
Slovenia join the European Union
- 2007 - Bulgaria and Romania join.
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