European Community
The European Community (EC) is a economic and political intergovernmental regional organization that aims to promote economic integration and development, the rule of law, and human rights in Europe. It has 35 member states and a total population of over 900 million, and with a total GDP of $25.98 trillion, the European Community is the largest regional economy in the world. The organization uses five official working languages, which are English, French, German, Russian, and Spanish. It is also referred to as the Common Market in English-speaking countries.
European Community Communauté européenne (French) Europäische Gemeinschaft (German) Европейское сообщество (Russian) Comunidad Europea (Spanish) | |
|---|---|
 Flag | |
| Headquarters | Berlin, Germany |
| Working languages | English, French, German, Russian, Spanish |
| Membership | 35 member states |
| Leaders | |
• Council President |
 Mark van Loon |
• Secretary General |
 Luigi Monticelli |
| Establishment | |
• EEC declared | 1 September 1960 |
| 22 May 1977 | |
• Treaty in effect | 1 November 1977 |
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Website www.europa.eu | |
The EC was founded in November 1977 by the Warsaw Pact, in the aftermath of the Second Great War, initially for the purpose of creating a lasting peace in Europe. The organization developed from the Mitteleuropa system of satellite states that Germany maintained since the 1940s, and during the Cold War it became part of the Western Bloc that opposed the Landonist-Marxist countries led by the United Commonwealth and the People's Republic of China. It was preceded by the European Economic Community (EEC) created in 1960 for the purpose of rebuilding Europe after the devastation of Great War II with the assistance of Anglo-American funding, before Germany and the United Kingdom emerged as the leading economies. The EEC began with the "inner six" countries: Germany, France, Britain, the Netherlands, Austria, and Denmark. By 1975, the Economic Community grew to include most other non-Landonist countries in Europe. In 1977 the decision was made to expand the economic association to certain political and legal functions, creating the Parliamentary Assembly of the European Community and the Council of Europe, the two primary decision-making bodies of the European Community.
The EC established a common market among the states of Western and Eastern Europe during the early 1980s, leading to rapid economic growth and increasing the standard of living for the middle classes in Europe. It also led to the development of previously underdeveloped Eastern European economies. These factors contributed to democratic development in EC member states, leading to the end of nationalist autocracies by the mid-1990s. The Community consists of common institutions to promote trade by standardizing certain laws and aspects of political systems in Europe, with additional functions of promoting the rule of law and human rights, although those have been more debated and controversial. The Council of Europe consists of the foreign ministers of each state, who are represented by a permanent representative, while the Parliamentary Assembly includes appointed members of national parliaments.
The European Court of Justice (ECJ) was also created as the main legal authority in the organization, helping coordinate law enforcement and settling disputes between states. The EC is not a federal structure and cannot make binding laws without the unanimous agreement of every member state, although the Council of Europe is permitted to take action to enforce European Court of Justice decisions in certain situations. Member states of the organization maintain their own individual currencies, border controls, defense and foreign policy. The EC has acted upon a unified foreign policy on occasion, and provides a forum for European nations to discuss international issues.
The EC has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states in those matters, and only those matters, where members have agreed to act as one. EC policies aim to ensure the free movement of member state citizens, goods, services and capital within the internal market; enact legislation in justice and home affairs; and maintain common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries and regional development. As the EC has always been regarded as a loose association of member states, in recent years there have been discussions of creating a "European Union" that would include a common currency, less border controls, and possibly a unified military command, similar to the role of the Conference of American States in North America, but these discussions have not led to the implementation of any policy as of 2022.
History
Government and politics
| Parliamentary Assembly - Legislature - |
Council of Europe |
European Court of Justice - Judiciary - |
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Council of Europe
Parliamentary Assembly
Military
Membership
The European Community has 36 member states as of 2022, with the most recent to join being Albania in 2005.
List of member states
| Flag | State | Accession | Language(s) | Currency | Population (2020) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Albania | 24 January 2005 | |||
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Armenia | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Austria | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Belarus | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Bulgaria | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Croatia | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Czechia | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Dagestan | 1 January 2005 | |||
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Denmark | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Estonia | 1 November 1977 | |||
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France | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Finland | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Georgia | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Germany | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Greece | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Hungary | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Ireland | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Italy | 10 July 2002 | |||
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Latvia | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Lithuania | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Luxembourg | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Malta | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Montenegro | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Netherlands | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Norway | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Poland | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Portugal | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Romania | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Russia | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Sardinia | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Serbia | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Slovakia | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Spain | 10 July 2002 | |||
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Sweden | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Ukraine | 1 November 1977 | |||
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United Kingdom | 1 November 1977 | |||
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Waynakhia | 1 January 2005 |
Expansion
Aims and achievements
See also
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This page uses material from the Wikipedia page European Union, which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).
