European Community

  

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	31 member states
Leaders
• Council President	Mark van Loon
• Secretary General	Luigi Guido
Establishment
• Treaty of Sigmaringen	22 May 1977
• Treaty in effect	1 November 1977
Website www.europa.eu

The European Community (EC) is a economic intergovernmental regional organization that aims to promote economic integration and development, the rule of law, and human rights in Europe. It has 32 member states and a total population of over 900 million, and with a total GDP of $23.98 trillion, the European Community is the second-largest regional economy in the world after the Conference of American States. 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.

The EC was founded in November 1977 by the Treaty of Sigmaringen, 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 a geopolitical bloc of Nationalist authoritarian regimes led by Germany, as one of the three poles of power along with the liberal democratic West led by Sierra and Britain, and the Communist world led by the United Commonwealth and China. It was preceded by the European Economic Community (EEC) created in 1962 for the purpose of rebuilding Europe after the devastation of Great War II with German funding, an effort by Germany to stop British and Anglo-American financial influence from undermining German control over the continent. The nationalist authoritarian system in Europe lasted until the 1970s and 1980s, seeing a demise as Germany itself began to democratize its political system, also leading to further integration of EEC member countries.

The EEC established a common market among the German satellite states of Western and Eastern Europe during the early 1970s, 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 EEC member states, leading to the end of nationalist one-party autocracies by the mid 1990s. The organization's membership was expanded to include almost all of Europe, and after the end of the Cold War with the Revolutions of 2000, Spain, Italy, Albania, Croatia, and the United Kingdom also joined the Community, making every European state a member of the organization.

The Community gained a set of common institutions to promote trade, and its main decision-making body is the Council of Europe. It consists of representatives from each member state, with a rotating Presidency. 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.

Membership

List of member states

Flag	State	Accession	Language(s)	Currency	Population (2020)
	Albania
	Armenia
	Austria
	Belarus
	Bulgaria
	Croatia
	Czechia
	Estonia
	France
	Finland
	Georgia
	Germany
	Greece
	Hungary
	Italy
	Latvia
	Lithuania
	Malta
	Monaco
	Montenegro
	Netherlands
	Poland
	Portugal
	Romania
	Russia
	Sardinia
	Serbia
	Slovakia
	Slovenia
	Spain
	Ukraine
	United Kingdom

See also

• Conference of American States
• African Union