12.1. What is the European Union (EU)?
The European Union (EU) is a unique economic and political union between 27 European countries.
The EU has its roots in several treaties signed in the aftermath of the Second World War. The first step was to foster economic cooperation, based on the idea that countries that trade with one another become economically interdependent and so are more likely to avoid conflict. The result was the European Economic Community, created in 1958 with the initial aim of increasing economic cooperation between six countries: Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
Today the member countries are the following: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, 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.
What began as a purely economic union has evolved into an organisation spanning many different policy areas – from climate, environment and health to external relations and security, justice and migration.
One of the symbols of this union is the single European currency, the “euro”, used by more than 340 million citizens in nineteen of its countries.
The EU is governed by the principle of representative democracy, with citizens directly represented at the EU level in the European Parliament and Member States represented in the European Council and the Council of the European Union.
Since 1957 these have been its main achievements:
- A continent of peace, stability and prosperity.
- The abolition of border controls between most EU countries allows citizens to move freely throughout almost the entire continent to travel, study, work or retire.
- The world’s largest single market, which allows the free movement of goods, services, people and capital.
- Freedom for its people to live, study or work anywhere in the EU.
- Aid and development assistance for millions of people around the world.
- It also plays an important role in diplomacy and works to promote the benefits of the EU, as well as democracy, fundamental freedoms and the rule of law, across the globe.
More information in the European Commission website
The EU Principles and Values are set out in three groups or lines of work: Objectives and Values, Founding Agreements and Access to Information.
12.2. Aims and Values
The aims of the European Union within its borders are:
- Promote peace, its values and the well-being of its citizens.
- Offer freedom, security and justice without internal borders, while also taking appropriate measures at its external borders to regulate asylum and immigration and prevent and combat crime.
- Establish an internal market.
- Achieve sustainable development based on balanced economic growth and price stability and a highly competitive market economy with full employment and social progress.
- Protect and improve the quality of the environment.
- Promote scientific and technological progress.
- Combat social exclusion and discrimination.
- Promote social justice and protection, equality between women and men, and protection of the rights of the child.
- Enhance economic, social and territorial cohesion and solidarity among EU countries.
- Respect its rich cultural and linguistic diversity.
- Establish an economic and monetary union whose currency is the euro.
The aims of the EU within the wider world are:
- Uphold and promote its values and interests.
- Contribute to peace and security and the sustainable development of the Earth.
- Contribute to solidarity and mutual respect among peoples, free and fair trade, eradication of poverty and the protection of human rights.
- Strict observance of international law.
The EU’s aims are laid out in article 3 of the Lisbon Treaty.
Values
The European Union is founded on the following values:
- Human dignity. Human dignity is inviolable. It must be respected, protected and constitutes the real basis of fundamental rights.
- Freedom. Freedom of movement gives citizens the right to move and reside freely within the Union. Individual freedoms such as respect for private life, freedom of thought, religion, assembly, expression and information are protected by the EU Charter of fundamental Rights.
- Democracy. The functioning of the EU is founded on representative democracy. A European citizen automatically enjoys political rights. Every adult EU citizen has the right to stand as a candidate and to vote in elections to the European Parliament. EU citizens have the right to stand as a candidate and to vote in their country of residence, or in their country of origin.
- Equality. Equality is about equal rights for all citizens before the law. The principle of equality between women and men underpins all European policies and is the basis for European integration. It applies in all areas. The principle of equal pay for equal work became part of the Treaty of Rome in 1957.
- Rule of law. The EU is based on the rule of law. Everything the EU does is founded on treaties, voluntarily and democratically agreed by its EU countries. Law and justice are upheld by an independent judiciary. The EU countries gave final jurisdiction to the European Court of Justice – its judgments must be respected by all.
- Human rights. Human rights are protected by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. These cover the right to be free from discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation, the right to the protection of your personal data, and the right to get access to justice.
The EU’s values are laid out in article 2 of the Lisbon Treaty and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for advancing the causes of peace, reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe.
12.3. Founding Agreements
The European Union is based on the rule of law. This means that every action taken by the EU is founded on treaties that have been approved voluntarily and democratically by all EU member countries.
A treaty is a binding agreement between EU member countries. It sets out EU objectives, rules for EU institutions, how decisions are made and the relationship between the EU and its member countries.
Treaties are amended to make the EU more efficient and transparent, to prepare for new member countries and to introduce new areas of cooperation – such as the single currency.
Under the treaties, EU institutions can adopt legislation, which the member countries then implement. The complete texts of treaties, legislation, case law and legislative proposals can be viewed using the Eur-Lex database of EU law.
12.4. Access to Information
Article 15 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union states that citizens and residents of the European Union have a right of access to the documents of Union institutions, bodies, offices and agencies, whatever their medium.
This commitment is guaranteed through transparency and public access to these documents.
Transparency
La transparencia es uno de los principios fundamentales de la UE. Exige que ésta haga pública la información sobre formulación de políticas y gasto y que respete el principio de libertad de información.
Transparency is one of the EU’s key principles. It requires the EU to disclose information on policy-making and spending and to uphold the principle of freedom of information.
Article 10 of the Treaty on European Union stipulates that open decision-making is carried out ‘as closely as possible to the citizen’. Article 11 states that both individuals and representative associations should be given the opportunity to ’make known and publicly exchange their views in all areas of Union action’.
Public access to documents
It is a key element in transparency. The right of access to documents is an essential component of the transparency policy being implemented by the European institutions.
To ensure the access to the documents, the European Parliament has created an electronic register where they can be consulted. Documents not included in this register, such as documents from before 2001 and those to which an exception to the right of access may apply, can be consulted upon request free of charge and without any special justification.
The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union expands on these points. It states that the EU institutions are obliged to act publicly and to ensure that individuals and any natural or legal person residing or having its registered office in an EU country can access documents (Article 15).
To increase transparency, the European Commission, the European Parliament, the European Council and the Council of the European Union publish their meeting schedules. Those of the Commissioners, the President of the European Council and the President of the European Parliament are also available. The other EU institutions and bodies also publish the schedules of their presidents, meeting schedules and meetings broadcast on the internet.
You can find the access to the documentation related to the European Union in the following link: Access to the information and data bases.
