Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

The European Union (EU) is a unique supranational entity that has adopted an innovative approach to the challenges posed by its distinctive structure, by the convergence of communications technologies, and by the introduction of free market economics. In the process of transforming into a powerful union that preserves the sovereignty of its members, the EU has embraced the free flow of cross-border communications, market-oriented policies, each member state's unique cultural identity, and the need to create a European cultural identity. The Rome Treaty of 1958, signed by France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg, created the European Economic Community (EEC). This treaty set the stage for the political unification of Europe into a single entity. During the 1970s and 1980s, Denmark, Ireland, the UK, Greece, Spain, and Portugal joined the EEC, increasing its membership to 12 nations. The Single European Act of 1987 streamlined the EEC's decision-making processes with the goal of creating a political union, not an economic one, and it introduced majority voting on a limited number of issues. After the Soviet collapse in the early 1990s, the Maastricht Treaty of 1993 created the European Union. The EU's jurisdiction over economic assets was extended to a common foreign and defense policy and to cooperation in law enforcement, thereby trying to balance a central ... log in or subscribe to read full text