Companies could have free right of establishment within the Member States and could freely sell goods and services. Council and European Council documents are made available through the public register, in accordance with EU rules on transparency. Rev. The contradictions are most evident between those who want to achieve a full-fledged political and economic union (for example, Germany) as quickly as possible and those who can envisage deeper cooperation where, however, individual countries have not abandoned their crucial sovereignty claim (for example, the United Kingdom). Despite free trade, trade barriers existed in the EC (technical standards, rules for public procurement and border crossing costs). Rev. It consists of the heads of state or government of the member states, together with its President and the President of the Commission. Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Web. The next step was taken in 1957, when, by signing the Treaty of Rome, the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Nuclear Energy Community (EURATOM) were established. the linguistic version. To get more information about these cookies, how and why we use them and how you can change your settings, check our cookies policy page. The European Council brings together EU leaders at least four times a year. We use cookies in order to ensure that you can get the best browsing experience possible on the Council website. Rev. There are 27 countries in European Union. The Council takes its decisions by a simple majority, qualified majority or unanimous vote, depending on the decision that needs to be taken. During this period new negotiations were conducted. the website of the registration authority). Read more about the role of the European Council IE - Ireland 17. The press office holds press events, offers audiovisual coverage of major events and provides facilities for journalists. Rev. The cooperation would also include a common foreign and security policy and a common defense policy, which over time could lead to joint defense as well as cooperation in home affairs and justice (including asylum issues and police cooperation). On January 1, 1995, the first three countries became full members of the EU. The Council is an essential EU decision-maker. It was extended again by Council Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2015/2264 (OJ L 322, 8.12.2015, p. 1), but it is to be gradually reduced in scope and eventually brought to an end by 31 December 2021. The European Council is the EU institution that defines the general political direction and priorities of the European Union. In the Agenda 2000 (1997) action program, the Commission presented proposals on how the EU should prepare for enlargement. The final negotiations proceeded “in a positive spirit”. Certain cookies are used to obtain aggregated statistics about website visits to help us constantly improve the site and better serve your needs. extent that it is no longer convenient to use separate menu tabs for Order of languages in text (unilingual texts). LT - Lithuania 19. The right for a smaller group of states to deepen cooperation on certain issues (“flexible integration”) attracted great interest. The Foreign Affairs Council  also has a special remit. The broadening and deepening processes within the EU have also affected the current members’ views on their own position in the organization and on its long-term goals. 3: new candidate country (Croatia) codes 639-1 in force, alpha-2 code – see also the ISO 7: new Member States (Bulgaria and Romania); Ireland (amendments); HU - Hungary 16. 16: Croatia (Member State) When an agreement is also written in a non-Union language, the Union languages precede the The question of whether the governance of the European Union (EU) lacks democratic legitimacy has been debated since the time of the European Economic Community in the late 1970s. It consists of the heads of state or government of the member states, together with its President and the President of the Commission. After the text was drafted by experts, the process began by which all the member states, in the manner they themselves chose, would approve the “Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe”. 1, modification to version 1: Κύπρος/Kıbrıs, 1. Among these were Turkey and a number of states in Eastern and Central Europe. website). GR - Greece 14. The president of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council, as well as a principal representative of the European Union (EU) on the world stage. In 1998, negotiations on EU membership began with a first group of candidate countries (Cyprus, Estonia, Poland, Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary) and a year later with six additional countries (Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Romania and Slovakia). An Intergovernmental Conference was convened on October 4, 2003, to consider the Convention’s proposal. Others wanted to increase cooperation, but let this be based on intergovernmental agreements. Rev. European Community Household Panel (replaced by SILC) ECIDES: E uropean Commission Corporate Information and Data Exchange System eCOLLECT: Component of Edamis: Ecowas: Economic Community Of West African States: ECSC : European Community of Steel and Coal : ECU : European Currency Unit - Replaced by the Euro : EDAF: European Data Access Forum