Influencing law

The European Union is made up of three pillars. The first is known as the European Community, dealing largely with the single market. The second and third pillars are the fields of Foreign and Security Policy, and Justice and Home Affairs respectively. The Maastricht Treaty has been further supplemented by the Treaty of Amsterdam (1997) and the Treaty of Nice (2000). These treaties have focused on tackling the challenges of the significant enlargement of the European Union.

The European Economic Community was set up in 1957 following the signing of the Treaty of Rome by six founding members (France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg). The UK joined in 1973, with Denmark and Ireland. Greece followed in 1981, Spain and Portugal in 1986, Sweden, Finland and Austria in 1995. In May 2004, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia joined the EU. Finally on 1 January 2007, Bulgaria and Romania became members. In total there are now 27 member countries.

The Treaty of Rome has been supplemented over the years. First by the Single European Act, signed in 1985, that created the single market and introduced qualified majority voting. The Maastricht Treaty, otherwise known as the Treaty on European Union, was signed in 1991 and created the European Union.