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The foundation and the three pillars of the European Union
The European Union (EU) consists of a foundation made up of four treaties and three pillars.
Treaties
- Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC),
- Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (EEC),
- Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom),
- Treaty on European Union (TEU - Treaty of Maastricht).
In principle, the treaties will be amended whenever there has been an accession of new member states, when bodies have been reformed or have been entrusted with new competences.
During the last 20 years, this happened three times, namely by means of
- the Single European Act (SEA),
- the Treaty of Amsterdam, and
- the Treaty of Nice.
Pillars
The European Community (EC) and EURATOM form the first pillar, the European Communities.
- Joint decisions in the areas of coal, steel, atomic energy and other important economic sectors.
- Gradually, the economic function was augmented by adding responsibilities in areas such as social, environmental and regional policy - i.e. EEC turned into EC.
- The Communities have common bodies, i.a. the Council (member states' ministers), the European Parliament, the Commission.
The common foreign and security policy (CFSP) forms the second pillar and the cooperation in the fields of justice and home affairs the third pillar.
By way of the Treaty of Maastricht (TEU) and the resulting integration of the two pillars of foreign and security policy and justice and home affairs cooperation, the Community system founded by the ECSC Treaty, the EEC Treaty and the Euratom Treaty evolved into a new political and economic structure - the European Union (EU).
Decision-making
As far as the first pillar is concerned, decisions in the legislative procedure are taken by majority votes. In terms of the second pillar, decisions are as a rule taken unanimously, the third pillar is based on intergovernmental cooperation.
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