The European Union is an Political And Economic Union of Countries.

The European Union was created in November of 1993, by the Treaty of Maastricht.

There are currently 27 countries which are members of the union.

The economic base for the EU was the European economic community, which was already in existence when the EU was formed.

The EU has standardized laws which apply equally in each of the countries which are members.

Also, people and products can move freely from one country to the next throughout the EU.

Sixteen of the twenty-seven countries use a single currency, the euro, the others retained their own currencies.

The EU is the first successful attempt to unify European countries both politically and economically.

There were several previous attempts to unify some of the European nations economically, starting after the end of World War II.

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Communities

Europe has been moving toward the creation of the European Union since the end of WWII.

There were several communities created in Europe starting right after the war.

The first community was the European Coal and Steel Community, which included France, West Germany, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Italy and Belgium.

The European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy community were established in 1957.

A treaty in 1967 created a single set of institutions for these three communities.

The treaty in essence gave the communities a governing body. They already had a common parliament and court system.

Is the European Union the first step toward a one world government?

Will other continents start to follow in the economic instability the world is feeling today?

Is a North American Union next? Are we on our way to the three world powers which Orwell wrote about in his book 1984?

The EU

The European Union is made up of 27 previously independent countries.

These countries are; Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

The EU continues to expand, accepting its most recent members in 2007.

The EU has the option to reject the application of countries for membership.

It reportedly took the United Kingdom three applications before it was admitted to the EU.

In all likelihood, the EU will continue to grow, and expand across the continent.

The big question is how soon other areas of the world are going to push for a similar union.

Will North America be the next union? How realistic would it be for the African continent to begin forming a Union, or would the countries there instead apply to join the EU? Where has the sovereignty gone?

The United States of America is a unique country, that when operated properly provides for the best interests of its citizens.

The United States would be making a mistake if it was to pursue the formation of a union.