European Union

(EU).

An economic and political union currently consisting of 27 European member states.

The current members are: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden.

Brexit

The UK left the EU on 31 January 2020.

Areas of work

The three areas which form the union are:

• The European Community
• Common Foreign and Security Policy
• Police and Judicial co-operation in Criminal Matters

EU law

The legislature of the EU includes the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission.

The EU's judicial bodies include the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) and the European Court of Justice (ECJ) which includes the General Court and the Court of Auditors.

See also

• Article 50
• Brexit
• Brussels
• BUL
• CEBR
• Court of Justice of the European Union
• Direct effect
• Directive
• Economic and Financial Affairs Council
• EMIR
• EU 27
• euro zone
• European Commission
• European Community
• European Court of Justice
• European Council
• European Economic and Monetary Union
• European Economic Area
• European Investment Bank
• European Parliament
• NATO
• Official Journal of the European Union
• Payment Services Directive
• Regulation
• Schengen Area