The European Union
The roots of the idea of a united Europe can be traced back to Graeco-Roman times. The unification of Europe into a community of peace only took a concrete shape with Jean Monnet and Robert Schuman’s concept for the foundation of a European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the subsequent establishment of a supra-national administration for oal and steel production. However, the already far-reaching effects of the ECSC were further surpassed by the project of a European internal market based on the Treaties of Rome of 1957.
The European Union we live in today is devised as a community based on law and is founded on treaties concluded under international law between its Member States. At present the two communities forming the "first pillar" (the European Community, EC, and the European Atomic Energy Community, EAEC) are complemented by the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSC), which is in principle based on inter-governmental cooperation, and the Police and Judicial Cooperation in Criminal Matters.
