IIT Downtown Campus Library -- European Union Research

EUROPEAN UNION RESEARCH

The European Union represents a different type of IGO: a supranational organization. Supranational organizations are ones in which:

Members surrender powers to the main governing organization.
Laws or rules of the main organization may preempt laws of member states.
The main organization may directly grant rights to citizens of member states.

The European Union (formerly known as the European Communities) comprises three separate communities: the European Coal and Steel Community (established by the Treaty of Paris in 1951); the European Atomic Energy Community; and the European Economic Community (the latter two established in 1957 by the Treaty of Rome). In 1993, the Treaty on European Union (also known as the Maastricht Treaty) entered into force, and the European Communities formally became known as the European Union.

Member states have a duty to take all appropriate measures to fulfill obligations arising under EU law. Where a conflict arises between a national law and EU law, EU law controls (which is similar to the system in the U.S., in which federal law controls in cases of conflict between federal and state law.)

In 2004 the European Union increased from 15 member states to 25 member states. A brief history of the European Union can be found on the EU website and is worth reading to get a sense of the EU's place in history.

The EU's Web site contains a host of additional, useful information about the history and organization of the European Union.

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