The European Union - Essay Example

This was in the 1920s and the name of the organization was Patt-European Union. However, real integration in Europe was achieved through the European Economic Community (EEC). The vision of this organization was “broad enough to achieve real integration across a wide range of policy issues” (“The political landscape,” 209). The European Economic Community was the pioneer of today`s European Union. It was established by six western European nations; Belgium, Luxembourg, Netherlands France, Italy, and West Germany, (“The political landscape,” 209).

A major step was taken towards the building of the nations in 1992, with the treaty of European Union also referred to as the Maastricht treaty, signed at an intergovernmental conference that was held in Dutch (“The political landscape,” 211). This treaty was ratified in 1993, and provided for the continued deepening of cooperation among member nations in different areas, and cooperation into three forms referred to as the pillar of the union. These are the European Community, the common foreign and security policy, and the cooperation in the field of justice and home affairs (“The political landscape,” 212).

The European Union is an umbrella that stands over these three constituent pillar organizations. In 1990, the European Union removed all trade barriers allowing free movement of people. During these years, the European Union had an integrative development to have a single currency. This began when Maastricht treaty set a timetable at was set to achieve monetary union. The second step was the establishment of the European monetary institution that was to strengthen the coordination of the monetary policies of the member states.

Nevertheless, Denmark rejected the idea of a single currency and feared that the adoption of the Euro would steer unacceptable erosion of the Danish political sovereignty (“The political landscape,” 212). Sweden took a go slow approach, hoping to join