arching
entity is truly unique.
Although the EU is not a federation in the strict sense, it is far
more than a free-trade association such as ASEAN, NAFTA, or
Mercosur, and it has many of the attributes associated with
independent nations: its own flag, anthem, founding date, and
currency, as well as an incipient common foreign and security policy
in its dealings with other nations.
In the future, many of these nation-like characteristics are likely
to be expanded. Thus, inclusion of basic intelligence on the EU has
been deemed appropriate as a new, separate entity in The World
Factbook. However, because of the EU's special status, this
description is placed after the regular country entries.

Background:

Following the two devastating World Wars of the first half of the
20th century, a number of European leaders in the late 1940s became
convinced that the only way to establish a lasting peace was to
unite the two chief belligerent nations - France and Germany - both
economically and politically. In 1950, the French Foreign Minister
Robert SCHUMAN proposed an eventual union of all Europe, the first
step of which would be the integration of the coal and steel
industries of Western Europe. The following year the European Coal
and Steel Community (ECSC) was set up when six members, Belgium,
France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, signed
the Treaty of Paris.
The ECSC was so successful that within a few years the decision was
made to integrate other parts of the countries' economies. In 1957,
the Treaties of Rome created the European Economic Community (EEC)
and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), and the six
member states undertook to eliminate trade barriers among themselves
by forming a common market. In 1967, the institutions of all three
communities were formally merged into the European Community (EC),
creating a single Commission, a single Council of Ministers, and the
European Parliament. Members of the European Parliament were
initially selected by national parliaments, but in 1979 the first
direct elections were undertaken and they have been held every five
years since.
In 1973, the first enlargement of the EC took place with the
addition of Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The 1980s saw
further membership expansion with Greece joining in 1981 and Spain
and Portugal in 1986. The 1992 Treaty of Maastricht laid the basis
for further forms of cooperation in foreign an