The European Union is a partnership of 27 European countries, covering a significant part of the European continent. The EU is home to about 447 million people, or almost 6% of the world's population. Citizens of the EU countries are also EU citizens.
Ukraine also intends to develop relations with the European Union, in particular to become a full member of the bloc.
However, in recent years, the EU has faced many challenges, such as the global financial crisis of 2008, the influx of migrants from Africa and the Middle East, the UK's exit from the EU (Brexit), and the economic consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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Now the challenges have been added to by a full-scale war between Russia and Ukraine, because it was to the EU countries that several million Ukrainian refugees fled from the war. And many European countries also supply us with weapons, ammunition, or finance urgent social needs.
ICTV Facts have prepared a detailed analysis of how the European Union works, what institutions it has and what they are responsible for.
- When the European Union was created
- The main institutions of the EU
- The powers of the European Parliament
- Elections to the European Parliament
- What does the European Commission do
- How the EU implements foreign policy
- Does the European Union have its own army
- EU budget
- Schengen area
- Other EU institutions
- Ukraine — EU
- European Commission report on Ukraine, 30 October 2024
- War could affect the pace of accession
- Can Ukraine's integration change EU dominance
- Obstacles during Ukraine's accession talks to the EU
- Interesting facts about the EU
When the European Union was created
After World War II, in the 50s, European countries began talking about uniting for economic growth and future peace protection.
The Treaty on European Union was signed on February 7, 1992 in Maastricht, Netherlands. The Maastricht Treaty came into force on 1 November 1993.
The EU received its current structure and powers in 2007 under the Lisbon Treaty, also known as the Reform Treaty.
According to these documents, the bloc's 27 members agreed to pool their sovereignty and delegate many powers to the EU.
The EU's Main Institutions
The EU has seven main institutions, which can be roughly grouped according to their executive, legislative, judicial and financial functions.
The EU also has dozens of smaller bodies that make laws, coordinate foreign policy and trade, and manage the common budget.
European Council — the group of the EU's top political leaders — consists of the president or prime minister of each member state. At council meetings, they determine the general direction of the EU and decide on pressing high-level issues.
EU members elect a president, who can serve for up to two 2.5-year terms. The current president is the former Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel.
European Commission— the EU's chief executive. It proposes legislation, manages the budget, implements decisions, issues regulations and represents the EU worldwide at summits, negotiations and in international organisations.
The members of the Commission are appointed by the European Council and approved by the European Parliament. The Commission is currently chaired by former German Defence Minister Ursula von der Leyen.
The European Parliament is directly elected and its representatives are nominated by the population of each member state. The EP does not propose bills, but laws cannot be passed without the approval of MEPs.
The European Parliament also negotiates and approves the EU budget and oversees the Commission. The parliament is currently chaired by Maltese politician Roberta Metsola.
The Council of the European Union — or Council of Ministers— is the second legislative branch of government, and is also involved in passing laws.
The Council is made up of ministers from the governments of all EU member states. Ministers meet in groups based on their areas of activity: foreign ministers meet in one group, agriculture ministers in another, and so on.
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is the highest judicial body of the EU, which interprets the bloc's legislation for national courts and resolves disputes. The CJEU consists of the European Court of Justice (which makes decisions on violations by member states, interprets legislation) and the General Court — there is a wide range of consideration of claims against EU institutions.
European Central Bank (ECB)manages the euro for the 19 countries that use the currency, and regulates the EU banking system. The ECB's director is the former head of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde.
The European Court of Auditors (ECA) audits the EU budget, checks how funds are spent, and reports fraud to parliament, the commission, and national governments.
The offices of the above-mentioned institutions are located throughout the EU, with headquarters in Brussels, Frankfurt, Luxembourg and Strasbourg.
Powers of the European Parliament
Although the European Parliament cannot initiate legislation, laws for the EU cannot be passed without its approval. It debates all laws, particularly budgetary laws, with the Commission and the Council of Ministers in a procedure known as co-decision.
International agreements, particularly trade agreements, also require the European Parliament's approval. The President of the European Parliament, who is elected by the body, must also sign laws into law for them to be adopted.
The European Parliament approves the members of the European Commission and can also force the Commission to resign. Although this has never happened before, in 1999 the commission resigned en masse due to a corruption scandal.
Elections to the European Parliament
Direct elections to the European Parliament are held in all member countries of the European Union. Each country has its own quota of deputies, which is calculated depending on the size of the population.
The territory of the European Union is divided into constituencies, each of which occupies the territory of only one state.
In each of the states, members of the European Parliament are elected according to national rules, so the quota of members of the European Parliament can be distributed differently within the country and divided into several constituencies.
Currently, Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Poland and France have more than one constituency. In the remaining states, the borders coincide with the borders of a single constituency.
The European Parliament consists of 751 members of the European Parliament. However, only 720 are elected because seats became vacant after Britain left the EU. Now these seats are being held in parliament in case of expansion.
What the European Commission is doing
The Commission consists of 27 Commissioners, one from each Member State, and is chaired by a President. The President is elected by the European Council and approved by the European Parliament after each parliamentary election, and leads the Commission for a five-year term.
The College of Commissioners consists of:
- the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy;
- the Trade Commissioner, who leads trade negotiations;
- the Competition Commissioner, responsible for bloc-wide corporate regulation;
and 23 other commissioners, who deal with energy, jobs and growth, climate and financial regulation.
The Commission is responsible for drafting legislation, drawing up and distributing the EU budget, and implementing EU laws.
How the EU carries out its foreign policy
The common foreign and security policy concerns diplomacy, security and defence cooperation.
The highest level of governance is exercised by the national governments of the member states through the European Council and the Council of Ministers.
Foreign policy is carried out by the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy. This position is also known as the EU Foreign Minister. It is currently held by the Spanish politician Josep Borrell.
It is worth noting that the EU played a leading role in the negotiations on the Paris climate agreement and the nuclear deal with Iran, which were concluded in 2015. In 2016, the EU reached an agreement with Turkey to limit the admission of refugees.
The EU imposed sanctions on Russia after its annexation of Crimea in 2014. However, before the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2022, the bloc's members argued over how closely to cooperate with Moscow in energy and other areas, given the EU's dependence on Russian oil and gas.
But with the start of Russia's war against Ukraine in 2022, Germany stopped Russia's massive Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline project, and the EU as a whole increased sanctions against Russian financial institutions and individuals, and Putin in particular.
Does the EU have its own army
EU countries cooperate in military missions on a voluntary basis. However, there is no permanent EU army independent of the armies of the member states. Incidentally, the membership of countries in the EU and the military bloc NATO partially coincides.
In September, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Ukraine had signed an application to join NATO on an accelerated basis.
The Lisbon Treaty recognizes NATO as the main means of collective defense for Europe.
EU Budget
The European Union's spending in 2020 (the last year for which the European Commission has published full accounts) amounted to more than $197 billion.
About 35% goes to agriculture, in particular payments to farmers, development of fisheries, forestry, and rural communities.
Money is also allocated for economic, social, and territorial cohesion, designed to help less developed EU countries.
About 14% of the budget goes to research and development, energy, transport and telecommunications.
The EU budget is revised annually.
Schengen Area
The Schengen Area includes countries that have agreed to abolish all border controls between themselves and to strengthen law enforcement cooperation.
The area includes: Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Spain, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal, Sweden, Italy, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia, Hungary, Croatia, as well as Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Iceland (the last four countries are not members of the EU).
Other EU institutions
European Stability Mechanism (ESM) is an EU agency that provides emergency loans directly to governments or private banks in trouble.
The European Investment Bank (EIB), founded in 1958, is the EU's official investment bank, providing cheap loans, equity investments and other financing to thousands of businesses, government programmes and the like.
The European Economic Area (EEA) is a 1994 agreement that extends the EU's single market to three non-EU countries: Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. These three countries, plus Switzerland, form the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), a separate free trade area.
Ukraine — EU
Our country borders four EU members: Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Romania.
On 5 March 2007, Ukraine and the EU began negotiations on a new agreement. On 9 September 2008, at the Paris Summit, Ukraine and the European Union agreed to conclude an Association Agreement.
The political part of the Association Agreement was signed on 21 March 2014, the economic part on 27 June 2014.
On 16 September 2014, the Verkhovna Rada and the European Parliament simultaneously ratified the Association Agreement. It entered into force on 1 September 2017.
On 28 February 2022, Ukraine applied for membership in the European Union. On 17 June 2022, the European Commission recommended that the European Council grant Ukraine candidate status. At the same time, official Brussels put forward seven demands for reforms in Ukraine.
On 23 June 2022, the European Council granted Ukraine candidate status for accession to the European Union.
On June 25, 2024, the European Union began accession negotiations with Ukraine and Moldova, said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, noting that the process would not be easy and would lack shortcuts.
European Commission report on Ukraine dated October 30, 2024
On October 30, the European Commission published a report on the state of Ukraine's European integration aspirations, which noted that the first negotiation clusters could be opened as early as 2025, subject to further necessary steps being taken.
The report notes that Ukraine pays attention to protecting the rights of national minorities. Hungary insisted on this point. Ukraine is also actively working on the integrity of the judicial system and strengthening anti-corruption institutions. The number of cases of corruption investigations among officials has increased significantly. But despite the progress, the European Commission calls for further active combating corruption and organized crime.
EU Ambassador to Ukraine Katarina Mathernová said that the European Commission's report on Ukraine's European integration aspirations is positive for us. According to her, there is progress in all areas.
Hungarian European Commissioner Olivér Várhelyi said that Ukraine, provided that all necessary reforms are carried out, will be able to become a member of the European Union within the next five years — that is, by 2030. According to him, additional instruments have been created for Ukraine, Moldova and the Western Balkan countries that will help speed up reforms.
Vladimir Fesenko, political scientist, chairman of the board of the Penta Center for Applied Political Research, in a commentary to ICTV Fakty noted that 2030 had previously been named by other leaders of the European Union — Josep Borrell and Ursula von der Leyen.
— As I understand it, this is an approximate political benchmark for the leadership of the European Union, given the experience of negotiations, for example, with Romania, Bulgaria, and even earlier with Poland and the Baltic countries. This is a benchmark, given the pace of negotiations, the implementation of changes agreed upon during the negotiations, and the final procedure for accepting Ukraine's accession, when each country of the European Union must give consent, — says the political scientist.
In total, from today's stage, from the moment negotiations on individual clusters began, it turns out to be about 5 years. The procedure for negotiations, by the way, is also being adjusted, changed.
Therefore, 2030 is a benchmark for the European Union. And this is a fairly realistic position, believes Volodymyr Fesenko.
War may affect the pace of accession
According to Volodymyr Fesenko, the state of war will undoubtedly affect the pace and the final decision on Ukraine's accession to the EU.
— If, for example, the war drags on not for 2-3 years, but for 5 years, this will undoubtedly interfere. And some countries in the European Union will put forward the state of war itself as the main argument against Ukraine's accession, — says a political expert.
On the other hand, if the war ends and our country begins to recover, even if there is no peace agreement, but simply an agreement to cease hostilities and everything looks stable enough, then this will be a favorable prerequisite, at least for most EU countries.
There is a question that is often raised — what to do with the occupied parts of Ukrainian territory? Volodymyr Fesenko noted that, as experience shows, this should not prevent Ukraine from joining the EU. After all, Cyprus once became a member of the European Union, although Northern Cyprus was occupied by Turkey.
— So the main thing here — is precisely the end of the war, — noted Vladimir Fesenko.
Can Ukraine's integration change the EU's dominance
According to Volodymyr Fesenko, there is no coalition of Slavic countries in the European Parliament. There are coalitions based on ideological principles and political similarities. That is, there is a coalition of center-right parties — this is the European People's Party — the largest faction in the European Parliament. There are social democratic parties or parties close to them.
There is a coalition of liberal parties, which includes, in particular, the Servant of the People party.
— There is no coalition of Slavic countries. Moreover, different political forces are represented in the EP from the Slavic countries, sometimes opposing in their positions. There are right-wing populist parties, for example, in Hungary. And there are centrist parties that support Ukraine. By the way, right-wing populist parties, like in Italy, also support Ukraine. Therefore, the situation here is ambiguous, — emphasized Vladimir Fesenko.
In addition, we see how different the position of some Slavic countries – the Czech Republic and Slovakia – is on Ukraine. (Recall that the President of the Czech Republic strongly supports Ukraine and provides military assistance to Kyiv. The government of Slovakia, in particular Prime Minister Robert Fico, is against military assistance and anti-Russian sanctions).
According to the political expert, Ukraine's appearance in the European Parliament will certainly make changes, because we are the largest country in Europe.
According to Volodymyr Fesenko, the size of our country was previously a certain obstacle. Many in Europe feared that such a large country, both in population and territory, would be too big an object for integration into the European Union.
For example, the subsidization of the Ukrainian agricultural sector could become a challenge for the EU. This is causing concern in a number of countries, such as Poland.
— And here a paradox arises. From a political point of view, we are close to the Poles. And economically — we are competitors. And this competition is only getting stronger, — says Volodymyr Fesenko.
Therefore, whether Ukraine will change the balance of political forces in the European Union is better to say when we are approaching accession. We will see which political forces in Ukraine will dominate then.
Obstacles during negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU
By the way, it is economic competition that may be perhaps the main obstacle during the negotiations on Ukraine's accession to the EU. For example, the Poles and some other countries in certain sectors view us as powerful competitors, since Ukraine has a large agricultural sector. And here our government will have to look for difficult compromises, the political scientist notes.
— If we enter the European Union under the current rules, we must become the main consumer of agricultural subsidies from the European Union. And this is the lion's share of their budget. And this means that other countries will not receive these subsidies, — says Vladimir Fesenko.
According to him, our farmers have a good understanding of the situation and are ready to refuse some of these subsidies.
We may also have problems with the integration of new EU environmental standards — the so-called Green Deal. But in fairness it should be noted that in Europe this work is also quite difficult.
These are the key problems that are currently arising and will influence the negotiation processes in the future, summed up Vladimir Fesenko.
Interesting facts about the EU
- The European Union has 24 official languages.
- The euro is used by 19 out of 27 countries.
- The EU slogan — Unity in diversity.
- With about 83 million inhabitants, Germany is the largest EU country by population, and Malta, with a population of 500,000, is the smallest.
- Eight Central and Eastern European countries joined the EU in 2004: the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Estonia.
- The UK left the EU in 2020.
- The countries are currently — The candidates for EU membership are Ukraine, Albania, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, Turkey, and potential candidates are Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo.
