The EU has 27 members, including Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. For over 50 years, member countries have been developing common policies on a wide range of issues such as agriculture, environment, trade, labor practices, research and development.

In 1993, all barriers were removed to the free flow of trade, goods, services and people between all member countries, which made the EU the largest trading bloc in the world. Another step towards European unity was taken in 1998, when the EC created a European Central Bank. In 2002 eleven member countries adopted a single currency, the euro, used by sixteen countries as of 2010. Membership of the EU is open to any European democracy. The presidency of the EC rotates every six months among member nations; summit meetings are held every June and December in the host country. Headquarters for the EU is in Brussels, Belgium. The EU has many institutions, including the European Parliament, which has 518 delegates from the member countries, elected every five years. It meets each month for one week in Strasbourg, France. It keeps watch over EU activities, and supervises such organizations as the European Atomic Energy Commission (Euratom).