Free movement of person in EU law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Free movement of person in EU law - Essay Example The European Union headquarters is in Brussels, Belgium. European Union law is the unique legal system which operates alongside the laws of Member States and overrides national law in many areas especially in terms of economic and social policy . EU is not a federal government, nor it is intergovernmental organization. The European Union (EU) was established in 1993 by the 12 nations of the European Community. The EU works toward better political and economic integration and cooperation between member nations. Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU in 1994 (Encarta,2003). The European Union was formally established on November 1, 1993. It is the most recent in a series of European cooperative organizations that originated with the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) of 1951, which became the European Community (EC) in 1967. The members of the EC were Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and Spain. In 1991 the governments of the 12 member states signed the Treaty on European Union (commonly called the Maastricht Treaty), which was then ratified by the national legislatures of all the member countries. The Maastricht Treaty transformed the EC into the EU. In 1994 Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU, bringing the total membership to 15 nations, (Encarta,2003). The EU has a number ... With the exception of EMU, which went into effect in 1999, progress toward these goals has been erratic. The EU's ability to achieve its goals has been limited by disagreements among member states, external political and economic problems, and pressure for membership from the new democracies of Eastern Europe,(Encarta,2003).. EU Law is composed of three pillar structure based on different treaty namely: 1. Treaty of the European Communities signed in Rome 1957 deals with the law concerning social rights and economic foundations of the single market. It is considered as the oldest and the most important pillars where European Community (EC) law originated. 2. Treaty of European Union (The Maastricht Treaty,1992) which involve Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and; 3. Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters (formerly 'Justice and Home Affairs') That European Community (EC) Law represents the firts pillar of EU Law. Community Law is the law of the member states of the European Union (EU), as adopted by the Union's Council of Ministers. The European Court of Justice interprets and applies EU law. Community law forms part of the law of states and prevails over national law (Encarta, 2003). In July 1967 the three organizations (the EEC, the ECSC, and Euratom) fully merged as the European Community (EC). The basic economic features of the EEC treaty were gradually implemented, and in 1968 all tariffs between member states were eliminated. No progress was made on enlargement of the EC or on any other new proposals, however, until after De Gaulle resigned as president of France in May 1969. The next French president, Georges Pompidou, was more open to new