The European Union, or EU, describes itself as a family of democratic European countries, committed to working together for peace and prosperity

European Union

History

Maastricht and beyond

Key issues

Reform treaty

New presidency

The Treaty on European Union, signed at Maastricht in 1991, formally established the European Union as the successor to the EC.

At the same time, Maastricht expanded the concept of European union into new areas. It introduced a Common Foreign and Security Policy and moved towards an EU coordinating policy on asylum, immigration, drugs and terrorism.

EU citizenship was brought into being for the first time, allowing people from member countries to move freely between member states. The treaty included a Social Chapter, from which the UK opted out, laying down EU policies on workers' rights and other social issues.

Crucially, Maastricht established the timetable for economic and monetary union and specified the economic and budgetary criteria which would determine when countries were ready to join.

The subsequent Stability and Growth Pact tightened up the approach to these criteria, stressing that strict fiscal discipline and coordination would be vital to the success of economic and monetary union.

It also laid down penalties for members failing to control budget deficits.

The single European currency, the euro, was officially adopted by 11 member states in 1999. Greece, which took longer to meet convergence criteria, joined two years later. Denmark, Sweden and the UK have chosen not to join, at least for the time being.

After a transition period, the euro completely replaced the former national currencies in 2002.