Attachment 2
EUROPEAN COMMUNITY (EC) OR EUROPEAN UNION
(EU)
We use both terms in this paper, as well as
"the Community" and "the Commission".
The European Community was established by the
Treaty of Rome in 1956. Its central feature is the Single Market
but it also encompasses a range of other policies, including development
cooperation. The EC is served by a number of institutions, including
the European Commission, the Council of Ministers and the European
Parliament.
The European Union was established by the Maastrict
Treaty (Treaty on European Union in 1992. It comprises what are
often known as three pillars:
— the EC, as described above;
— inter-governmental co-operation (ie
co-operation between national governments) in foreign and security
policy;
— inter-governmental co-operation in
justice and home affairs.
Although the same institutions (Council, Commission,
Parliament etc) serve the three pillars, the roles of the Commission
and Parliament in the two inter-governmental pillars is much smaller.
We use the term EC (or the Community) to refer
to policies and actions undertaken under the first pillar, where
the Commission is responsible for implementing EC development
policy. We use the term EU to refer to policies or actions that
go beyond this into areas governed by inter-governmental cooperation
under the second or third (usually the second) pillar. This is
particularly the case in the area of conflict.
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