The idea of the European Union (EU) was born with the aim of bringing countries together in cooperation using shared institutions and ending the frequent wars between neighbouring countries; which culminated in the Second World War that devastated the continent.

In 1950 there was the first attempt to unite European countries, economically and politically, thanks to the European Coal and Steel Community funded by Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands with the Schuman Declaration to centralise control of the national coal and steel industries of the founding states.

In 1957, the desire to unite the countries was formalised in the Treaty of Rome, and the establishment of the European Economic Community (EEC), or “Common Market”.

Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom joined the Community on 1 January 1973 starting the European enlargement while in 1981 Greece became the tenth member, followed five years later by Spain and Portugal. In 1985 the Schengen Agreement that “opens the borders” is passed permitting travel between member countries without passport controls between them.

After the fall of the Berlin Wall, in 1989, East Germany became part of the Community as part of a new and united Germany and in 1995 Austria, Finland and Sweden also joined the EU.

In 1993 Europeans developed more ties thanks to the completion of the Single Market with its four freedoms: movement of goods, services, people and money.

The 1990s also saw the signing of two important treaties:
The Maastricht Treaty, signed on the 7th February 1992 formally established the European Union creating a structure founded on the three European communities, a common policy in foreign and security affairs and police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters and the Treaty of Amsterdam, came into force in 1999.

In 2002, euro notes and coins replaced national currencies in 12 of the member states. Since then, the ‘Eurozone’ has increased to sixteen countries, with Slovakia joining the ‘Eurozone’ on January 1, 2009.

In 2004 European leaders signed the Lisbon Treaty with the aim of replacing the earlier, failed European Constitution and to make the EU more democratic.
In the same year, the EU saw its biggest enlargement when Malta, Cyprus, Slovenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary joined, followed, on 1 January 2007, by Romania and Bulgaria.