17 Oct 20 11:52, Charles Pierson wrote to Michiel van der Vlist:
CP> I don't quite understand exactly what the EU is. Is it an economic CP> organization, or is it a government?
Well, without going into the details, I'd say it started as a primarily economic organisation (European Coal and Steel Community) in 1951, but is getting more and more political and towards a government since then. We call this process "European Integration". The largest step in this direction so far has been achieved with the Maastricht Treaty in 1992. Meanwhile, there are elections, laws, courts etc. on EU level, and the EU has taken over certain competences you'd typically find in a government, but still many remain with the member states. It is probably rather difficult to understand for someone looking at it from the outside.
