THE EUROPEAN UNION AND ITS INSTITUTIONS

Сажетак

Whenever we mention the European Union, we think of a strong and powerful international integration which has succeeded in joining different countries and nations uniting their interests in an appropriate way. It is very interesting that European countries have given up their own national sovereignity to some extent and showed inclination to a sublime, common goal. The European Union has undergone numerous changes and transformations since the moment of its beginning till nowadays. It has also passed a very long and exhausting period of its development in order to become a strong and powerful economic force which we know today. In the futurity there will be its further expansion and acceptance of new European countries which had already fulfilled certain criteria of joining to the Union. The European Union might not function adequately without its basic institutions such as the Council of the European Union, the European Parliament and the European Board of Commissioners which make the basis for its existence and acting. The previously mentioned institutions have been formed in a proper way, they professionally do their activities, contribute to the quality of the Union`s work in the most efficient way, encourage the international cooperation of the member countries and take care of punctual and adequate conveying of legislate, executive and judicial power. In further course of this piece of work we will remind ourselves of the beginning of the European Union itself, its main characteristics, member countries and the phases of its spreading out. We will elaborate the key institutions in details, the way of their acting and functioning and put emphasis on their contribution to the Union`s work and development. It is the fact that mentioned institutions represent the base of the institutional structure of the Union, but they couldn`t fulfill their tasks successfully as well as accomplish the common goals without constant and qualitative support of subordinate institutions which will shortly be explained. In our final consideration we will emphasizeboth the momentary and future importance of the European Union, its today`s position on the world economic scene as well as the perspectives of its development.