What is the European Union

What is the European Union?

It  is an Economic and Political Partnership involving 28 European countries. It began after World War II to foster economic co-operation, with the idea that countries that trade together are more likely to avoid going to war with each other.

It has since grown to become a "single market" allowing goods and people to move around, as if the member states were one country. It has its own currency, the euro, which is used by 19 of the member countries. It has its own parliament and it now sets rules in a wide range of areas - including  the environment, transport, consumer rights.