Glossary
The 71 words of Europe, defined in one to three sentences, with their source.
A
- Accession
The process by which a country joins the EU. It ends with an accession treaty signed by the new country and all existing member states, then ratified by each of them.
- Acquis (acquis communautaire)
The whole body of EU law and obligations built up since the beginning: the treaties, laws, court rulings and international agreements. A country that joins the EU must accept and apply all of it.
- Article 49 TEU
The article of the Treaty on European Union that sets out how a country can join. Any European state that respects the EU’s values may apply; the Council must agree unanimously and the European Parliament must give its consent.
- Article 50 TEU
The article of the Treaty on European Union that allows a member state to leave. Once a country notifies its decision, it has two years to negotiate an exit deal, a period that can be extended by unanimous agreement. It was added by the Treaty of Lisbon and used for the first time by the United Kingdom.
B
- Brexit
The United Kingdom’s departure from the EU. After a referendum on 23 June 2016, the UK left on 31 January 2020, the first member state to do so, and the transition period ended on 31 December 2020.
C
- Candidate country
A country whose application to join the EU has been formally accepted by the member states. Being a candidate does not guarantee membership: the country must still negotiate and meet all the conditions.
- Cohesion policy
The EU’s main investment policy for reducing differences in development between regions. It funds projects such as transport, research or training, mostly in less developed regions, through funds like the European Regional Development Fund.
- College of Commissioners
The team of commissioners, led by the Commission President, that takes the Commission’s decisions together. It is appointed for five years and must be approved as a whole by the European Parliament.
- Common agricultural policy (CAP)
The EU policy that supports farmers and rural areas, launched in 1962. It pays income support, funds market measures and finances rural development, and is one of the largest items in the EU budget.
- Competences (exclusive, shared, supporting)
The powers the treaties give the EU. In exclusive areas (such as trade policy or the customs union) only the EU can make laws; in shared areas (such as the environment) both the EU and member states can; in supporting areas (such as education or culture) the EU can only help national action.
- Convergence criteria (Maastricht criteria)
The economic tests a country must pass to adopt the euro: low inflation, sound public finances, stable exchange rate (two years in ERM II) and low long-term interest rates. They were set by the Maastricht Treaty.
- Copenhagen criteria
The conditions a country must meet to join the EU, set by the European Council in Copenhagen in 1993: stable democratic institutions and the rule of law, a functioning market economy, and the ability to take on the obligations of membership.
- Council configurations
The Council of the EU meets in different formations depending on the topic, bringing together the relevant national ministers (for example agriculture or finance ministers). There are currently ten configurations.
- Council of Europe
An international organisation founded in 1949 to protect human rights, democracy and the rule of law, based in Strasbourg. It is separate from the EU and has more members, including countries outside the EU such as the United Kingdom and Türkiye.
- Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU)
The EU’s judicial institution, based in Luxembourg and created in 1952. It ensures EU law is interpreted and applied the same way everywhere, and is made up of two courts: the Court of Justice and the General Court.
- Customs union
An arrangement under which EU countries charge no customs duties on goods traded between them and apply the same tariffs to goods coming from outside. The EU customs union was completed in 1968.
D
- Decision
A binding EU act that applies only to those it names, for example one member state or one company. A Commission decision fining a firm for breaking competition rules is a typical example.
- Democratic deficit
A criticism that EU decision-making is too remote from citizens and not accountable enough to voters. Critics point to the Commission being unelected and to complex procedures; supporters of the current system point to the directly elected Parliament and national governments’ role in the Council.
- Direct effect
The principle that some EU rules give individuals and companies rights they can defend directly before national courts. The Court of Justice established it in the Van Gend en Loos case (1963).
- Directive
An EU law that sets a goal all member states must reach, while letting each country choose how. Each state must transpose it into national law by a deadline.
E
- Enhanced cooperation
A procedure that lets a group of at least nine member states go ahead together in an area where not all countries agree, as a last resort. The European patent with unitary effect was adopted this way.
- Enlargement
The process of new countries joining the EU. The founding six (1958) have grown to 27 member states through successive enlargements, the largest in 2004 with ten new countries.
- ERM II (Exchange Rate Mechanism II)
A waiting room for the euro: a country links its currency to the euro within a set band. Taking part for at least two years without serious tension is one of the conditions for adopting the euro.
- EU citizenship
The status every national of an EU country holds automatically, in addition to national citizenship. It gives rights such as moving and living freely in other EU countries and voting in European and local elections where you live.
- Euro area (eurozone)
The group of EU countries that use the euro as their currency. Their monetary policy is set by the European Central Bank. Not every EU country uses the euro.
- Eurogroup
An informal meeting of the finance ministers of the euro area countries, which coordinates their economic policies. It has an elected president and prepares discussions for the Council, but it is not itself an EU institution.
- European Central Bank (ECB)
The central bank of the countries that use the euro, based in Frankfurt. Its main task is to keep prices stable, mainly by setting interest rates for the euro area.
- European citizens' initiative
A way for citizens to ask the European Commission to propose a new law. An initiative needs at least one million signatures from at least seven member states; the Commission must respond but is not obliged to act.
- European Commissioner
A member of the European Commission. There is one commissioner per member state, each in charge of a policy area, and they must act in the EU’s general interest, not take instructions from their own government.
- European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)
A treaty of the Council of Europe, signed in Rome in 1950, that protects basic rights such as the right to life, a fair trial and freedom of expression. Every member of the Council of Europe has ratified it.
- European Council conclusions
The written text adopted at the end of a summit of EU heads of state or government. Conclusions set political priorities and give instructions to other institutions, but they are not laws.
- European Court of Human Rights
The court in Strasbourg that rules on complaints that a state has breached the European Convention on Human Rights. It belongs to the Council of Europe, not to the EU, and should not be confused with the Court of Justice of the EU in Luxembourg.
- European Economic Area (EEA)
The agreement, in force since 1994, that extends the EU single market to Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. These countries apply most single market rules but have no vote on them.
- European Free Trade Association (EFTA)
A free trade organisation founded in 1960, today made up of Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland. Three of them take part in the EEA; Switzerland instead has bilateral agreements with the EU.
- European Ombudsman
An independent office that investigates complaints about maladministration by EU institutions and bodies, such as unjustified delays or refusal to give access to documents. The Ombudsman is elected by the European Parliament.
- Euroscepticism
A range of views critical of the EU or of European integration. It goes from wanting to reform the EU or limit its powers to wanting a country to leave altogether.
F
- Federalism (European)
The idea that Europe should move towards a federation, with a central level of government holding significant powers alongside national ones. Its supporters see it as a way to act together more effectively; its critics see it as a threat to national sovereignty.
- Four freedoms
The four kinds of free movement at the heart of the single market: goods, services, capital and persons.
- Frontex
The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, based in Warsaw. It supports member states in managing the EU’s external borders, alongside the national border authorities that remain responsible for them.
G
- General Court
One of the two courts of the CJEU, created in 1988 as the Court of First Instance. It mainly hears cases brought by individuals and companies against EU institutions, for example on competition, state aid or trade marks.
I
- Infringement procedure
The legal action the European Commission can take against a member state that fails to apply EU law, for example by not transposing a directive on time. If the issue is not fixed, the case can go to the Court of Justice, which can impose fines.
- Intergovernmentalism
An approach in which national governments cooperate and decide together, usually by unanimity, rather than handing powers to common institutions. EU foreign and security policy works largely this way.
M
- Member of the European Parliament (MEP)
A person elected directly by citizens to sit in the European Parliament. MEPs are elected every five years, with each member state electing a set number according to its population.
- Multiannual financial framework (MFF)
The EU’s long-term budget plan, covering at least five years (the current one runs from 2021 to 2027). It sets ceilings on how much the EU can spend each year and on what. It is adopted by the Council unanimously after the European Parliament’s consent.
N
- NextGenerationEU
The temporary recovery plan agreed in 2020 after the COVID-19 crisis, financed by the European Commission borrowing on financial markets on behalf of the EU. Its core is the Recovery and Resilience Facility, which gives grants and loans to member states.
O
- Opt-out
An exception negotiated by a member state so that it does not take part in a specific EU policy. For example, Denmark does not use the euro and Ireland is not part of the Schengen Area.
- Ordinary legislative procedure (codecision)
The standard way EU laws are adopted. The Commission proposes a text, then the European Parliament and the Council of the EU amend and approve it as equals. Introduced as codecision by the Maastricht Treaty, it was given its current name by the Treaty of Lisbon.
- Outermost regions
Nine territories far from mainland Europe that are fully part of the EU: Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte, Réunion and Saint-Martin (France), the Azores and Madeira (Portugal) and the Canary Islands (Spain). EU law applies there, with some adaptations.
- Overseas countries and territories (OCTs)
Territories linked to Denmark, France or the Netherlands, such as Greenland or New Caledonia, that are not part of the EU. They have a special association with the EU, and most of their inhabitants are EU citizens.
- Own resources
The EU’s sources of revenue: customs duties on imports, a share of VAT, contributions based on each country’s gross national income, and since 2021 a contribution based on non-recycled plastic packaging waste.
P
- Permanent representation and Coreper
Each member state has a permanent representation in Brussels, a kind of embassy to the EU. Its ambassadors and their deputies meet in Coreper (the Committee of Permanent Representatives), which prepares the work of the Council of the EU.
- Political groups
MEPs sit by political affinity, not by nationality. A group needs at least 23 MEPs from at least a quarter of member states (currently seven); MEPs who belong to no group are called non-attached.
- Potential candidate
A country that the EU has said could one day become a candidate for membership, but which has not yet been granted candidate status.
- Preliminary ruling
An answer from the Court of Justice to a question sent by a national court about how to interpret EU law or whether an EU act is valid. The national court then decides the case using that answer, which keeps EU law the same everywhere.
- Primacy of EU law
The rule that, where EU law and national law conflict, EU law prevails. It was established by the Court of Justice in the Costa v ENEL case (1964), not written in the treaties themselves.
- Proportionality
The principle that EU action must not go further than what is needed to achieve the treaties’ goals, in content or in form.
Q
- Qualified majority voting (QMV)
The most common way the Council of the EU votes. A proposal passes if at least 55% of member states (15 out of 27) vote for it and they represent at least 65% of the EU population.
R
- Recommendation
A non-binding EU act that suggests a course of action to member states or others. It carries political weight but creates no legal obligation.
- Regulation
A binding EU law that applies directly and in the same way in all member states from the day it takes effect, without needing a national law to transpose it.
- Rotating presidency of the Council
Each member state chairs the Council of the EU for six months in turn, in an order set in advance. The presidency organises meetings and steers negotiations on new laws. It does not preside over the European Council, which has its own permanent president.
S
- Schengen Area
The area where people can cross internal borders without passport checks. It includes most EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland, and is named after the Luxembourg village where the first agreement was signed in 1985.
- Schengen Information System (SIS)
A shared database used by police and border authorities in Schengen countries to exchange alerts on wanted or missing persons and on lost or stolen objects.
- Single market
The area made of all EU countries (and, through the EEA, Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway) where goods, services, capital and people move freely under common rules. It was officially completed on 1 January 1993.
- Spitzenkandidat (lead candidate)
The practice of European political parties naming a lead candidate for Commission President before European elections, with the post going to the candidate able to win a majority in Parliament. It was first used in 2014; in 2019 the nominee, Ursula von der Leyen, had not been a lead candidate.
- Stability and Growth Pact
The EU rules meant to keep national public finances sound, built on two reference values: a government deficit below 3% of GDP and public debt below 60% of GDP. The rules were reformed in 2024.
- Subsidiarity
The principle that, outside its exclusive powers, the EU should act only when a goal can be achieved better at EU level than by member states at national, regional or local level. National parliaments can object if they think a proposal breaks it.
T
- Transition period (Brexit)
The period from 1 February to 31 December 2020, set by the Withdrawal Agreement, during which EU law continued to apply to the United Kingdom while the two sides negotiated their future relationship.
- Trilogue
An informal meeting between negotiators of the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the Commission, held to reach a compromise on a draft law. Most EU laws are now agreed this way before the formal votes.
U
- Unanimity
A voting rule where every member state must agree, so any single country can block a decision. It still applies to sensitive areas such as taxation, foreign policy, new memberships and treaty changes.
W
- Windsor Framework (Northern Ireland Protocol)
The arrangement agreed in 2023 that changed how the Protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland works. The protocol avoids a hard border on the island of Ireland by keeping Northern Ireland aligned with some EU rules; the framework eased checks on goods coming from Great Britain.
- Withdrawal Agreement
The treaty between the EU and the United Kingdom that organised Brexit. In force since 1 February 2020, it covers citizens’ rights, the financial settlement, a transition period and a protocol on Ireland and Northern Ireland.