What is EU? [I]

People who want to understand what is European Union have tried for some time to include it in an already known category of organizations.
The European Union is not a federation like the United States, in spite of common politics, such as agricultural and commercial politics, the existence of euro and of Court of Justice, it is not a confederation, even though the Member States are separate entities and still have the final word in the most important matters. EU is not just an organization for cooperation between governments, like the United Nations, because it has supranational decision making institutions, and, at least till now, EU is not a State intended to replace the existing states.
EU definition is rather difficult and long debated, due to the fact that, at this point, EU is, in fact, unique. Some say that this is an experiment, because European Union is an integration project and its evolution depends on the will of its members, almost impossible to predict.
At present, 27 countries voluntarily agree to delegate some of their sovereignty and decision making on specific matters of joint interest at a higher level – at European level. All EU decisions and procedures are based on the treaties agreed to by all EU countries, under which sovereignty is shared in specified areas.
The present result is a union of 27 Member States covering 1.6 million square miles with roughly half a billion people producing almost a third of the world’s gross national product and speaking more than 23 languages.

(to be continued)