Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia) European Investment Bank, nonprofit bank created in 1958 by the six founding countries of the European Economic Community (now part of the European Union [EU]). The bank makes or guarantees loans to E...

(Encyclopedia) European Economic Area: see European Free Trade Association; European Union. ...

(Encyclopedia) European Council, institution of the European Union (EU) responsible for defining the EU's general political direction and priorities. It is composed of an elected president (who serves a two-and-a-ha...

(Encyclopedia) European Court of Justice: see Court of Justice of the European Union. ...

(Encyclopedia) European Free Trade Association (EFTA), customs union and trading bloc; its current members are Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland. EFTA was established in 1960 by Austria, Denmark, Great...

(Encyclopedia) union, labor, association of workers for the purpose of improving their economic status and working conditions through collective bargaining with employers. Historically there have been two chief type...

(Encyclopedia) Benelux Economic Union bĕnˈəlŭksˌ [key], economic treaty among Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. It arose out of a customs convention signed in 1944, but was not fully established until 1...

(Encyclopedia) European Monetary System, arrangement by which most nations of the European Union (EU) linked their currencies to prevent large fluctuations relative to one another. It was organized in 1979 to stabil...

(Encyclopedia) European Monetary Agreement (EMA), international governmental facility (1958–72) for the settlement of balance of payments accounts between member states. The EMA, which was administered by the Orga...

(Encyclopedia) Union, industrial township (1990 pop. 50,024), Union co., NE N.J.; settled 1749 by colonists from Connecticut, set off from Elizabethtown 1808. Steel and metal products and paint are among its various...