Germany was a founder member of the European Union © dpa

Germany was a founder member of the European Union (EU), which now has a total of 27 Member States. Originally founded in 1957 as the European Economic Community (EEC), the EU can look back on a more than 50-year process of development and integration, during which it has increasingly become a political union. Almost half of the Member States of the EU use a single currency, the euro. Common foundations have also been created for foreign and security policy as well as cooperation between the Member States in the fields of home affairs and justice. European law is created by a large number of regulations and directives, further intensifying cooperation in Europe. The regulations are created in a process of interaction between the Commission, the European Parliament and the Council. The German Bundestag can become involved in the making of EU law by taking decisions which have to be taken into consideration by the German Federal Government when it is negotiating in the Council.