The EU or the European UnionLinks to an external site. is a political and economic union of several European countries (currently 28 member-states), that includes most of the jusridictions on the continent. The EU has developed in is actively promoting a range of policies aimed towards bringing the member-states together in all respects, as well as making their cooperation easier. These policies include:

common internal market
standardised system of laws
non-restrictive travel area
common visa policy
free circulation of goods and services
free movement of labour
All these and many other advantages are available to any resident of the EU, including citizens and migrants with residence permits, either temporary or permanent.



Furthermore, these benefits can also be enjoyed by the family members of these immigrants - the EU has many directives that allow family members to obtain a residence permit more easily, requiring fewer documents and applying simplified procedures.

Story
The history of migration in the modern European Union begins at the end of World War II and is based on the idea of ​​a united, borderless Europe. However, this idea, or, to put it loosely, an idea of ​​European unification, existed beforehand.

Before the end of World War II
The ideas of a united Europe before the 20th century (particularly 1949, when the Council of Europe was founded) were expressed by dynastic unions, empires and country-level unions, which often presented themselves as the "heart of Europe". those who embodied the political essence of the continent. The notable examples of such entities would be the Holy Roman Empire, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The painting called Queen Europe is notable because some thinkers have also expressed the idea that Europe is not united under the banner of any particular country, kingdom, etc., but as a sovereign power in its own right. For example, a German cartographer, Sebastian Munster, presented a painting called Europa regina, or Queen Europe, in his 1570 work Cosmographia. In this painting, the countries of Europe are shown as borderless and united into a unit whose borders roughly corresponded to the borders of the continent of Europe.

1945 to 1993
After the Second World War brought great devastation to European countries and massive casualties among their inhabitants, the countries involved began to express a more concrete vision of European unity. In the decades that followed, a number of Europe-wide alliances and organizations were formed. These were devoted to different causes, but all were united under a single idea – the idea of ​​creating peaceful ties between European countries that would transcend national interests.

The most notable of these institutions were:

European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)
European Atomic Energy Community (EAG)
European Economic Community (EEC)
European Council
European Parliament