EU competence and main activities

The competence of the EU in accordance with the Nice Treaty 2000 extends to the following policies: trade, agricultural, migration, transport, competition, tax, economic, foreign exchange, customs, industrial, social, cultural, employment and health, economic and social cohesion , consumer protection, development of trans-European transport and energy networks, research and technological development, the environment, cooperation for odeystviya development, economic, financial and technical cooperation with third countries, as well as the common foreign and security policy and cooperation in the field of internal affairs and justice.

When analyzing the policy of the European Union, three fundamental directions can be distinguished (“three pillars”):

• “first pillar” – Economic and Monetary Union (EMU);
• “second pillar” – the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), in which the military component – the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) – is gaining more and more weight;
• “third pillar” – cooperation of member states in the field of internal affairs and justice.

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