After the 2nd World War the French foreign minister, Robert Schuman, made a plan to prevent France and Germany disputing in the future. France and Germany decided to cooperate on steel and coal production so that weapons couldn’t be made by one country without the other knowing. The money made together from this industry made a lot of money which was spent on new roads, homes, and other buildings to replace those that had been destroyed during the Second World War. Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy also decided to join with France and Germany and in 1951 the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was founded. This was the beginning of the European Union.
Then in 1957 the European Economics Community was created and their policies were written down in a treaty. The EEC promoted a lot of economic advantages such as transport and sales policies, which made it easier to buy and sell products to countries within the EEC. More and more countries began to think it would be a good idea to participate and be able to benefit from the economic advantages of this cooperation.
In 1992 the 12 member countries decided to rename the community as the European Union. Over time more and more countries joined the European Union to receive the advantages that membership provided them. There are now 27 countries in the European Union due to the recent withdrawal of the United Kingdom.