is equated with a sovereign federal state in international law; so the EU cannot be called a federal sta

Europe Day in Warsaw, Poland, a celebration of the European integration and peace between the European nations, awarded with the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize.
On 1 January 2007, Romania and Bulgaria became EU members. In the same year Slovenia adopted the euro,[49] followed in 2008 by Cyprus and Malta, by Slovakia in 2009, by Estonia in 2011 and by Latvia in 2014. In June 2009, the 2009 Parliament elections were held leading to a renewal of Barroso's Commission Presidency, and in July 2009 Iceland formally applied for EU membership.
On 1 December 2009, the Lisbon Treaty entered into force and reformed many aspects of the EU. In particular, it changed the legal structure of the European Union, merging the EU three pillars system into a single legal entity provisioned with a legal personality, created a permanent President of the European Council, the first of which was Herman Van Rompuy, and strengthened the High Representative, Catherine Ashton.[50]
The European Union received the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize for having "contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy, and human rights in Europe.
Through successive enlargements, the Union has grown from the six founding states — Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands — to the current 28. Countries accede to the union by becoming party to the founding treaties, thereby subjecting themselves to the privileges and obligations of EU membership. This entails a partial delegation of sovereignty to the institutions in return for representation within those institutions, a practice often referred to as "pooling of sovereignty".[61][62]
To become a member, a country must meet the Copenhagen criteria, defined at the 1993 meeting of the European Council in Copenhagen. These require a stable democracy that respects human rights and the rule of law; a functioning market economy; and the acceptance of the obligations of membership, including EU law. Evaluation of a country's fulfilment of the criteria is the responsibility of the European Council.[63] No member state has ever left the Union, although Greenland (an autonomous province of Denmark) withdrew in 1985.[64] The Lisbon Treaty now contains a clause providing for a member to leave the EU.[65]
There are five countries which are recognized as candidates for membership: Iceland, Macedonia,[e] Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey.[66] However, on 13 June 2013, Iceland's Foreign Minister, Gunnar Bragi Sveinsson, informed the European Commission that the newly elected government intended to "put negotiations on hold".[67] Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo are officially recognised as a potential candidates,[66] but only Albania has submitted a membership application. Due to the lack of recognition by five of the 28 EU member states, the European Commission refers only to "Kosovo*", with an asterisked footnote containing the text agreed to by the Belgrade–Pristina negotiations: "This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo Declaration of Independence."
Four countries forming the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) (that are not EU members) have partly committed to the EU's economy and regulations: Iceland (a candidate country for EU membership), Liechtenstein and Norway, which are a part of the single market through the European Economic Area, and Switzerland, which has similar ties through bilateral treaties.[68][69] The relationships of the European microstates, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and the Vatican include the use of the euro and other areas of co-operation.[70]
Politics

Main article: Politics of the European Union
Political system of the European Union
The EU operates within those competencies conferred on it by the treaties and according to the principle of subsidiarity (which dictates that action by the EU should only be taken where an objective cannot be sufficiently achieved by the member states alone). Laws made by the EU institutions are passed in a variety of forms. Generally speaking, they can be classified into two groups: those which come into force without the necessity for national implementation measures and those which specifically require national implementation measures.[71]
Constitutional nature
Further information: Treaties of the European Union
The classification of the European Union in terms of international or constitutional law has been much debated, often in the light of the degree of integration that is perceived, desired, or expected. Historically, at least, the EU is an international organisation, and by some criteria, it could be classified as a confederation; but it also has many attributes of a federation, so some would classify it as a (de facto) federation of states.[72][73][74] For this reason, the organisation has, in the past, been termed sui generis (incomparable, one of a kind), though it is also argued that this designation is no longer true.[75][76]
The organisation itself has traditionally used the terms "community", and later "union". The difficulties of classification involve the difference between national law (where the subjects of the law include natural persons and corporations) and international law (where the subjects include sovereign states and international organisations); they can also be seen in the light of differing European and American constitutional traditions.[75] Especially in terms of the European constitutional tradition, the term federation is equated with a sovereign federal state in international law; so the EU cannot be called a federal state or federation—at least, not without qualification. Though not, strictly, a federation, it is more than a free-trade association.[77] It is, however, described as being based on a federal model or federal in nature. Walter Hallstein, in the original German edition of Europe in the Making called it "an unfinished federal state".[78] The German Constitutional Court refers to the European Union as an association of sovereign states and affirms that making the EU a federation would require replacement of the German constitution.[79] Others claim that it will not develop into a federal state but has reached maturity as an international organisation.[80]
Governance

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