European Community Definition

1. An economic and political association of W European states formed by the merging of the EEC, ECSC and Euratom (known officially as the European Communities). It consists of the 12 member states of the EEC in 1995 extended to include Austria, Finland and Sweden. It was renamed European Unionby the coming into force of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993, which extended its remit to include areas of foreign and security policy and justice and home affairs. Technically EC is used to refer to legislation of the EU but it can also be used to refer to the Union itself.