Pillars of the European Union

The glossary is being updated given the recent signing of the Treaty of Lisbon.

The concept of "pillars" is generally used in connection with the Treaty on European Union. Three pillars form the basic structure of the European Union, namely:

• the Community pillar, corresponding to the three Communities: the European Community, the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) and the former European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) (first pillar);
• the pillar devoted to the common foreign and security policy, which comes under Title V of the EU Treaty (second pillar);
• the pillar devoted to police and judicial cooperation in criminal matters, which comes under Title VI of the EU Treaty (third pillar).

The Treaty of Amsterdam transferred some of the fields covered by the third pillar to the first pillar (free movement of persons).

The three pillars function on the basis of different decision-making procedures: the Community procedure for the first pillar, and the intergovernmental procedure for the other two. In the case of the first pillar, only the Commission can submit proposals to the Council and Parliament, and a qualified majority is sufficient for a Council act to be adopted. In the case of the second and third pillars, this right of initiative is shared between the Commission and the Member States, and unanimity in the Council is generally necessary.

See:

• Communitisation
• Community and intergovernmental methods
• European Community
• European Union
• Single institutional framework