The European Union (EU)
The European Union is a confederation of 28 members countries in Europe, started in 1947 as the European Economic Community (EEC). It has a common economic area with Europe-wide laws for people to move and trade in other EU countries almost the same as they do in their own. Seventeen of these countries share the same type of money: the euro. The treaty of Lisbon is the most recent that says how the Union is run. Every member state signed to say they each agree with what it says. Most importantly, it says which jobs (powers) the Union should do for the members and which jobs they should do themselves. Members decide how the Union should act by voting for or against proposals. The objective of the EU is to bring its member states together with respect of human rights and democracy. It does this with a common style of passport, common rules about fair trade, common agreements on law enforcement, and other things. Most members share the same currency (the euro) and most let people to travel from one country to another without showing a passport.
A person who is a citizen of a European Union country can live and work in any of the other 27 countries without a work permit or visa. For example, a British person can move to Greece to work or just to live, and they won't need permission from an authority in Greece. In the same way, products made in one member country can be sold in any other member country without any special permissions or extra taxes. For this reason, the member agree rules on product safety - they want to know that a product made in another country will be as safe as it would be if it had been made in their own country.