Three pillars of the European Union - wikipedia Three pillars of the European Union Part of a series on the History of the European Union Timeline Pre-1945 ideas 1945 -- 1957 1958 -- 1972 1973 -- 1993 1993 -- 2004 2004 -- present Organisation European Communities ( 1958 -- 2009 ) European Coal and Steel Community ( 1952 -- 2002 ) European Economic Community ( 1958 -- 1993 ) European Atomic Energy Community ( 1958 -- present ) European Community ( 1993 -- 2009 ) Justice and Home Affairs ( 1993 -- 2003 ) Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters ( 2003 -- 2009 ) Common Foreign and Security Policy pillar ( 1993 -- 2009 ) Western European Union ( 1954 -- 2011 ) Western Union ( 1948 -- 1954 ) Treaties Treaty of Paris 1951 Treaty of Rome 1957 Merger Treaty 1965 Single European Act 1986 Maastricht Treaty 1992 Amsterdam Treaty 1997 Treaty of Nice 2001 Treaty of Lisbon 2007 Commissions Hallstein Commission 1958 Rey Commission 1967 Malfatti Commission 1970 Mansholt Commission 1972 Ortoli Commission 1973 Jenkins Commission 1977 Thorn Commission 1981 Delors Commission 1985 Santer Commission Prodi Commission 1999 Barroso Commission Juncker Commission 2014 Topics History of Europe History of the euro History of defence integration History of enlargement List of presidents List of founders European Union portal Between 1993 and 2009, the European Union ( EU ) legally comprised three pillars. This structure was introduced with the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993, and was eventually abandoned on 1 December 2009 upon the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon, when the EU obtained a consolidated legal personality. The European Communities pillar handled economic, social and environmental policies. It comprised the European Community ( EC ), the European Coal and Steel Community ( ECSC, until its expiry in 2002 ), and the European Atomic Energy Community ( EURATOM ). The Common Foreign and Security Policy ( CFSP ) pillar took care of foreign policy and military matters. Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters ( PJCCM ) brought together co-operation in the fight against crime. This pillar was originally named Justice and Home Affairs ( JHA ) Contents 1 Chart 2 History 2.1 1993 : Origin 2.2 1999 and 2003 : Amendments 2.3 2009 : Abolition 3 See also 4 External links Chart European Union European Communities Common Foreign and Security Policy ( CFSP ) Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters ( PJCCM ) European Community ( EC ) : Customs union and Single market Common Agricultural Policy Common Fisheries Policy EU competition law Economic and monetary union EU citizenship Education and Culture Trans - European Networks Consumer protection Healthcare Research ( e.g. 7th Framework Programme ) Environmental law Social policy Asylum policy Schengen treaty Immigration policy European Coal and Steel Community ( ECSC, until 2002 ) : Coal and steel industry European Atomic Energy Community ( EURATOM ) : Nuclear power Foreign policy : Human rights Democracy Foreign aid Security policy : Common Security and Defence Policy EU battle groups Helsinki Headline Goal Force Catalogue Peacekeeping Drug trafficking and weapons smuggling Terrorism Trafficking in human beings Organised Crime Bribery and fraud First pillar : Community integration method Second pillar : Intergovernmental cooperation method Third pillar : Intergovernmental cooperation method Within each pillar, a different balance was struck between the supranational and intergovernmental principles. Supranationalism was strongest in the first pillar. Its function generally corresponded at first to the three European Communities ( European Coal and Steel Community ( ECSC ), European Economic Community ( EEC ) and Euratom ) whose organisational structure had already been unified in 1965 - 67, through the Merger Treaty. Later, through the Treaty of Maastricht the word `` Economic '' was removed from the EEC, so it became simply the EC. Then with the Treaty of Amsterdam additional areas would be transferred from the third pillar to the first. In 2002, the ECSC ( which had a lifetime of 50 years ) ceased to exist because the treaty which established it, the Treaty of Paris, had expired. In the CFSP and PJCCM pillars the powers of the European Parliament, the Commission and European Court of Justice with respect to the Council were significantly limited, without however being altogether eliminated. The balance struck in the first pillar was frequently referred to as the `` community method '', since it was that used by the European Community. History 1993 : origin Further information : Maastricht Treaty The pillar structure had its historical origins in the negotiations leading up to the Maastricht treaty. It was desired to add powers to the Community in the areas of foreign policy, security and defence policy, asylum and immigration policy, criminal co-operation, and judicial co-operation. However, some member - states opposed the addition of these powers to the Community on the grounds that they were too sensitive to national sovereignty for the community method to be used, and that these matters were better handled intergovernmentally. To the extent that at that time the Community dealt with these matters at all, they were being handled intergovernmentally, principally in European Political Cooperation ( EPC ). As a result, these additional matters were not included in the European Community ; but were tacked on externally to the European Community in the form of two additional ' pillars '. The first additional pillar ( Common Foreign and Security Policy, CFSP ) dealt with foreign policy, security and defence issues, while the second additional pillar ( JHA, Justice and Home Affairs ), dealt with the remainder. 1999 and 2003 : amendments Further information : Amsterdam Treaty and Treaty of Nice Amendments by the treaty of Amsterdam and the treaty of Nice made the additional pillars increasingly supranational. Most important among these were the transfer of policy on asylum, migration and judicial co-operation in civil matters to the Community pillar, effected by the Amsterdam treaty. Thus the third pillar was renamed Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters, or PJCCM. The term Justice and Home Affairs was still used to cover both the third pillar and the transferred areas. Signed : In force : Document : 1947 1947 Dunkirk Treaty 1948 1948 Brussels Treaty 1951 1952 Paris Treaty 1954 1955 Modified Brussels Treaty 1957 1958 Rome Treaty & EURATOM 1965 1967 Merger Treaty 1976 Council Agreement on TREVI 1986 Single European Act 1985 + 90 1995 Schengen Treaty & Convention 1992 Maastricht Treaty ( TEU ) 1997 1999 Amsterdam Treaty 2001 2003 Nice Treaty 2007 2009 Lisbon Treaty Content : ( est. alliance ) ( founded WU ) ( founded ECSC ) ( protocol amending WU to become WEU ) ( founded EEC and EURATOM ) ( merging the legislative & administrative bodies of the 3 European communities ) ( founded TREVI ) ( amended : EURATOM, ECSC, EEC ) + ( founded EPC ) ( founded Schengen ) ( implemented Schengen ) ( amended : EURATOM, ECSC, and EEC to transform it into EC ) + ( founded : JHA + CFSP ) ( amended : EURATOM, ECSC, EC to also contain Schengen, and TEU where PJCC replaced JHA ) ( amended with focus on institutional changes : EURATOM, ECSC, EC and TEU ) ( abolished the 3 pillars and WEU by amending : EURATOM, EC = > TFEU, and TEU ) ( founded EU as an overall legal unit with Charter of Fundamental Rights, and reformed governance structures & decision procedures ) Three pillars of the European Union : European Communities ( with a single Commission & Council ) European Atomic Energy Community ( EURATOM ) European Coal and Steel Community ( ECSC ) Treaty expired in 2002 European Union ( EU ) European Economic Community ( EEC ) European Community ( EC ) Schengen Rules Terrorism, Radicalism, Extremism and Violence Internationally ( TREVI ) Justice and Home Affairs ( JHA ) Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters ( PJCC ) European Political Cooperation ( EPC ) Common Foreign and Security Policy ( CFSP ) Franco - British alliance Western Union ( WU ) Western European Union ( WEU ) Treaty terminated in 2011 2009 : abolition Further information : Treaty of Lisbon In a speech before the Nice Conference, Joschka Fischer, then Foreign Minister of Germany, called for a simplification of the European Union. One of these core ideas was to abolish the pillar structure, and replace it with a merged legal personality for the Union. This idea was included in the Treaty of Lisbon, which entered into force on 1 December 2009. With a legal personality, Union is, for instance, able to be part of international treaties. The Treaty of Lisbon also states that `` the Union shall replace and succeed the European Community, '' with the effect that, once the Treaty entered into force, the EU obtained the membership of the World Trade Organisation ( WTO ) which had belonged to the European Communities pillar. The abolition of the `` 3 - pillar structure '' was welcomed by practitioners and academics who had long considered the ' pillar metaphor '' to be unrealistic, if not absurd. The idea that one pillar could be the Communities, while the other two were merely `` policies '' or `` cooperation '' was scarcely credible. In the Lisbon Treaty the distribution of competences in various policy areas between Member States and the Union was reorganised into the following scheme : As outlined in Title I of Part I of the consolidated Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union view talk Exclusive competence Shared competence Supporting competence The Union has exclusive competence to make directives and conclude international agreements when provided for in a Union legislative act as to... the customs union the establishing of the competition rules necessary for the functioning of the internal market monetary policy for the Member States whose currency is the euro the conservation of marine biological resources under the common fisheries policy Common Commercial Policy conclusion of certain international agreements Member States can not exercise competence in areas where the Union has done so, that is... the internal market social policy, for the aspects defined in this Treaty economic, social and territorial cohesion agriculture and fisheries, excluding the conservation of marine biological resources environment consumer protection transport trans - European networks energy the area of freedom, security and justice common safety concerns in public health matters, for the aspects defined in this Treaty Union exercise of competence shall not result in Member States being prevented from exercising theirs in... research, technological development and ( outer ) space development cooperation, humanitarian aid The Union coordinates Member States policies or implements supplemental to their common policies not covered elsewhere in... the coordination of economic, employment and social policies common foreign, security and defence policies The Union can carry out actions to support, coordinate or supplement Member States ' actions in... the protection and improvement of human health industry culture tourism education, youth, sport and vocational training civil protection ( disaster prevention ) administrative cooperation See also European Union law History of the European Union Lisbon Treaty abolishes ( 3 ) pillars : timeline / events, ( 1993 - 2009 history ) External links The three pillars of the European Union European Navigator A proposed evolution in the CFSP / defence pillar of the EU - WEU : The presentation of the Eurocorps - Foreign Legion concept at the European Parliament in June 2003 European Union articles History Timeline Pre-1945 1945 -- 57 1958 -- 72 1973 -- 93 1993 -- 2004 Since 2004 Predecessors Timeline Founders European Coal and Steel Community ( 1951 -- 2002 ) European Economic Community ( 1958 -- 1993 / 2009 ) Euratom ( 1958 -- present ) European Communities ( 1967 -- 1993 / 2009 ) Justice and Home Affairs ( 1993 -- 2009 ) Geography Extreme points Geographic centre Largest municipalities Urban areas Larger urban zones Member states Regions ( first - level NUTS ) Special territories Politics Institutions European Council European Commission European Parliament Council of the European Union Court of Justice of the European Union European Central Bank European Court of Auditors Agencies Banking Border and coast security ( Frontex ) Disease prevention and control Environment Foreign affairs ( External Action Service ) Judicial cooperation ( Eurojust ) Law enforcement cooperation ( Europol ) Maritime safety Reconstruction Law Acquis Charter of Fundamental Rights Competition law Copyright law Directive Citizens ' Rights Directive Enhanced cooperation Environmental policy Four freedoms labour mobility Government procurement Journal Mechanism for Cooperation and Verification Legislative procedure Citizens ' Initiative Regulation Rural Development Policy Schengen Area Treaties opt - 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Question: what are the 3 pillars of the eu
Answer: European Communities