Editing European Union (section)

====Primary law====
The European Union is based on a series of [[Treaties of the European Union|treaties]]. These first established the European Community and the EU, and then made amendments to those founding treaties.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sources of EU law |url=http://ec.europa.eu/ireland/general_information/legal_information_and_eu_law/sources_eu_law/index_en.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080228193407/http://ec.europa.eu/ireland/general_information/legal_information_and_eu_law/sources_eu_law/index_en.htm |archive-date=28 February 2008 |access-date=5 September 2007 |publisher=European Commission}}</ref> These are power-giving treaties which set broad policy goals and establish institutions with the necessary legal powers to implement those goals. These legal powers include the ability to enact legislation<ref name="art249" group="lower-alpha">{{Cite web |date=30 March 2010 |title=Consolidated Version of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union |url=https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ%253AC%253A2010%253A083%253A0047%253A0200%253AEN%253APDF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131117094809/https://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ%253AC%253A2010%253A083%253A0047%253A0200%253AEN%253APDF |archive-date=17 November 2013 |access-date=21 December 2022 |website=Official Journal of the European Union |publisher=EUR-Lex |language=en}}</ref> which can directly affect all member states and their inhabitants.<ref name="Direct Effect" group="lower-alpha">According to the principle of Direct Effect first invoked in the Court of Justice's decision in {{cite court|litigants=Van Gend en Loos v Nederlandse Administratie der Belastingen|reporter=Eur-Lex|court=European Court of Justice|year=1963|url=http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:61962J0026:EN:NOT}} See: Craig and de Búrca, ch. 5.</ref> The EU has [[legal personality]], with the right to sign agreements and international treaties.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=de Schoutheete |first1=Philippe |last2=Andoura |first2=Sami |year=2007 |title=The Legal Personality of the European Union |url=http://aei.pitt.edu/9083/01/Legal.Personality.EU-PDS-SA.pdf |journal=Studia Diplomatica |volume=LX |issue=1 |access-date=15 November 2010}} Its examples are the ratifications of [[United Nations Convention against Corruption]] and [[Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities]] by EU. And Article 47 of the Consolidated Treaty on European Union.</ref>