The European Union is a highly complex system. The massive increases in the scope and depth of the EU's involvement in all areas of policy formation and decision making has created a system considerably more intricate than any national equivalent. This work aims to cut through the complexities and offers the reader a structured survey of the various fields in which the EU acts.;The book explains the rationale, the legal basis, the instruments and the development of each policy area. It covers the three pillars of the EU - the European Community, Common Foreign & Security Policy and Justice & Home Affairs - as well as horizontal issues of enlargement and flexibility, together with an institutional and historical overview.