Dictionary of the European Union

While it is likely that any educated person in the UK would know the difference between, say, a Bill and an Act, not many could tell the difference between a decision, a directive and a regulation of the European Commission, not to mention that between the European Council, The Council of the European Union and the Council of Europe. Yet the examples just given have as much influence on everyday British life as the Bills and Acts of Westminster.

Reading this dictionary, we may form a picture of a complex series of institutions built up gradually, often in an unplanned...