Diplomatic missions of the European Union

The EU is the world's largest economic union, customs union and donor of humanitarian and development assistance and thus has an extensive network of delegations around the world mainly operating in the framework of External Relations, for which the European Commission is the main decision body.

A US ambassador to the ECSC was accredited soon thereafter, and he headed the second overseas mission to establish diplomatic relations with the Community institutions.

[1] The number of delegates began to rise in the 1960s following the merging of the executive institutions of the three European Communities into a single Commission.

Until recently some states had reservations accepting that EU delegations held the full status of a diplomatic mission.

Article 20 of the Maastricht Treaty requires the Delegations and the Member States' diplomatic missions to "co-operate in ensuring that the common positions and joint actions adopted by the Council are complied with and implemented".