Moving around Europe--an overview of European Union nursing legislation.

Making sense of the European Union (EU) and its institutions rests largely on the understanding that essentially all its endeavours are an attempt to guarantee the four freedoms of movement--of goods, services, labour and capital--that are the pre-requisites for the creation of an economic area without internal frontiers and the establishment of economic and social union. With the ratification of the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty) the EU also aims to assert its identity on the international scene; strengthen the protection of the rights and interests of the nationals of its Member States; develop close cooperation on justice and home affairs; and maintain in full the acquis communautaire (the evolving legacy of EU developed principles and laws). It is the four freedoms of movement, however, that remain the dynamo that drives EU thinking. To disregard this fundamental concept is to ensure that the EU will for ever remain a mystery.