Acquis communautaire

France was one of the EU’s founder nations and does not want anyone to forget it. Much EU jargon is based on French diplomatic phrases and this term is perhaps the daddy of them all. In fact, the acquis (pronounced a-kee) is a very easy concept to understand. It means, quite simply, every piece of EU law that has ever been passed. This includes all of the Union’s founding treaties and the countless EU directives and regulations agreed since the European Community was created in 1957.