The mechanism, which was first established under the Treaty of Amsterdam as closer cooperation, renamed to enhanced cooperation with the Treaty of Nice, and nowadays regulated by the same name in the Treaty of Lisbon (in the provisions of the Treaty of the European Union and the provisions of the Treaty of the Functioning of the European Union), enables to at least nine member states of the European Union, that with the aim of realizing the goals of the European Union and protecting its integration processes, they cooperate with each other in the areas that fall under shared competences of European Union and regulate these areas uniformly. Enhanced cooperation is used as a last resort when a specific objective cannot be achieved by the European Union as a whole within a reasonable period of time. All acts adopted within the framework of enhanced cooperation must be adopted in accordance with the Treaties and the law of the European Union, and are binding only on the participating member states. The mechanism is open and allows all non-cooperating member states to join the already existing enhanced cooperation at any time. Enhanced cooperation has been established in five areas, namely in the area of divorce and legal separation, in the area of property regime rules for international couples, in the area of European patent with unitary effect, in the area of financial transactions tax, and in the area of establishment of European Public Prosecutor's Office.
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