the european union (eu)

8/3/2019 TheEuropean Union (EU)

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CONTENTS

Overview

Objectives

Flag

History of EU

Treaties

Monetary union

The European Central Bank (ECB)

Agricultural Policy

Culture 1Dr. Sherko [email protected]


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The European Union

The European Union (EU) is an economic and

political union of 27 member states which are

located primarily in Europe.

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Overview

Political centers

- Brussels

- Luxembourg

- Strasbourg

Leaders

- European Council: Herman Van Rompuy

- Commission: Jos Manuel Barroso

- Parliament: Jerzy Buzek

- Council of ministers: Hungary

Area

- Total : 4,324,782 km2

- Water (%) :3.08

Official languages : 23

Population - (2010) :

- Total : 501,064,211

- Density: 115.9/km2

GDP 2009 :

- Total: us$16.447 trillion

- Per capita: us$33,052

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formally established at: 1993


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1. Elimination of custom duties among member states.

2. Elimination of obstacles to the free flow of import and

export of goods and services among member nations.

3. Establishment of common custom duties and unitedindustrial/commercial policies regarding countries

outside the community.

4. Free movement of capital and people within the block.

5. Acceptance of common agricultural policies,transportation policies ,technical standards health and

safety regulations.

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6. Common measures for consumer protection.

7. Common laws to maintain competition throughout the

community and to fight monopolies or illegal cartels.

8. Regional fund to encourage economic development of

certain regions.

9. Greater monetary and fiscal coordination among

member states and certain common fiscal policies.

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Flag

o It is the symbol of the European Union

o the symbol of Europe's unity and

identity in a wider sense.oThe circle of gold stars represents

solidarity and harmony between thepeoples of Europe.

oThere are 12 stars because the number12 is traditionally the symbol ofperfection, completeness and unity.

The history of the flag goes

back to 1955.

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1952 1-Belgium 2-France 3-Germany 4-Italy 5-Luxembourg 6-Netherlands

1973 7-Denmark 8-Ireland 9-UK

1981 10-Greece

1986 11-Portugal 12-Spain

1995 13-Austria 14-Finland 15-Sweden2004 16-Cyprus 17-Czech 18-Estonia 19-Hungary 20-Latvia 21-Lithuania

22-Malta 23-Poland 24Slovakia 25-Slovenia

2007 26-Bulgaria 27-Romani

Candidate Countries

Croatia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey, Iceland

Potential candidate CountriesAlbania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia

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Procedure of Joining EU

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To join the EU a country must meet the Copenhagen criteria, defined

at the 1993 Copenhagen European Council:

1. stable democracy that respects human rights and the rule of law

2.functioning market economy capable ofcompetition within the EU

3.the acceptance of the obligations of membership, including EU law.

Evaluation of a country's fulfillment of the criteria is the responsibility

of the European Council.

No member state has ever left the Union, though Greenland withdrewin 1985.

The Lisbon Treatynow provides a clause dealing with how a member

leaves the EU.


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1. The historical roots of the European Union lie in the

Second World War. Soon after the war, Europe is split

into East and West as the 40-year-long Cold War

begins. West European nations create the Council ofEurope in 1949. It is a first step towards cooperation

between them.

Founding Member States:Germany, France, Italy, theNetherlands,

Belgium and Luxembourg.

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2- 1952, The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)

was a six-nation international organization serving to

unify Western Europe during the Cold War and create

the foundation for the modern-day developments of

the European Union. The ECSC was the first

organization to be based on the principles

of supranationalism.

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957, these six countries signed theT

reaties of Romewhich extended the earlier cooperation within the

European Coal and Steel Community and created the

European Economic Community, (EEC)

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4- 1973, the Communities enlarged to include Denmark,Ireland and the United Kingdom

5- 1979, the first direct, democratic elections to the

European Parliament were held.

6- 1985, the Schengen Agreement led the way toward thecreation of open borders without passport controls

between most member states and some non-member

states.

7- 1986 the European flag began to be used by theCommunity and the Single European Act was signed.

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8- 1990, after the fall of the Iron Curtain, the former EastGermany became part of the Community as part of a

newly united Germany. With enlargement toward

Eastern and Central Europe on the agenda, the

Copenhagen criteria for candidate members to jointhe European Union were agreed.

9- 1993, The European Union was formally established

when the Maastricht Treaty came into force on 1

November 1993.9- 2002, euro notes and coins replaced national

currencies in 12 of the member states

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10- 2007, European leaders signed the Lisbon Treaty

which was intended to replace the earlier, failed

European Constitution, which never came into force

after being rejected by French and Dutch voters.!

11- 2009, the Lisbon Treaty was ratified by all countries

and expected to go into effect soon

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Treaties1

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Treaties2Brussels Treaty (1948-49) was signedbetween Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and

the United Kingdom, as an expansion to the preceding year's

defense pledge, the Dunkirk Treaty signed between Britain and

France. As the Treaty of Brussels contained a mutual defense clause.

The Treaty ofParis (1951-52) (formally the Treaty establishing the

European Coal and Steel Community) was signed on 1951 between

France, West Germany, Italy and the three Benelux countries

(Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands)

(1952) established the European Coal and Steel

Community (ECSC), because of F Some of the main enemies during

the war were now sharing production of coal and steel, the key-

resources which previously had been central to the war effort. 15


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Treaties3Modifying Brussels Treaty The London and ParisConferences (1954, 1955) were two related conferences

in London and Paris to determine the status of West Germany.

The Treaties of Rome (1957) are two treaties that they were thefollowing:

The Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy

Community (the EAEC Treaty; often referred to as the Euratom Treaty)

The Treaty establishing the European Economic

Community (the EEC Treaty; often referred to as the Treaty of Rome).

The Merger Treaty (1965) was a European treaty which combined

the executive bodies of the (ECSC), (Euratom) and (EEC) into a

single institutional structure.16


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Treaties4The Single European Act (SEA) (1986) was the first major revisionof the 1957 Treaty of Rome. The Act set the European

Community an objective of establishing a Single Market and

codified European Political Cooperation, the forerunner of

the European Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy.

The Treaty of Maastricht (formally, the Treaty on European

Union, -TE)) (1992) it created the European Union and led to the

creation of the single European currency, the euro. The Maastricht

Treaty has been amended to a degree by later treaties

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Treaties5 The Amsterdam Treaty (1997) meant a greater emphasis on

citizenship and the rights of individuals, an attempt to achieve

more democracy in the shape of increased powers for

the European Parliament, a new title on employment, a

Community area of freedom, security and justice, thebeginnings of a common foreign and security policy (CFSP)

and the reform of the institutions in the run-up to

enlargement

The Treaty of Nice (2001) The Treaty of Nice reformed the

institutional structure of the European Union to withstandeastward expansion, a task which was originally intended to

have been done by the Amsterdam Treaty, but failed to be

addressed at the time.

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Treaties6 The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty

2007)) Prominent changes included the move from required

unanimity to double majority voting in several policy areas in

the Council of Ministers, a more powerful European

Parliament as its role of forming a bicameral legislaturealongside the Council of Ministers becomes the ordinary

procedure, a consolidated legal personality for the EU and the

creation of a long-term President of the European

Council and a High Representative of the Union for Foreign

Affairs and Security Policy. The Treaty also made the Union'sbill of rights, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, legally

binding.

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Single market The euro is designed to help build a single market by:1. easing travel of citizens and goods

2. eliminating exchange rate problems

3. providing price transparency

4. creating a single financial market

5. price stability and low interest rates

6. providing a currency used internationally and protected

against shocks by the large amount of internal trade within

the Eurozone. It is also intended as a political symbol of integration and

stimulus for more.

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Monetary union1

The creation of a European single currency

became an official objective of the European

Economic Community in 1969. However, it

was only with the advent of the MaastrichtTreaty in 1993 that member states were

legally bound to start the monetary union no

later than1

January1

999.On 1999 date the euro was launched by

11 member states of the EU.

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Monetary union2 The Eurozone has since grown to 17 countries, All other EU

member states, except Denmark and the United Kingdom, are

legally bound to join the euro when the convergence

criteria are met, however only a few countries have set target

dates for accession.

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Monetary union3

Since its launch the euro has become the second reservecurrency in the world with a quarter of foreign exchanges

reserves being in euro.

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Euro exchange rate (2010)


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The European Central Bank (ECB)

The European Central Bank (ECB) is the central bank for theeurozone (consisting of the EU member states which have

adopted the euro), and thus controls monetary policy in that

area with an agenda to maintain price stability.

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It is at the centre of the European Systemof Central Banks, which comprehends all EU

national banks, and is guided by a boardcomprising of the President of the European

Central Bank, who is appointed by the

European Council, and national bank

governors.

The European Central Bank in Frankfurt


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Agricultural Policy1

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one of theoldest policies of the European Community, and wasone of its core aims. The policy has the objectives of:

a) increasing agricultural productionb) providing certainty in food suppliesc) ensuring a high quality of life for farmersd) stabilizing markets

e) ensuring reasonable prices for consumers.It was, until recently, operated by a system of subsidies

and market intervention.

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Agricultural Policy2Since the beginning of the 1990s, the CAP has been subject to

a series of reforms.

Initially these reforms included the introduction of set-aside in

1988, where a proportion of farm land was deliberately

withdrawn from production, milk quotas (1992) and, morerecently, the 'de-coupling' (or disassociation) of the money

farmers receive from the EU and the amount they produce

(2004).

Agriculture expenditure will move away from subsidypayments linked to specific produce, toward direct payments

based on farm size. This is intended to allow the market to

dictate production levels, while maintaining agricultural

income levels.26


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Culture

Eurostat (2005), "Social values, Science and Technology", Special

Eurobarometer 225 (Europa, web portal): pp. 9, retrieved 11 June 2009.

The percentage of

Europeans in each

member state whobelieve in "a God"

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TANK YOU

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