what is european union

8/9/2019 What is European Union

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What is EuropeanUnion?

European Union is the political and economic union of 27 memberstates primarily in Europe.

The 27 member states are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the

Czech Republic, France, Finland, Denmark, Estonia, Germany,Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta,

Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain,Sweden and United Kingdom.


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Purpose

The European Union was formed to bring together the individualmember states and integrate them for better economic and political

power

To strengthen the protection of the rights and interests of the

nationals of its Member States through the introduction of acitizenship of the Union.


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HISTORY OF EUROPEANUNION

In 1951 Treaty of Paris paved way for the

formation ofEuropean Coal and Steel

Company.

Belgium, Italy, Luxemberg, Netherlands

and West Germany, France were itsfounder members.

In 1957 these six countries went ahead and

signed Treaty of Rome which paved theway for European Economic Community

and European Atomic EnergyCommunity.


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In 1967 the Merger Treaty merged all the three communities together

to form one single institution called European Community (EC)

In 1973 Denmark, United Kingdom, Ireland joined European

Community.

In 1981- Greece

In 1986- Spain and Portugal

Finally on November 1, 1993 the Treaty of Masstricht paved theway for the formation ofEuropean Union


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1995 Austria, Finland and Sweden

2004 Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia,Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland

2007 Bulgaria and Romania

1995-2007


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European Union Flag

1) It was designed by

Arsne Heitz and PaulLvy in 1955.

2) It symbolises EuropesIdentity and unity in widersense.The cricle of

golden stars symbolisesharmony and solidaritybetween people ofEurope


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EUROPEAN ANTHEM

The popularly used European anthem isa work of legendary German composer

Ludwig van Beethoven.

It is his 9thSymphonycalled Ode to

Joy


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Single Market

Single market facilitates free movement ofgoods, capital, people, services betweenmember states.

The free movement has ensured that

1) Citizens can move freely between memberstates to live, work, study or retire in anothercountry

2) Capital is freely available for property

purchases, making investments in othermember states

3) Self employed people can provide theirservices on temporary or permanent basis inother member states


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Customs Union

The custom union involves application of common external tariff onall the goods entering the market.

This means that once the goods enter the EU market these are notsubject to any customs duties or any other levy for the trade

between member states.


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Common

Currency

Eurois the official currency of 16 out of27 member states of European

Union.

Euro has helped to ease travel of goodsand people, eliminate exchange rateproblems, price stability, low interestrates.

Euro is today the worlds 2nd reservecurrency after US dollar.


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Legal System

Court of Justice one judge

from each member state

Interprets and applies EU legislation


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Agriculture

CAP Common Agricultural Policy

Sustainablility of Agriculture

Food Quality

Animal Welfare

Food Safety Control

Farmers welfare/incomes

Employment in agriculture


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Euoropean Union parliament

It is the directly elected European Unionbody

It represents the people of the EU unlike

the Council of Ministers, whichrepresents governments.

Elections held every 5 years since 1979

The European parliament's powers have

steadily increased with each change ofthe EU treaties. Most new laws inmember states are to implementEuropean legislation which is amendedand adopted by the EuropeanParliament.


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EDUCATION

Education and science are areas where the EU's role is limited tosupporting national governments.

In education, the policy was mainly developed in the 1980s in

programmes supporting exchanges and mobility.

The most visible of these has been the ERASMUS programme, a

university exchange programme which began in198

7.


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RESEARCH

Scientific development is facilitated through the EU's

Framework Programmes, the first of which started in 1984.

16 EU countries are members of the European Space Agency.

The aims of EU policy in this area are to co-ordinate and

stimulate research.


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RELIGION

The EU is a secular body with no formal connections to any religion andno mention of religion in any current or proposed treaty.

Christianity is the largest religion of European Union.

Islam and Judaism are also represented in European population.

Other significant religions present in the EU territories are Buddhism,Sikhism and Hinduism with the latter two having a strong presence in theUnited Kingdom.


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CULTURE

Policies affecting cultural matters are mainly set by individual memberstates.

Cultural programmes undertaken by EU are

Culture 2000- 7 year programme.

European Cultural Month Event.

Media Plus programme.

European Union Youth Orchestra.

European Capital of Culture- one or two cities in EU are selected for a

year to assist in cultural development of that city.

Web portal has been formed dedicated to Europe and culture


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SPORTS

Sport is mainly theresponsibility ofindividualmember states or otherinternational organisations rather than thatof the EU.

However EU policies have had an impact onsport, such as the freemovement ofworkers which was at the core of theBosman ruling, which prohibited national

footballleagues fromimposing quotas onforeign players with European citizenship

Under the proposed Treaty of Lisbon sportswould begiven a special status whichwould exempt this sector frommuch of theEU's economic rules.


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LANGUAGE

German is the most widely spoken mother tongue (about 88.7million people as of 2006), followed by English, Italian andFrench.

English is by far the most spoken foreign language at over half(51%) of the population, with German and French following.

23 official languages and 150 regional and minority languages


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REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT

There are substantial economical

disparities across the EU.

There are a number of Structural Funds

and Cohesion Funds to supportdevelopment of underdeveloped regions

of the EU.

TACIS (Technical Aid to theCommonwealth of Independent

States) has now become part of the

worldwide EuropeAid programme.


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JUSTICE & HOME AFFAIRS

Over the years, the EU has developed a wide competence in thearea of justice and home affairs.

For this many agencies have been set up

Europol- Co-operation of police forces Eurojust- Co-operation between prosecutors

Frontex- Co-operation between border control authorities

Schengen Information System- provides a common database forpolice and immigration authorities


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FOREIGN POLICY

The EU participates in all G8 summits.

In WTO (WORLD TRADE ORGANISATION) all the 27 memberstates of EU are represented by Trade Commissioner Catherine

Ashton (TCCA)


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REFERENCES

www.europa.eu.int

www.google.com


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