Changes: European Union

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History

Overview

The European Union (EU) is a politico-economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It covers an area of 4,324,782 km2, with an estimated population of over 508 million. The EU operates through a system of supranational institutions and intergovernmental-negotiated decisions by the member states. The institutions are: the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank, and the Court of Auditors. The European Parliament is elected every five years by EU citizens.

he EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital, enact legislation in justice and home affairs, and maintain common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries, and regional development The monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002. It is currently composed of 19 member states that use the euro as their legal tender.

European Broadcasting Union members — EBU membership dates.

The EU works in co-operation with the European Broadcasting Union and European Space Agency. There are other agreements as with the "Deutsches Institut für Normung" over the DIN stands (DIN numbers) for various produce.

The concept

Defenders of Warsaw (1939) — Polish soldiers with anti-aircraft artillery near the Warsaw Central Station during the first days of September, 1939.

After World War 2, the European nations saught a way to make any future wars impossible and a way keep both the USA and USSR from economically and\or politicaly dominating the region in the long term.

The union maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at the United Nations, the WTO, the G8, and the G-20. The European Parliament announces new President and Foreign Affairs Minister in 2009. Got the Nobel Peace Prize 2012" in 2012 and Croatia joined in 3 June 2013. Because of its global influence, the European Union has been described as a current or as a potential superpower in recent years (as of 2015).

Preliminary plans (1945-1951)

Portugal_in_1950-0 — Portugal in 1950-0

A travelogue of right after the war shows how the country has survived the war. Lisbon and Porto are shown as well as fishery, cork and other sources of income. Finally a typical traditional dance is performed.

Portugal_1980_and_1981-0 — Portugal 1980 and 1981-0

These are old kodachrome images taken in Portugal in the eraly 80's.

There had been talk of a united Anglo-French, Anglo-Irish, Anglo-Nordic, Iberia, Fraco-Belgian, Nordic, Fraco-Italian, Franco-Spanish, Anglo-American, Anglo-Australian and Frnco-West German trade bloc just after World War 2. The idea of a European trade bloc lead to the birth of ECSC, EFTA and the EEC. As a result

Coal and Steel Community and the Treaty of Paris (1951),

Robert Schuman proposed creating the European Coal and Steel Community on 9 May 1950, which became operative after the singing of the 1951 Treaty of Paris. The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was an international organization serving to unify European countries after World War II. It was formally established by the Treaty of Paris (1951), which was signed by Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The ECSC was the first international organisation to be based on the principles of supranationalism, and would ultimately lead the way to the founding of the European Union.

The Western European Union and the Modified Treaty of Brussels (1954)

The Western European Union (WEU; French: Union de l'Europe occidentale, UEO) was an international organisation and military alliance, tasked with implementing the Modified Treaty of Brussels (1954), an amended version of the original 1948 Treaty of Brussels. The WEU was established by seven European nations allied with the USA (Capitalist Bloc and NATO members) during the Cold War.

The EEC and Treaty of Rome (1957)

History_of_the_European_Union_(1945-2015) — History of the European Union (1945-2015)

History of the EU.

In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome, which created the European Economic Community (EEC) and established a customs union. They also signed another pact creating the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) for co-operation in developing nuclear energy. Both treaties came into force in 1958.

The Schengen Agreement (1985)

The Schengen Agreement is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's borderless Schengen Area. It was signed on 14 June 1985 by five of the ten member states of the then European Economic Community near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg. It proposed the gradual abolition of border checks at the signatories' common borders. Measures proposed included reduced speed vehicle checks which allowed vehicles to cross borders without stopping, allowing residents in border areas freedom to cross borders away from fixed checkpoints and the harmonisation of visa policies. A single EU border force has been periodically mentioned since.

German reunion (1990)

Berlin_Wall_Documentary_-_The_German_Death_Strip_-_History_Documentary_Films — Berlin Wall Documentary - The German Death Strip - History Documentary Films

Berlin Wall Documentary - The German Death Strip - History Documentary Films.

Germany was occupied and divided in to the FRG and GDR from 1949 to 1990. The Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and Germany united in 1990.

The Maastricht Treaty (1992)

The Maastricht Treaty (formally, the Treaty on European Union or TEU) undertaken to integrate Europe was signed on 7 February 1992 by the members of the European Community in Maastricht, Netherlands. On 9–10 December 1991, the same city hosted the European Council which drafted the treaty. Upon its entry into force on 1 November 1993 during the Delors Commission, it created the European Union and led to the creation of the single European currency, the Euro. The Maastricht Treaty has been amended by the treaties of Amsterdam, Nice and Lisbon. It became possible to hold European Union citizenship since 1993 and a single passport has been oft proposed since then.

Treaty of Amsterdam (1997)

The Amsterdam Treaty, officially the Treaty of Amsterdam amending the Treaty of the European Union, the Treaties establishing the European Communities and certain related acts, was signed on 2 October 1997, and entered into force on 1 May 1999; it made substantial changes to the Treaty of Maastricht, which had been signed in 1992.

Under the Treaty of Amsterdam, member states agreed to devolve certain powers from national governments to the European Parliament across diverse areas, including legislating on immigration, adopting civil and criminal laws, and enacting foreign and security policy (CFSP), as well as implementing institutional changes for expansion as new member nations join the EU.

Treaty of Nice (2001)

The Treaty of Lisbon (2009)

Recent crisis, especially Greece

Maps

Future expatiation

Turkey, Bosnia, Kosovo, Ukraine, Iceland (pending a 'yes' vote in a public referendum) Albania, Georgia, Macedonia and Montenegro said between 2014 and 2016 that they wanted to join the EU.

Resent issues in Bosnia

BOSNIA_in_ECONOMIC_TURMOIL_STATE_FIRMS_COLLAPSE_After_Turing_Private_MORE_VIOLENT_PROTESTS_Expected — BOSNIA in ECONOMIC TURMOIL STATE FIRMS COLLAPSE After Turing Private MORE VIOLENT PROTESTS Expected

This is why the EU moved eastward, to save the ecanomic failing Balkan state!

Protesti_ispred_Vlade_TK_5 — Protesti ispred Vlade TK 5

2014 riots in Tuzla.

Mostar_BiH_Riots_07_02_2014 — Mostar BiH Riots 07 02 2014

2014 riots in Mostar.

Mostar

Never again! Love conquers hate and so the EU will defeat ethno-religious feuds.

The EU established a regional approach to the Western Balkans already in 1997, with political and economic conditionality criteria for the development of bilateral relations. The EU/Bosnia and Herzegovina Consultative Task Force was formed in 1998 and was replaced in 2006, the task force is replaced by the Reform Process Monitoring (RPM).

Unilateral trade preferences ("Autonomous Trade Measures", ATM) were introduced by the EU for Bosnia and Herzegovina in the year 2000 and trade increased since 2008.

It was reported in the UK media that the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina propped up several banks during mid 2009 after a local bank collapsed due to fiscal pressure on it by other European banks it traded with, one of which was German.

The 2014 unrest in Bosnia and Herzegovina was a series of demonstrations and riots that began in the northern town of Tuzla on 4 February 2014, but quickly spread to 20 towns and cities. It was caused by concerns over a sluggish economy, mismanagement, corruption and unemployment, which was by the time at ~30%

The protests mark the largest outbreak of public anger over high unemployment and two decades of political inertia in the Balkan country of 3.8 million people since the end of the 1992–95 war. 20% lived below the poverty line.

The IT sector stated booming in Bosnia by 2016, but it had yet to reach its full potential according to corporate bosses and IT experts. Tourism to rural cycle roots also took off in 2015.

They applied to join the EU in February 2016.

Bosnia's ethnic quarrels and 1990s civil war fallout remain a worry for the EU, along with heavy corruption and the emergent role of organised crime. The Commission officially stated that Bosnia was still plagued by an "unstable political climate" and ethnic divisions (among Serbs, Croats and Bosniacks). In December 2011 Bosnia's Muslim, Croat and Serb leaders agreed on the formation of a central government, ending 14 months of political deadlock over who could do what in it. The European Court of Human Rights has ruled that Bosnia's electoral laws discriminate against Jews and Roma (Gypsies), because only Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs are allowed to run for high office. The triple leadership was formed in the wake of the civil war as a way of preventing any further conflict in the future between Bosniaks, Croats and Serbs. The British hate all Bosnians, especially Serbs, on the false post millennium belief that the civil war was all a organised crime/EU cover for a immigration smuggling from the former Yugoslavia.

Bosnia's Canton 10's names, titles, symbols and flags controversy

Canton 10 is one of the 10 Cantons of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The local government seat is in Livno, while the assembly is in Tomislavgrad.

In Croatian the term županija (county) is used, while in Bosnian and Serbianthe term is kanton/кантон. The canton is officially referred by the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina as Canton 10/County 10 (Kanton 10 or Županija 10).

The local government however refers to it as the Herzeg-Bosnia County (Hercegbosanska županija) and uses that name in the local constitution.

This name has been deemed unconstitutional by the Federation's Constitutional Court because it contains elements of the name of the country of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which any other canton could contain. Other names used at the national level include North Herzegovina Canton/County (Sjevernohercegovački kanton, Sjevernohercegovačka županija) and Livno Canton (Livanjski kanton), after its capital.

The flag and coat of arms of the canton were the same as the flag and coat of arms of the former Croatian Republic of Herzeg-Bosnia. West Herzegovina canton was another canton in Bosnia and Herzegovina which also used this flag and coat of arms. However, these symbols were deemed unconstitutional by the Federation Constitutional Court, because "it only represented one group". Defying the court's ruling, the local government continues using these symbols, and the coat of arms is used at plates at the official institutions. Due to the name and symbols dispute, the local police up to this day have no official badges.

Bosnian leadership sytems and figures

The Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina is the three-member body which collectively serves as head of state of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to the Article V of the Constitution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina consists of three members: one Bosniak and one Croat elected from the Federation and one Serb elected from the Republika Srpska. Together, they serve one four-year term.

The member with the most votes becomes the chairperson unless he or she was the incumbent chairman at the time of the election, but the chairmanship rotates every eight months, to ensure equality.

The EU says it must stop for not giving a post to all factions (Gypsies, mixed bloods, Hungarians, Romanians, Kosovars, and so on). Over the years they have indicated there preference for a signal dictatorial leader instead of the present triumvirate.

Other issues

The Republic of Kosovo wants to join the EU, but 5 EU states will block this. The fascist nations Greece (hates Albanians and Macedonians) and Spain (hates Basques and Catalans, the prior then went on to founded ETA in response), hopelessly divided Cyprus and the the former Eastern Bloc nations of Romania, Slovakia, do not recognise Kosovo's independence. The United Nations (UN) dose nit reconise it since it is an artificial made ethnic homeland for Kosovars. It covers the former Serbian province of Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija. FEFA, NATO and the IOC do reconise it. The EU has unofficaly reconised it since 2012.

In 2012, EU uofficially recognised the plans of four aspiring members: Ukraine, Albania, Georgia, Macedonia, Turkey and Montenegro. Macedonia has been prevented from joining the bloc by Greece, who has racist views even about it's name 'Macedonia'. Cyprus never wants to be in any organisation that contains Turks and wants all ethnic Turks exspelled from the Turkish held part of te island of Cyprus. Serbia and Bosnia have had there bids for membership formaly reconised by the EU.

Turkey, Iceland, Switzerland, Serbia, and Ukraine have had recent open political debate on the topic of membership.

The EEA

The European Economic Area (EEA) provides for the free movement of persons, goods, services and capital within the internal market of the European Union (EU) between its 28 member states, as well as three of the four member states of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA): Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway. The Agreement is applied provisionally with respect to Croatia—the remaining and most recent EU member state—pending ratification of its accession by all EEA parties.

The EEA was established on 1 January 1994 upon entry into force of an agreement between the member states and the EU's predecessors, the European Economic Community and the European Coal and Steel Community. EFTA states which join the EEA participate in the EU's internal market without being EU members, adopting almost all the relevant EU legislation other than laws regarding agriculture and fisheries. The EEA's "decision-shaping" processes enable them to influence and contribute to new EEA policy and legislation from an early stage.

One EFTA member, Switzerland, has not joined the EEA, but has a series of bilateral agreements with the EU which allow it also to participate in the internal market.

The EEA members also agreed to cut the member's sometimes massive mobile phone roaming usage fees in the mid 2000s.

EU flags and emblems

Anthem of Europe.

The EEC/EU motto is "United in diversity" and the flag is the gold and blue "Euro-stars"\"Eruo-fag".

The "Ode to Joy" (The German original title: "An die Freude") is the anthem of the European Union and the Council of Europe; both of which refer to it as the European Anthem due to the Council's intention that, as a semi-modern composition with a mythological flair, it does represent Europe as a whole, rather than any organisation. It is based on the final movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony composed in 1823, and is played on official occasions by both organisations. It was writen by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1824 and adopted in 1972 and 1985.

"Ode to Joy" (German original title: "An die Freude") is the anthem of the European Union and the Council of Europe; both of which refer to it as the European Anthem due to the Council's intention that, as a semi-modern composition with a mythological flair, it does represent Europe as a whole, rather than any organisation. It is based on the final movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony composed in 1823, and is played on official occasions by both organisations.

Politics

Constitutional nature

Governance

Budget

Legal system

Courts of Justice

Fundamental rights

The treaties declare that the EU itself is "founded on the values of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities ... in a society in which pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men prevail."

In 2009 the Lisbon Treaty gave legal effect to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. The charter is a codified catalogue of fundamental rights against which the EU's legal acts can be judged.

Sadly, no one respects Greek, Turkish or Macedonian rights. The UK, Poland and Hungary are also turing in to police states (especially Poland).

Area of freedom, security and justice

Foreign relations

Military

The Western European Union (WEU; French: Union de l'Europe occidentale, UEO) was an international organisation and military alliance, tasked with implementing the Modified Treaty of Brussels (1954), an amended version of the original 1948 Treaty of Brussels. The WEU was established by seven European nations allied with the USA (Capitalist Bloc and NATO members) during the Cold War.

The predecessors of the European Union were not devised as a military alliance because NATO was largely seen as appropriate and sufficient for defence purposes. 22 EU members are members of NATO. while the remaining member states follow policies of neutrality. The Western European Union, a military alliance with a mutual defence clause, was disbanded in 2010 as its role had been transferred to the EU.

Article 42 of the Treaty on European Union provides for substantial military integration within the institutional framework of the union. Complete integration is an option that requires unanimity in the European Council of heads of state or government. For now it remains politically gridlocked considering the critical stance of the United Kingdom in particular.

Article 42 does also provide for a permanent structured cooperation between the armed forces of a subset of member states. As of 2015 this option has not been used, despite calls by prominent leaders such as former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, former Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini and former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt for a common defence for the Union. However the debate has intensified by the standoff between the EU and Russia over Ukraine. With new calls for an EU military by EU commission president Jean-Claude Juncker and by other European leaders and policy makers like the head of the German parliament’s foreign policy committee Norbert Röttgen, saying an EU army was “a European vision whose time has come”.

Article 42 was invoked for the first time by French President François Hollande, following the November 2015 Paris attacks. Speaking in front of a joint session of parliament in Versailles, Hollande described the terrorist attack as an attack against Europe as a whole.

The Unified Europe Corps is a small, symbolic, French-Dutch supervise, volunteer infantry unit made up of volunteers from participating EU nations.

EU forces have been deployed on peacekeeping missions from middle and northern Africa to the western Balkans and western Asia. EU military operations are supported by a number of bodies, including the European Defence Agency, European Union Satellite Centre and the European Union Military Staff.

Border controls and border troops

Frontex is an agency of the EU established to manage the cooperation between national border guards securing its external borders. It aims to detect and stop illegal immigration, human trafficking and terrorist infiltration. In December 2015 the European Commission presented its proposal for a new European Border and Coast Guard Agency having a stronger role and mandate along with national authorities for border management.

Humanitarian aid

Economy

Internal market

Monetary union

First idea of an economic and monetary union in Europe were raised well before establishing the European Communities. For example, already in the League of Nations, Gustav Stresemann asked in 1929 for a European currency against the background of an increased economic division due to a number of new nation states in Europe after World War I.

The plan was to set up a single European currency or exstage rate to create fiscal insatiability, the easy extant of money among tourists and cut inter-EU business overheads.

Various European currency baskets were used as units of account in international bond markets. Some of these were defined in ISO 4217.

Snake in the tunnel

The snake in the tunnel was the first attempt at European monetary cooperation in the 1970s, aiming at limiting fluctuations between different European currencies. It was an attempt at creating a single currency band for the European Economic Community (EEC), essentially pegging all the EEC currencies to one another.

Pierre Werner presented a report on economic and monetary union to the EEC on 8 October 1970. The first of three recommended steps involved the coordination of economic policies and a reduction in fluctuations between European currencies.

With the failure of the Bretton Woods system with the Nixon shock in 1971, the Smithsonian agreement set bands of ±2.25% for currencies to move relative to their central rate against the US dollar. This provided a tunnel within which European currencies could trade. However, it implied much larger bands in which they could move against each other: for example if currency A started at the bottom of its band it could appreciate by 4.5% against the dollar, while if currency B started at the top of its band it could depreciate by 4.5% against the dollar.

If both happened simultaneously, then currency A would appreciate by 9% against currency B. This was seen as excessive, and the Basel agreement in 1972 between the six existing EEC members and three about to join established a snake in the tunnel with bilateral margins between their currencies limited to 2.25%, implying a maximum change between any two currencies of 4.5%, and with all the currencies tending to move together against the dollar. This agreement also led to the formal end of the Sterling Area.

The tunnel collapsed in 1973 when the US dollar floated freely. The snake proved unsustainable, with several currencies leaving and in some cases rejoining. By 1977, it had become a Deutsche Mark zone with just the Belgian and Luxembourg franc, the Dutch guilder and the Danish krone tracking it. The Werner plan was abandoned.

The European Monetary System followed the "snake" as a system for monetary coordination in the EEC.

European Unit of Account

The European Unit of Account (EUA) or European Monetary unit (EMU) was a unit of account used in the European Communities from 1975 to 1979, when it was replaced at parity by the European Currency Unit, in turn replaced at parity in 1999 by the Euro.

Initially it was used for Lomé Convention of February 1975 and European Investment Bank operations before being gradually introduced into other sectors of Community activity.

The EUA was a basket of European currencies, originally designed to have the same value in mid-1974 as the IMF special drawing rights basket, both worth US$1.20635; they immediately moved apart in value. Different units of account had previously been used for different purposes, including the budget, the European Coal and Steel Community, and the Common Agriculture Policy following the abandonment of the gold parity unit of account in the early 1970s in the wake of the collapse of the Bretton Woods system.

European Currency Unit\ECU

The European Currency Unit, a former basket of the currencies of the European Community, precursor to the euro. Écu, the name of several French coins

The European Currency Unit (₠ or ECU, French pronunciation: [eky]) was a basket of the currencies of the European Community member states, used as the unit of account of the European Community before being replaced by the euro on 1 January 1999, at parity. The ECU itself replaced the European Unit of Account, also at parity, on 13 March 1979. The European Exchange Rate Mechanism attempted to minimize fluctuations between member state currencies and the ECU. The ECU was also used in some international financial transactions, where its advantage was that securities denominated in ECUs provided investors with the opportunity for foreign diversification without reliance on the currency of a single country.

The ECU was conceived on 13 March 1979 as an internal accounting unit. It had the ISO 4217 currency code XEU.

On 1 January 1999, the euro (with the code EUR and symbol €) replaced the ECU, at the value €1 = 1 ECU. Unlike the ECU, the euro is a real currency, although not all member states participate (for details on euro membership see Eurozone). Two of the countries in the ECU basket of currencies, UK and Denmark, did not join the eurozone, and a third, Greece, joined late. On the other hand, Finland and Austria joined the Eurozone from the beginning although their currencies were not part of the ECU basket (since they had joined the EU in 1995, two years after the ECU composition was "frozen")

Due to the ECU being used in some international financial transactions, there was a concern that foreign courts might not recognize the euro as the legal successor to the ECU. This was unlikely to be a problem, since it is a generally accepted principle of private international law that states determine their currencies, and that therefore states would accept the European Union legislation to that effect. However, for abundant caution, several foreign jurisdictions adopted legislation to ensure a smooth transition. Of particular importance, the US states of Illinois and New York adopted legislation to ensure a large proportion of international financial contracts recognized the euro as the successor of the ECU.

Although the acronym ECU is formed from English words, écu is also the name of an ancient French coin. That was one reason that a new name was devised for its successor currency, euro, which was felt not to favour any single language.

The currency's symbol, ₠ (U+20A0), comprises an interlaced C and E, which are the initial letters of the phrase 'European Community' in many European languages. However, this symbol was not widely used: few systems at the time could render it and in any case banks preferred (as with all currencies) to use the ISO code XEU.

As the ECU was only an electronic unit of account and not a full currency, it did not have any official coins or notes that could be used for everyday transactions. However, various European countries and organisations like the European Parliament made commemorative and mock-up coins and notes. A common theme on the coins was usually celebrating European unity, such as celebrating membership of the European Union.

The Euro\€

The euro sign; logotype and handwritten.

The Euro is the national currency of the Eurozone. A special Euro currency sign (€) was designed after a public survey had narrowed the original ten proposals down to two. The European Commission then chose the design created by the Belgian Alain Billiet.

Inspiration for the € symbol itself came from the Greek letter epsilon (Є). In the quotation, the epsilon is actually represented with the Cyrillic capital letter Ukrainian ye (Є, Unicode U+ 0404) instead of the technically more appropriate Greek lunate epsilon symbol (ϵ, U+03F5). I is a reference to the cradle of European civilisation– and the first letter of the word Europe, crossed by two parallel lines to 'certify' the stability of the euro.

Nine countries (Bulgaria , Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark , Hungary , Poland , Romania , Sweden and the United Kingdom) are EU members but do not use the euro. Before joining the Eurozone, a state must spend two years in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM II). As of January 2016, only the National Central Bank (NCB) of Denmark participates in ERM II.

Bulgarian lev Bulgaria лв BGN Currency board 2007 No target date for euro adoption
British pound sterling\Gibraltar pound United Kingdom\ Gibraltar £ GBP\GIP Floating Currency board 1973 Opt-out
Croatian kuna Croatia kn HRK Floating 2013 No target date for euro adoption
Czech koruna Czech Republic Kč CZK Floating 2004 No target date for euro adoption
Danish krone Denmark kr DKK ERM 1973 Opt-out
Hungarian forint Hungary Ft HUF Floating 2004 No target date for euro adoption
Polish złoty Poland zł PLN Floating 2004 No target date for euro adoption
Romanian leu Romania Leu RON Floating 2007 Official target date: 1 January 2019
Swedish krona Sweden kr SEK Floating 1995 Pending referendum approval
Swiss franc Flag of Campione d'Italia.svg Campione d'Italia (Italy) Fr. CHF Floating 1957 Also unofficially used in Büsingen am Hochrhein, Germany. Swiss Franc is issued by Switzerland.

Denmark and the United Kingdom obtained special EU opt-outs in the original Maastricht Treaty. Both countries are legally exempt from joining the eurozone unless their governments decide otherwise, either by parliamentary vote or referendum. Sweden, which joined the EU in 1995 after the Maastricht Treaty was signed, is required to join the eurozone under the terms of its accession treaty as soon as it fulfils the convergence criteria, which include being part of ERM II for two years. However, the Swedish people turned down euro adoption in 2003 tn the Swedish Euro referendum of 2003 and since then the country has intentionally avoided fulfilling the adoption requirements by not joining ERM II, which is voluntary.

Interest in joining the Eurozone (those states that use the Euro) increased in Denmark, and initially in Poland, as a result of the 2008 financial crisis. In Iceland, there was an increase in interest in joining the European Union, a pre-condition for adopting the euro. However, by 2010 the debt crisis in the eurozone caused interest from Poland, as well as the Czech Republic, to cool. Lithuania adopted the euro in 2015.

'E-numbers' on food medicen packets

The scheme

E numbers are codes for substances that are permitted to be used as food additives for use within the European Union and Switzerland. The "E" stands for "Europe". They are commonly found on food labels throughout the European Union. Safety assessment and approval are the responsibility of the European Food Safety Authority.

Having a single unified list for food additives was first agreed upon in 1962 with food colouring. In 1964, the directives for preservatives were added, 1970 for antioxidants and 1974 for the emulsifiers, stabilisers, thickeners and gelling agents.

Most additives are only permitted to be used in certain foods and are subject to specific quantitative limits, so it is important to note this list should be used in conjunction with the appropriate European Union legislation.

It covers-

E100–E199 (colours),
E200–E299 (preservatives),
1. E.G. Potassium Sorbate in my M&A Pharmchem Co-codamol codeine-paracetamol tablets (E202);
2. E.G. Metabisulphite in my Bristol Laboratories Ltd. paracetamol tablets (E223);
E300–E399 (antioxidants, acidity regulators),
E400–E499 (thickeners, stabilizers, emulsifiers),
1. E.G. Sorbitol in my Solpadeine Plus codeine-paracetamol tablets (E420);
E500–E599 (acidity regulators, anti-caking agents),
E600–E699 (flavour enhancers),
E700–E799 (antibiotics),
E900–E999 (glazing agents and sweeteners),
1. E.G. Aspartame in my Gaviscon Double Action anti-acid pills (E951).
E1000–E1599 (additional chemicals).

Numbering scheme

The numbering scheme follows that of the List of food additives, Codex Alimentarius' International Numbering System] (INS) as determined by the Codex Alimentarius committee, though only a subset of the INS additives are approved for use in the European Union as food additives. E numbers are also encountered on food labelling in other jurisdictions, including the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf, Australia, South Africa, New York City, New Zealand, Canada and Israel. They are increasingly, though still rarely, found on North American packaging, especially in Canada (Canada most widely outside Quebec and the Maritimes) and New York City on imported European products.

Colloquial use

In some European countries, "E-number" is sometimes used informally as a pejorative term for artificial food additives, and products may promote themselves as "free of E-numbers". This is incorrect, because many components of natural foods have E numbers (and the number is a synonym for the chemical component), e.g. vitamin (Ascorbic acid (E300)) and lycopene (E160).

Infrastructure

Agriculture

Competition

Energy

The Schengen Agreement

The Schengen Zone or Schengen Area is a free travel zone in Europe. The Schengen Agreement (English pronunciation: /ˈʃɛŋən/) is a treaty which led to the creation of Europe's borderless Schengen Area. It was signed on 14 June 1985 by five of the ten member states of the then European Economic Community near the town of Schengen, Luxembourg.

Signed: ‎14 June 1985;.
Location: ‎Schengen, Luxembourg.
Effective: ‎26 March 1995.

Religion

Education and science

Health care

Media freedom

Media freedom is a fundamental right that applies to all member states of the European Union and its citizens, as defined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights as well as the European Convention on Human Rights:[246]:1. Within the EU enlargement process, guaranteeing media freedom is named a "key indicator of a country's readiness to become part of the EU".

Criticisms, inter-member backstabbing and alleged inactions

Germany derides France and the UK in the early 2000s

The aleged Italian and German plot rig the Euro

It was an alligation of the early 2000s that it was fixed with a fiscal value set to unfairly boost Italian, Spanish and French ecanomic groath, while in the late 2000s it was accused of being slanted in favour of Austria, Germany, Finland, the Netherlands and France.

Mediteranian 'toxic national debt'

The 'Toxic cucumbers affair'

The fiscal destruction of Greece

The fiscal destruction of Iceland

German vs Bosnian banking subsidiaries allegations

It was reported in the UK media that the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina had propped up several banks during mid 2009 after a local bank collapsed due to fiscal pressure on it by other European banks it traded with, one of which was it's German parent firm.

The 2014-to date immigration crisis

Refugees pour out of the chaotic North African states and the dieting corpse of Sub-Saharan Africa. Africans migrate up a supplied Italy and Spain, in to a hacked off France. The EU agrees to dump all future migrants in to Malta and Belgian. The French and Belgian 'Jungle' migrant shanty towns are founded in 2011.

Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and Iranian refugees vomit in to Turkey, Cyprus and Greece. Koss and Lesbos were overrun. The also start fleeing there own crisis. The EU's national governments mocks the Syrian civil war and try to aggravate it by destabelising the country so far that ISIS could take over in places in 2012.

A 5 man Romanian crime gang went on trial over a £120,000 14 thefts in 3 months in Ribble Valley, Lancashire on the 3rd of June, 2013.

Markfield Recreation Ground was hit by a nasty scuffle on 23\6\2014 in which a free community music festival was taking place. CCTV and mobile phone footage has emerged of the disorder in which occurred during the "unprovoked attack" occurred, which saw rocks and fireworks being hurled. A group of "neo-Nazi Polish fascists" fan amok. A 24-year-old Polish man was stabbed during the incident, but not serious and some of the local Orthodox Jewish community were also targeted by the mob.

The dead Syrian refugee, Aylan Kurdi, was found dead in Bodrum, Turkey, 2 Sep 2015. He becomes a cause celebra. He's is believed to have been born in Kobanî, Syria.

Aylan Kurdi's beach death photo was proven in 2015 to be a fake, UKIP then chime in and denied he even existed!

Various Oxford professionals were blamed by experts on Tuesday 3 March 2015, as a review of the mindset that girls were raped were to blame, with victims perhaps totaling more than 370. Asians, Somalis, Whites and a Kosovar were both victims and perpetrators.

7 White men aged between 30 and 51, including 3 convicted sex offenders were charged and found guilty of those charges on Wednesday 22 April 2015 They also used the "dark web" to communicate with each other on sites such as The Onion Router, known as TOR.

Immigrants that came to France got in trouble with the British again as truckers said they 'have attacked and stabbed' British lorry drivers in Calais amid 'catastrophic' scenes at the French port concerned on 18/6/2015

Trevor Joyce from Abingdon was accused of stabbing Justin Skrewbowski (61) to death in a Poundland store on 8/12/2015, the case continues.

Russia was criticised in many media outlets for bullying and partially annexing Ukraine.

As borders open and close erratically in early and mid 2015 refugees surge in to the former Yugoslavia and Greece. Hungary seals it's border with Croatia and Slovenia, boasting it is a xenophobic state. Yugoslavia becomes overwhelmed, so Slovenia and Macedonia seal there borders. Serbia agrees to look after any one who can get there from the former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria and Romania. Albania and Bulgaria are now hit by refugees and the latter closes it's borders. Aylan Kurdi's beach death photo was proven in 2015 to be a fake, UKIP then chime in and denied he even existed!

The constant torrent of dubious, false or misrepresented stories boomed due to the Syrian, Eritrean and Iraqi immigration crisis. Many EU nations refused to co-operate with the EU dispersal plan lead to Greece, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania and the former Yugoslavia becoming a dustbin for immigrants. The attempted cover-up over the Cologne station and Stockholm rock concert rape gangs gave more fodder to the very people they feared the truth would aggravate. The British media claimed they ere all crooks and the steady drift of endearing and hapless immigrants had become a mindless conquering horde as on the beaches of Greece, which it had not.

The Tories wanted to crack down on Eastern European immigration and thire right once in the UK. UKIP blended the longstanding fear of EU bureaucracy, the ailing Euro (€), Anglo-Irish economic decline, Polonaphobia, Islamaphobia and Syrian refuge worries in to a ugly new anti-EU cabal. They implied wanted to end all UK treaties, overseas relations, trade, tourist, immigration and ethnic communities.

Maps

The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize

The Tunisian Quartette, Greek islanders, Pope Francis, John Kerry, Angela Merkel and Mohammad Javad Zarif were all nominated for the 2015 Noble Peace prize. It was awarded to Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet (an alliance of four Tunisian civil society groups). Every one expected, if not wanted Anglia Merkel to get it. She reportedly bragged about this at a few EU summits, according to the UK and US media.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan complained that Turkey's efforts in hosting 2.5 million refugees are not sufficiently acknowledged. He stated that Germany had a far less burden than either Turkey or Lebanon. He then jokingly asked for the prize to be awarded to him. He later made similar comments at an addresses at the W-20 gathering in İstanbul.

On the day the award was given, Danish politician Soeren Espersen described on Twitter his "jubilation" that Merkel didn't win, adding that "she has thrown Europe into one of the largest migration disasters in modern times.”

Brexit?

The British always regarded the EU with suspicion ever since the Maastricht Treaty was drafted in 1992. UKIP, Voters again Europe and the Referendum Party formed to campaign on a UK wide referendum over whether the UK should join or not.

The growing union of and between nations, as well as the idea of EU citizenship and

The 2008 economic crash was caused by recklessness and criminality in the Icelandic, American and British economy, but the UK and USA refused to see the truth, with the prior blaming the EU and the latter openly threatening Mexico and China.

As the world's economy imploded and even a Belorussian an Bosnian bank went broke, the EU fell in to chaos and Greece was fiscally destroyed.

British fear of the Euro, Greek economic contagion, Greek ecanomic decline, the EU shoveling Syrian\Afghan\Iraqi\Iraqi Kurdish refugees about, ever growing EU bureaucracy, inter-member ecanomic squabbling, lost sovereignty, German ecanomic domination and perceived German egotism drove a wedge between the UK and the EU from 2010 onward. Islamaphobia, Slavaphobia, Russophoba, Anti-Sematisum, Europhobia, Polonophobia, Magyarphobia and Bosniaphobia became a growing minority obsession in England after 2012.

There had been a lot of factually dubious or exaggerated anti-EU stories about eastern Europeans in the UK media since the millennium.

A 5 man Romanian crime gang went on trial over a £120,000 14 thefts in 3 months in Ribble Valley, Lancashire on the 3rd of June, 2013.

The EU was falsely accused in some tabloid newspapers of single handedly undermining the UK economy and of siding with Romanian criminal gangs. Germany's mean spirited plans could have not worked in the UK without the help of the UK government and officials. As the Western economies folded the British blamed the Poles for taking thire jobs as immigration from Africa and the Indian sub-continent went in to hyper-drive. UKIP had replaced the BNP by 2013 as the UK's leading racist/immigrant hating party.

41 year old Latvian crook, Arnis Zalkalns, murdered 14 year old Alice Gross early in the year and as the year ended a 4 man Polish gang launched a brutal attack on a top London law school academic after being let through Britain’s open border controls despite horrific criminal records. The UK government was the accused by the media and some Latvian officials of only letting crooks and not nice or useful people in.

As time went on, UKIP became a champion of the far-right and the darling of the UK tabloid papers, especially the Mail and Express. Their constant claims about Islamic terrorists, immigrants and the EU were soon discredited by the TV and radio news, all political parties bar UKIP and the Tory leadership, experts, universities, the EU, the UN, the Arab League, charities, firms and NGOs. Any indiscretion by a Middle Easterners and Asians was held as a norm, whilst Blacks were treated fairly and only the worst of Whites were exposed.

The constant torrent of dubious, false or misrepresented stories boomed due to the Syrian, Eritrean and Iraqi immigration crisis. Many EU nations refused to co-operate with the EU dispersal plan lead to Greece, Germany, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy, Romania and the former Yugoslavia becoming a dustbin for immigrants. The attempted cover-up over the Cologne station and Stockholm rock concert rape gangs gave more fodder to the very people they feared the truth would aggravate. The British media claimed they ere all crooks and the steady drift of endearing and hapless immigrants had become a mindless conquering horde as on the beaches of Greece, which it had not.

The dead Syrian refugee, Aylan Kurdi, was found dead in Bodrum, Turkey, 2 Sep 2015. He becomes a cause celebra. He's is believed to have been born in Kobanî, Syria. Aylan Kurdi's beach death photo was soon proven in 2015 to be a fake, UKIP then chime in and denied he even existed!

The Tories wanted to crack down on Eastern European immigration and thire rights once in the UK. UKIP blended the longstanding fear of EU bureaucracy, the ailing Euro (€), Anglo-Irish economic decline, Polonaphobia, Islamaphobia and Syrian refuge worries in to a ugly new anti-EU cabal. They implied wanted to end all UK treaties, overseas relations, trade, tourist, immigration and ethnic communities.

Some Tories wanted a mass passport stripping and\or expulsion of EU nationals, especially Poles, from the UK.

Both NATO and the USA became concerned that a isolationist UK brawling with a gaggle of post-EU Neo-Nazi/Neo-Faschist European nations would ruin the alliance and undermine the world's operation to Vladmir Putin. Anti-Europeans condemned President Obama's concerned and expressed there dislike of NATO to.

UKIP Used the Brussels Attacks to Make Brexit Case. Nigel Farage is called "shameful" by David Cammeron for using the Brussels attacks to make the case for the UK to leave the European Union. Mike Hookem said the attacks illustrated that freedom of movement in the bloc was a 'security threat'. UKIP calls for the ethnic cleansing of all immigrants, the closure of all borders and levenig the EU.

Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Hungary Vs. a Brexit

Some Tories wanted a mass passport stripping and\or expulsion of EU nationals, especially Poles, from the UK.

Both NATO and the USA became concerned that a isolationist UK brawling with a gaggle of post-EU Neo-Nazi/Neo-Faschist European nations would ruin the alliance and undermine the world's operation to Vladmir Putin.

France- End immigration treaties and expel it's illegal immigrants in to the UK.
EU- End cut price mobile phone roaming fees, charge a massive surcharge on UK holiday bookings in the EU nations and expel the UK from the EEA.
Hungary- Cease UK assets in Hungary and violently expel British people.
Poland- Have a anti-UK mass passport stripping and\or expulsion of UK nationals, especially if the UK dose it to Poles living in the UK.

15 awsom European images!

External links

@@ Line 27: / Line 27: @@
 [[File:Portugal 1980 and 1981-0|thumb|right|250 px|These are old kodachrome images taken in Portugal in the eraly 80's.]]
-There had been talk of a united Anglo-French, Anglo-Irish, Anglo-Nordic, Iberia, Fraco-Belgian, Nordic, Fraco-Italian, Franco-Spanish, Anglo-American, Anglo-Australian and Frnco-West German trade bloc just after World War 2. The idea of a European trade bloc lead to the birth of [[EFTA]] and the [[EEC]]. As a result
+There had been talk of a united Anglo-French, Anglo-Irish, Anglo-Nordic, Iberia, Fraco-Belgian, Nordic, Fraco-Italian, Franco-Spanish, Anglo-American, Anglo-Australian and Frnco-West German trade bloc just after World War 2. The idea of a European trade bloc lead to the birth of ECSC, [[EFTA]] and the [[EEC]]. As a result
 ===Coal and Steel Community and the Treaty of Paris (1951), ===

Changes: European Union

Revision as of 01:59, 31 March 2016

History

Overview

The concept

Preliminary plans (1945-1951)

Coal and Steel Community and the Treaty of Paris (1951),

The Western European Union and the Modified Treaty of Brussels (1954)

The EEC and Treaty of Rome (1957)

The Schengen Agreement (1985)

German reunion (1990)

The Maastricht Treaty (1992)

Treaty of Amsterdam (1997)

Treaty of Nice (2001)

The Treaty of Lisbon (2009)

Recent crisis, especially Greece

Maps

Future expatiation

Resent issues in Bosnia

Bosnia's Canton 10's names, titles, symbols and flags controversy

Bosnian leadership sytems and figures

Other issues

The EEA

EU flags and emblems

Politics

Constitutional nature

Governance

Budget

Legal system

Courts of Justice

Fundamental rights

Area of freedom, security and justice

Foreign relations

Military

Border controls and border troops

Humanitarian aid

Economy

Internal market

Monetary union

Snake in the tunnel

European Unit of Account

European Currency Unit\ECU

The Euro\€

'E-numbers' on food medicen packets

The scheme

Numbering scheme

Colloquial use

Infrastructure

Agriculture

Competition

Energy

The Schengen Agreement

Religion

Education and science

Health care

Media freedom

Criticisms, inter-member backstabbing and alleged inactions

Germany derides France and the UK in the early 2000s

The aleged Italian and German plot rig the Euro

Mediteranian 'toxic national debt'

The 'Toxic cucumbers affair'

The fiscal destruction of Greece

The fiscal destruction of Iceland

German vs Bosnian banking subsidiaries allegations

The 2014-to date immigration crisis

Maps

The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize

Brexit?

Germany, France, Italy, Spain and Hungary Vs. a Brexit

15 awsom European images!

See also

External links