TOPIC 1: THE EUROPEAN UNION: A

HISTORY AND OVERVIEW

1. Overviews of the European Union.

2. European Union Symbols.

3. European Union History.

4. The European Union place in the world

economy.
1. Overviews of the European Union
 At the core of the EU are the Member States
the 28 states that belong to the Union and their
citizens. The unique feature of the EU is that,
although these are all sovereign, independent
states, they have pooled some of their
sovereignty in order to gain strength and the
benefits of size.
 The European Union (EU) was founded in
1957 with the aim of creating an ever closer
union between the peoples of Europe.
Initially concerned with improving economic
co-operation between member states, the EU has
expanded its role in recent decades to play a
significant part in areas of policy that had
traditionally been the reserve of nation states.
 The EU was founded by six countries: France, West
Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. It
has since undergone several waves of enlargement.
 Turkey is currently negotiating membership, along
with Serbia, Montenegro and FYR Macedonia.
Accession negotiations with Iceland were opened in
2012 but were put on hold by the Icelandic
government in May 2013 and broken off permanently
in March 2015.
Albania is an official candidate country, but has not
yet begun formal membership negotiations.
Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo are considered
potential candidate countries.
The EU has built a single market for goods and
services that spans 28 Member States with over 500
million citizens free to move and settle where they
wish.
It created the single currency the euro which is
now a major world currency and which makes the
single market more efficient.
It is also the largest supplier of development
and humanitarian aid programmes in the
world.
2. European Union Symbols

THE EUROPEAN FLAG

The European flag symbolizes both

the European Union and, more broadly,
the identity and unity of Europe.
It features a circle of 12 gold stars on a
blue background. They stand for the
ideals of unity, solidarity and harmony
among the peoples of Europe.
The number of stars has nothing to do
with the number of member countries,
though the circle is a symbol of unity
 THE EUROPEAN ANTHEM

The melody used to symbolize the EU comes from

the Ninth Symphony composed in 1823 by Ludwig
Van Beethoven, when he set music to the "Ode to
Joy", Friedrich von Schiller's lyrical verse from 1785.

The anthem symbolizes not only the

European Union but also Europe in a wider
sense. The poem "Ode to Joy" expresses
Schiller's idealistic vision of the human race
becoming brothers - a vision Beethoven shared.
 EUROPE DAY

Europe Day held on 9 May every year

celebrates peace and unity in Europe. The date
marks the anniversary of the historical '
Schuman declaration'.
At a speech in Paris in 1950, Robert
Schuman, the then French foreign minister, set
out his idea for a new form of political
cooperation in Europe, which would make war
between Europes nations unthinkable.
 THE EU MOTTO

"United in diversity", the motto of the

European Union, first came into use in 2000.
It signifies how Europeans have come
together, in the form of the EU, to work for
peace and prosperity, while at the same time
being enriched by the continent's many
different cultures, traditions and languages.
3. European Union History

Origins of the EU.

The European project was an attempt to
overcome the nationalist conflicts of the first half
of the twentieth century, especially the rivalry
between Germany and France that had contributed
to both world wars.
After 1945, there was a strong will to ensure that
war between Germany and France could never
again occur. This led to a series of schemes that
culminated in the establishment of the European
Economic Community (EEC) in 1957, which
eventually became the EU.
Founding the EU.
The EEC was established under the
Treaty of Rome in 1957.
Primarily, the EEC aimed to extend the
principle behind the ECSC to other areas of
trade by creating a customs union.
However, it also had more political
ambitions for European integration
described at the start of the treaty as
creating an ever closer union between the
peoples of Europe.
 The EU today.
A Treaty establishing a Constitution for
Europe, drafted in 2004, was rejected by
referendums in France and the Netherlands
in 2005.
The constitutional project was then revived in the form of the
Lisbon Treaty, which was signed by the leaders of EU nations in
2007. The treaty was hugely controversial because it was very
similar to the failed constitution.
The treaty was rejected by Ireland in a referendum in 2008,
however Ireland eventually ratified the treaty following a second
referendum in October 2009. The Lisbon Treaty finally came into
force in December 2009.
4. The European Union place in the world
economy

The European Union is the largest single economic entity in

the world, with half a billion people and a gross domestic
product (GDP) slightly larger than that of the United States. Its
presence in the world economy is powerful:
it is the largest exporter and the second largest importer
(behind the US) of goods;
the largest exporter and importer of services;
the largest importer of energy;
the largest donor of foreign aid;
the second largest source of foreign direct investment (FDI)
and the second largest destination of FDI (behind the US);
and the second destination for foreign migrants (also behind
the US).
 It is, if not the main, at least the second most important
regulatory power in the world in just about every area,
including:
competition policy, where EU authorities have taken the lead
in certain aspects of antitrust;
environmental protection, where the EU is the main
proponent of regulation against global warming;
money, with the euro being the second largest international
currency in the world (behind the US dollar);
financial market regulation, with European markets also
ranking number two in the world