The European Union (EU) is an economic An economic and monetary union is a type of trade bloc which is composed of a single market with a common currency. It is to be distinguished from a mere currency union , which does not involve a single market. This is the fifth stage of economic integration. EMU is established through a currency-related trade pact and political union of 27 member states A Member State of the European Union is any one of the 27 sovereign states that have acceded to the European Union since its inception in 1951 as the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). From an original membership of six states, there have been six successive enlargements, the largest occurring on 1 May 2004, when ten states joined. The EU[9] which are located primarily in Europe Europe is one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally divided from Asia to its east by the water divide of the Ural Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian Sea, the Caucasus region (Specification of borders) and the Black Sea to the southeast. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean and. Committed to regional integration European integration is the process of political, legal, economic integration of states wholly or partially in Europe. In the present day, European integration has primarily come about through the European Union and the Council of Europe, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht The Maastricht Treaty was signed on 7 February 1992 by the members of the European Community in Maastricht, the 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 in 1993 upon the foundations of the European Communities The European Communities were three international organisations that were governed by the same set of institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom).[10] With over 500 million citizens,[11] the EU combined generated an estimated 28% share (US$ 16.5 trillion) of the nominal This article includes a list of countries of the world sorted by their gross domestic product , the market value of all final goods and services from a nation in a given year. The GDP dollar estimates presented here are calculated at market or government official exchange rates and about 21% (US$14.8 trillion) of the PPP gross world product There are three lists of countries of the world sorted by their gross domestic product (the value of all final goods and services produced within a nation in a given year). The GDP dollar estimates given on this page are derived from purchasing power parity (PPP) calculations in 2009.[12]
The EU has developed a single market A single market is a type of trade bloc which is composed of a customs union with common policies on product regulation, and freedom of movement of the factors of production and of enterprise. The goal is that the movement of capital, labour, goods, and services between the members is as easy as within them. The physical (borders), technical ( through a standardised system of laws which apply in all member states, and ensures the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital In European Union law, the Four Freedoms is a common term for a set of treaty provisions, secondary legislation and court decisions, protecting the ability of goods, capital, services, people and labour to move freely within the internal market of the European Union. More precisely, they are:,[13] including the abolition of passport controls by the Schengen Agreement The Schengen Agreement is a treaty signed in 1985, on the river-boat "Princess Marie-Astrid" anchored in Schengen, Luxembourg, between five of the ten member states of the European Community: Belgium, France, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany. The Convention implementing the Schengen Agreement supplemented it 5 years later, between 22 EU states The Schengen Area comprises the territories of twenty-five European countries that have implemented the eponymous agreement signed in the town of Schengen, Luxembourg, in 1985. The Schengen Area operates very much like a single state for international travel purposes with border controls for travellers travelling in and out of the area, but with.[14] It enacts legislation in justice and home affairs An interior ministry is a government ministry typically responsible for policing, national security, and immigration matters. The ministry is often headed by a minister of the interior or minister of home affairs. In some countries, matters relating to the maintenance of law and order and the administration of justice are the responsibility of a, and maintains common policies on trade,[15] agriculture The Common Agricultural Policy is a system of European Union agricultural subsidies and programmes. It represents 48% of the EU's budget, €49.8 billion in 2006 (up from €48.5 billion in 2005),[16] fisheries The Common Fisheries Policy is the fisheries policy of the European Union (EU). It sets quotas for which member states are allowed to catch what amounts of each type of fish, as well as encouraging the fishing industry by various market interventions. In 2004 it had a budget of €931 million, approximately 0.75% of the EU budget.[citation needed] and regional development The Regional policy of the European Union is a policy with the stated aim of improving the economic well-being of certain regions in the EU. Around one third of the EU's budget is devoted to this policy, the aim of which has been stated to be to remove the disparities in wealth across the EU, restructure declining industrial areas and to diversify.[17] Sixteen member states have adopted a common currency, the euro The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 16 of the 27 Member States of the European Union (EU). It is also the currency used by the EU institutions. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. Estonia is, constituting the eurozone The eurozone ( pronunciation ), officially the euro area, is an economic and monetary union (EMU) of 16 European Union (EU) member states which have adopted the euro currency as their sole legal tender. It currently consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal,.
Having a legal personality A legal person is a legal entity through which the law allows a group of natural persons to act as if they were a single composite individual for certain purposes, or in some jurisdictions, for a single person to have a separate legal personality other than their own. This legal fiction does not mean these entities are human beings, but rather, the EU is able to conclude treaties A treaty is an agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as: agreement, protocol, covenant, convention, exchange of letters, etc. Regardless of the terminology, all of these international agreements under international law are with countries.[18] It has devised the Common Foreign and Security Policy The Common Foreign and Security Policy is the organised, agreed foreign policy of the European Union (EU) for mainly security and defence diplomacy and actions. CFSP deals only with a specific part of the EU's external relations, which domains include mainly Trade and Commercial Policy and other areas as funding to third countries, etc. Decisions, thus developing a limited role in European defence At present, there is no military of the European Union, as the European integration has not developed very far in the area of defence. There have however been a number of defence initiatives, peacekeeping operations and organisations established in the context of the European Union . The actual defence of the Union is the domain of individual and foreign policy Although there has been a large degree of integration between European Union member states, foreign relations is still a largely inter-governmental matter, with the 27 members controlling their own relations to a large degree. However with the Union holding more weight as a single bloc, there are at times attempts to speak with one voice, notably. Permanent diplomatic missions of the EU are established around the world and representation at the United Nations, WTO The World Trade Organization is an international organization designed by its founders to supervise and liberalize international trade. The organization officially commenced on January 1, 1995 under the Marrakech Agreement, replacing the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), which commenced in 1947, G8 The European Union is a member of the G8 (formerly the G7), dubbed its "9th member", holding all the privileges and obligations of membership but without the right to host or chair a summit. As the full name of the G8 is the "Group of Eight Nations", the EU has not been included in the number, hence there being nine members in and G-20 The Group of Twenty Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors is a group of finance ministers and central bank governors from 20 economies: 19 countries plus the European Union. Recently summits meeting at level of Heads of state have been introduced. The 2010 chair country of the G-20 is South Korea is maintained.
The EU operates through a hybrid system of supranationalism Supranationalism is a method of decision-making in multi-national political communities, wherein power is transferred or delegated to an authority by governments of member states. The concept of supranational union is sometimes used to describe the European Union, as a new type of political entity. The EU is the only entity which provides for and intergovernmentalism The theory is not applied on European integration which rejects the idea of neofunctionalism. The theory, initially proposed by Stanley Hoffmann suggests that national governments control the level and speed of European integration. Any increase in power at supranational level, he argues, results from a direct decision by governments. He believed.[19][20][21] In certain areas, decisions are taken by independent supranational institutions, while in others, they are made through negotiation between member states. Important institutions of the EU The European Union is governed by seven institutions. Article 13 of Treaty on European Union lists them in the following order: the European Parliament, the European Council, the Council of the European Union (the Council); the European Commission, the Court of Justice of the European Union, the European Central Bank and the Court of Auditors include the European Commission The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union, the Council of the European Union The Council of the European Union is the principal decision-making institution of the European Union (EU). It is also called Consilium as a Latin-language compromise, the European Council The European Council is the institution of the European Union responsible for defining the general political direction and priorities of the Union. It comprises the heads of state or government of EU member states, along with its President and the President of the Commission. The High Representative takes part in its meetings, which are chaired by, the Court of Justice of the European Union The Court of Justice of the European Union is the institution of the European Union which encompasses the whole judiciary. Seated in Luxembourg, it has three sub-courts; the European Court of Justice, the General Court and the Civil Service Tribunal, and the European Central Bank The European Central Bank is the institution of the European Union (EU) tasked with administrating the monetary policy of the 16 EU member states taking part in the Eurozone. It is thus one of the world's most important central banks. The bank was established by the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1998, and is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. The. The European Parliament The European Parliament is the directly elected parliamentary institution of the European Union (EU). Together with the Council of the European Union (the Council), it forms the bicameral legislative branch of the EU and has been described as one of the most powerful legislatures in the world. The Parliament and Council form the highest is elected every five years by EU citizens Citizenship of the European Union was introduced by the Maastricht Treaty signed in 1992, and in force as of 1993. It exists alongside national citizenship and provides additional rights to nationals of Member States of the European Union.
The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community The European Coal and Steel Community was a six-nation international organisation 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 organisation to be based on the principles of supranationalism formed among six countries The Inner Six, or simply The Six, were the six founding member-states of the European Communities. This was in contrast to the outer seven who formed the European Free Trade Association rather than be involved in supranational European integration in 1951 and the Treaty of Rome The Treaties of Rome are two of the treaties of the European Union signed on 25 March 1957. Both treaties were signed by The Six: Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany formed in 1957 by the same states. Since then, it has grown in size through enlargement Enlargement of the European Union is the process of expanding the European Union through the accession of new member states. This process began with the Inner Six, who founded the European Coal and Steel Community (the EU's predecessor) in 1952. Since then, the EU's membership has grown to twenty-seven with the most recent expansion to Bulgaria, and in power through the addition of policy areas to its remit. The last amendment to the constitutional basis of the EU came into force in 2009 and was the Lisbon Treaty The Treaty of Lisbon is a treaty that was signed by the European Union (EU) member states on 13 December 2007, and entered into force on 1 December 2009. It amends the Treaty on European Union (TEU, Maastricht; 1992) and the Treaty establishing the European Community (TEC, Rome; 1957). In this process, the TEC was renamed to Treaty on the, by virtue of which the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union enshrines certain political, social, and economic rights for European Union citizens and residents, into EU law. It was drafted and officially proclaimed in 2000, but its legal status was then uncertain and it did not have full legal effect until the entry into force of the Treaty of Lisbon was elevated to legally binding status.[nb 3]
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Wed, 11 Aug 2010 02:10:29 GMT+00:00
joining FTC Apple probe CNET (blog) Regulators from the European Union are getting involved in the Federal Trade Commission investigation of Apple's business strategies that ... European Union joins FTC investigation into Apple's opposition of Flash Apple Insider News: EU Jumps into iOS Code Restriction Investigation The Mac Observer EU joins FTC Apple investigation over Flash IntoMobile (blog) MacNN - Cult of Mac (blog) - Fast Company
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no new membership until institutional reform that incorporates the new treaty has entered into force This is essential for the enlarged EU to function with speed efficiency and democracy Image Via Schuman Square
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This is an upgraded version of the follow-up to the manifestations that took place in the European Parliament on 12.12.2007. (First version is ... youtube.com.
