On 31 January 2020, the UK became the first Member State to leave the EU. [20] Following a referendum in 2016, the UK announced its intention to withdraw and negotiated a withdrawal agreement. The UK is in a transition period until 31 December 2020, during which it remains subject to EU law and is part of the EU`s single market and customs union. Previously, three territories of Member States had left the EU or its predecessors, namely French Algeria (1962, after independence), Greenland (1985 after a referendum) and Saint-Barthélemy (2012). The European Union has 24 official languages: Bulgarian, Danish, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Irish, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish. Important documents, such as e.B. Legislation is translated into any official language and the European Parliament translates documents and plenary sessions. [98] [99] The fact that a particular policy area falls within a certain category of competence is not necessarily an indication of the legislative procedure used for the adoption of legislation in that policy area. Different legislative procedures are applied within the same category of competences and even in the same policy area. Although language policy falls within the competence of the Member States, the EU institutions promote multilingualism among their citizens.
[h] [103] English is the most widely spoken language in the EU and is understood by 51% of the EU population counting native and non-native speakers. [104] German is the most widely spoken mother tongue (18% of the EU population) and the second most understood foreign language, followed by French as the most widely spoken mother tongue (13% of the EU population). In addition, both are official languages of several EU Member States. More than half (56%) of EU citizens are able to converse in a language other than their mother tongue. [105] In the 1990s, conflicts in the Balkans stimulated the development of the EU`s Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP). The EU did not react at the beginning of the conflict and UN peacekeepers from the Netherlands could not prevent the Srebrenica massacre (July 1995) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the largest mass slaughter in Europe since the Second World War. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) eventually had to intervene in the war and forced the fighters to the negotiating table. The EU`s early experiences in foreign policy led to the emphasis on foreign policy in the Treaty of Amsterdam (which created the High Representative). [32] Constitutionally, the EU has some similarity with a confederation and a federation,[137][138] but has not formally defined itself as both. (It has no formal constitution: its status is defined by the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.) It is more integrated than a traditional confederation of states, as the general level of government largely applies qualified majority voting to certain decisions between Member States, rather than relying solely on unanimity. [139] [140] It is less integrated than a federal state because it is not an independent state: sovereignty continues to flow “from the bottom up”, of the different peoples of the different member states and not of a single undifferentiated whole. This is reflected in the fact that the Member States remain the `masters of the Treaties` and retain control over the conferral of competences on the Union through a constitutional amendment (and thus retain the so-called competence); maintaining control over the use of armed force; they retain control over taxation; and in this respect, they retain the right to withdraw unilaterally from the Union in accordance with Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union.
Furthermore, the principle of subsidiarity requires that only matters to be determined jointly be determined in this way. Monetary union began in 1999, initially as a currency of account with the accession of eleven Member States. In 2002, the currency was fully adopted when euro banknotes and coins were issued and the national currencies of the euro area, which at the time had 12 Member States, expired. The euro area (made up of EU Member States that have adopted the euro) has since grown to 19 countries. [246] [aa] In front of the blue sky of the Western world, the stars symbolize the peoples of Europe in the form of a circle, a sign of unity. The number of stars without exception is twelve, the number twelve being the symbol of perfection and fullness. Since the end of the Second World War, sovereign European countries have concluded treaties and have thus cooperated in more and more areas and policies grouped together (or grouped sovereignties), in the so-called project of European integration or in the European construction (French: the European construction). The following timetable describes the legal establishment of the European Union (EU) – the main framework of this agreement.
The EU has inherited many of its current competences and membership of the European Communities (EC), which were created in the 1950s in the spirit of the Schuman Declaration. The European Union was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012 for “its contribution to the promotion of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe”. [50] [51] The Nobel Committee noted that “this terrible suffering of the Second World War demonstrated the need for a new Europe […] today, a war between Germany and France is unthinkable. This shows how, through targeted efforts and the establishment of mutual trust, historical enemies can become close partners. [52] The decision of the Nobel Committee has been the subject of much criticism. [53] Freedom to provide services and establishment allow self-employed persons to move between Member States in order to provide services temporarily or permanently. While services account for 60-70% of GDP, legislation in this area is not as developed as in others. This gap has been filled by the recently adopted Directive on services in the internal market, which aims to liberalise the cross-border provision of services. [245] Under the treaty, the provision of services is a residual freedom that applies only if no other freedom is exercised. The majority of the European Union`s media are oriented towards the national level, although some European media focused on European affairs have emerged since the early 1990s, such as Euronews, Eurosport, EUobserver, EURACTIV or Politico Europe. [316] [317] ARTE is a German public television channel that promotes programmes in the fields of culture and the arts.
80% of the programmes are provided in equal parts by the two member companies, while the rest is provided by the European Economic Interest Grouping ARTE GEIE and the broadcaster`s European partners. [318] Greece applied for membership of the Community on June 12, 1975 following the restoration of its democracy. Greece acceded to the Community with effect from 1 January 1981. Similarly, and after their own democratic restorations, Spain and Portugal applied to the Communities in 1977 and joined forces on 1 January 1986. In 1987, Turkey formally applied to join the Community and began the longest application procedure for a country. With a view to further enlargement and the desire to extend the areas of cooperation, the Single European Act was signed by the Foreign Ministers in February 1986. This single document dealt with the reform of the institutions, the extension of competences, cooperation in foreign policy and the European internal market. It entered into force on 1 July 1987. The law was followed by work on what would later become the Maastricht Treaty, which was approved on 10 December 1991, signed the following year and entered into force on 1 November 1993 and established the European Union. The euro, although held so frequently, has a fluctuating value – which stock traders set daily as the norm against the US dollar. However, it was not until 1993 that the EEC was transformed into the European Union after the new Maastricht Treaty (also known as the Treaty on European Union). Rail transport in Europe will be synchronised with the European Rail Traffic Management System (ERTMS), an initiative aimed at significantly improving safety, increasing train efficiency and improving the cross-border interoperability of rail transport in Europe by replacing signalling systems with digitised versions, mainly wireless, and creating a single pan-European standard for control-command systems.
All EU countries and many other European countries offer their citizens a free European Health Insurance Card which, on a reciprocal basis, provides insurance for emergency medical treatment when visiting other participating European countries. [288] A Directive on cross-border healthcare aims to promote cooperation between Member States in the field of healthcare and to facilitate access for European patients to safe and quality cross-border healthcare. [289] [290] [291] The European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was an international organization that united some continental European countries after world War II. It was officially created in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris, signed by Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. .
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