European Union (EU)

The European Union (EU) is an economic  and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe with a combined population of over 500 million or 7% of World's Population.
The EU traces its origins from the European Coal & Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Economic Community (EEC), formed by 6 countries in 1958 (Belgium;France;West Germany;Italy;Luxembourg and Netherlands)In the intervening years the EU has grown in size by the accession of new member states.

Maastricht Treaty
The Maastricht Treaty established the European Union under its current name in 1993.The Maastricht Treaty was signed on Feb 7, 1992 by the members of the European Community in Maastricht,Netherlands and  it created the EU and led to the creation of the single European currency, the Euro.

Member States of the European Union

 

1) Austria

2) Belgium

3) Bulgaria

4) Cyprus

5) Czech Republic

6)Denmark

7) Estonia

8) Finland

9) France

10) Germany

11) Greece

12) Hungary

13) Ireland

14) Italy

15) Latvia

16) Lithuania

17) Luxembourg

18)  Malta

19) Netherlands

20) Poland

21) Portugal

22) Romania

23) Slovakia

24) Slovenia

25) Spain

26) Sweden and

27) United Kingdom

A monetary union, the Eurozone was established in 1999 and is currently composed of 17 member states.The eurozone officially called the euro area is an Economic Monetary Union (EMU) of 17 EU member states that have adopted the Euro (€) as their common currency.

1) Austria

2) Belgium

3)Cyprus

4) Estonia

5)Finland

6)France

7) Germany

8) Greece

9) Ireland

10) Italy

11)Luxembourg

12) Malta

13) Netherlands

14) Portugal

15) Slovakia

16) Slovenia

17) Spain

  

Governance

The EU has 7 institutions -

 

1)European Parliament

2)Council of the European Union

3)European Commission

4)European Council

5)European Central bank

6)Court of Justice of the EU

7)European Court of Auditors

European Council

 

The European Council gives direction to the EU, and convenes at least four times a year. It comprises the President of the European Council,President of European Commission and One Representative per Member State.The European Council has been described by some as the Union's "supreme political authority".The meetings of the European Council are chaired by its President and take place at least twice every six months; usually in the Justus Lipsius Building, the headquarters of the Council of the EU in Brussels.

 

European Commission

 

 It acts as the executive arm of EU and is responsible for initiating legislationa and day-to-day running of EU.The Commission is primarily based in Brussels,Belgium with the President's office and the Commission's meeting room based on the 13th floor of the Berlaymont Building . The Commission also operates out of various other buildings in Brussels and Luxembourg.  

 

European Parliament(Strausbourg,France)

 

The European Parliament (EP) forms one half of the EU's Legislature (the other half is the Council of the European Union). The 736 (soon to be 751)Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are directly elected by EU Citizens every 5 years on the basis of Proportional Representation. Although MEPs are elected on a national basis, they sit according to Political Groups rather than their Nationality. The Parliament and the Council of the European Union pass legislation jointly in nearly all areas

Council of the European Union

 

sometimes referred to as the "Council of Ministers''forms the other half of the EU's legislature. It consists of a Govt Minister from each Member State and meets in different compositions depending on the policy area being addressed.The Presidency of the Council rotates every six months among the governments of EU member states.

 

 

EU Enlargement: The Next Eight

 

Croatia

Applied for membership: February 2003
Confirmed as candidate country: June 2004
Negotiations started: October 2005
Croatia has completed its accession negotiations with the European Commission and a target date of 1 July 2013 has been set for it to join the EU.

 

Bosnia-Hercegovina 

Bosnia-Hercegovina is not expected to join the EU until 2015 at the earliest.

 Serbia

Applied for full membership: December 2009
Confirmed as candidate: March 2012
Serbia is unlikely to join the EU until at least 2015.

Montenegro
Applied for full membership: December 2008
Confirmed as candidate: December 2010
Candidate status has boosted Montenegro's bid and the EU plans to open the country's accession talks in June 2012.

Albania
Albania is not expected to join the EU until 2015 at the earliest. It formally applied for membership on 28 April 2009.
Since 15 December 2010 Albanians with biometric passports have been able to travel visa-free to the Schengen zone, which includes most EU countries

Macedonia
Applied for full membership: March 2004
Confirmed as candidate: December 2005
The European Commission has recommended that the EU open membership talks with Macedonia.
Since 19 December 2009 Macedonians have not needed visas to visit most EU member states - those in the Schengen zone

Iceland
Applied for full membership: July 2009
Negotiations started: July 2010
The EU has opened accession talks with Iceland.
But Iceland's progress is threatened by a dispute over mackerel fishing.The European Commission is now considering an EU-wide ban on the sale of mackerel caught by Iceland.Another sensitive area is financial reform, with Iceland still reeling from the collapse of its major banks in 2008.
The European Commission says Iceland is already deeply integrated with the EU - it applies about two-thirds of EU laws - so it has less distance to cover than other applicants. But the EU is not offering any "shortcut".
Iceland is in the Schengen zone, meaning its people enjoy passport-free travel to many European countries. Iceland also applies many of the EU's single market rules.

 Turkey
Applied for full membership: 1987
Confirmed as candidate: December 1999
Negotiations started: October 2005
Turkey met the last condition for accession talks in July 2005, when it extended a customs union with the EU to all new member states, including Cyprus.
However, it failed to ratify the customs union and its ports and airports remain closed to Cypriot traffic. The EU responded, in December 2006, by freezing accession talks in eight policy areas.
In December 2009 EU governments reaffirmed the freeze, saying it would "have a continuous effect on the overall progress in the negotiations".
"Turkey has not made progress towards normalisation of its relations with the Republic of Cyprus," they said, calling for progress "without further delay".