User:Tom29739/The EU

European Union
European Union
	Flag
	Motto: United in diversity
	Anthem: Ode to Joy
Capital	Brussels
Largest city	Paris and London
Internet TLD	.eu
	Website; europa.eu

The European Union (EU) is a union of countries, located mostly in Europe.

Evolution

The EU has not always been the European Union. It has had several incarnations, shown in the diagram below:Since the end of World War II, sovereign European countries have entered into treaties and thereby co-operated and harmonised policies (or pooled sovereignty) in an increasing number of areas, in the European integration project or the construction of Europe (French: la construction européenne). The following timeline outlines the legal inception of the European Union (EU)—the principal framework for this unification. The EU inherited many of its present responsibilities from the European Communities (EC), which were founded in the 1950s in the spirit of the Schuman Declaration.

Legend:
  S: signing
  F: entry into force
  T: termination
  E: expiry
    de facto supersession
  Rel. w/ EC/EU framework:
   de facto inside
   outside

European Union (EU)

[Cont.]

European Communities (EC)

(Pillar I)

European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom)

[Cont.]

/

European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)

(Distr. of competences)

European Economic Community (EEC)

Schengen Rules

European Community (EC)

'TREVI'

Justice and Home Affairs (JHA, pillar II)

/

North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO)

[Cont.]

Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters (PJCC, pillar II)

Anglo-French alliance

[Defence arm handed to NATO]

European Political Co-operation (EPC)

Common Foreign and Security Policy
(CFSP, pillar III)

Western Union (WU)

/

Western European Union (WEU)

[Tasks defined following the WEU's 1984 reactivation handed to the EU]

[Social, cultural tasks handed to CoE]

[Cont.]

Council of Europe (CoE)

Entente Cordiale
S: 8 April 1904

Dunkirk Treaty^[i]
S: 4 March 1947
F: 8 September 1947
E: 8 September 1997

Brussels Treaty^[i]
S: 17 March 1948
F: 25 August 1948
T: 30 June 2011

London and Washington treaties^[i]
S: 5 May/4 April 1949
F: 3 August/24 August 1949

Paris treaties: ECSC and EDC^[ii]
S: 18 April 1951/27 May 1952
F: 23 July 1952/—
E: 23 July 2002/—

Protocol Modifying and
Completing the Brussels Treaty^[i]
S: 23 October 1954
F: 6 May 1955

Rome treaties: EEC and EAEC
S: 25 March 1957
F: 1 January 1958

WEU-CoE agreement^[i]
S: 21 October 1959
F: 1 January 1960

Brussels (Merger) Treaty^[iii]
S: 8 April 1965
F: 1 July 1967

Davignon report
S: 27 October 1970

European Council conclusions
S: 2 December 1975

Single European Act (SEA)
S: 17/28 February 1986
F: 1 July 1987

Schengen Treaty and Convention
S: 14 June 1985/19 June 1990
F: 26 March 1995

Maastricht Treaty^[iv]^[v]
S: 7 February 1992
F: 1 November 1993

Amsterdam Treaty
S: 2 October 1997
F: 1 May 1999

Nice Treaty
S: 26 February 2001
F: 1 February 2003

Lisbon Treaty^[vi]
S: 13 December 2007
F: 1 December 2009

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e Although not EU treaties per se, these treaties affected the development of the EU defence arm, a main part of the CFSP. The Franco-British alliance established by the Dunkirk Treaty was de facto superseded by WU. The CFSP pillar was bolstered by some of the security structures that had been established within the remit of the 1955 Modified Brussels Treaty (MBT). The Brussels Treaty was terminated in 2011, consequently dissolving the WEU, as the mutual defence clause that the Lisbon Treaty provided for EU was considered to render the WEU superfluous. The EU thus de facto superseded the WEU.
^ Plans to establish a European Political Community (EPC) were shelved following the French failure to ratify the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community (EDC). The EPC would have combined the ECSC and the EDC.
^ The European Communities obtained common institutions and a shared legal personality (i.e. ability to e.g. sign treaties in their own right).
^ The treaties of Maastricht and Rome form the EU's legal basis, and are also referred to as the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), respectively. They are amended by secondary treaties.
^ Between the EU's founding in 1993 and consolidation in 2009, the union consisted of three pillars, the first of which were the European Communities. The other two pillars consisted of additional areas of cooperation that had been added to the EU's remit.
^ The consolidation meant that the EU inherited the European Communities' legal personality and that the pillar system was abolished, resulting in the EU framework as such covering all policy areas. Executive/legislative power in each area was instead determined by a distribution of competencies between EU institutions and member states. This distribution, as well as treaty provisions for policy areas in which unanimity is required and qualified majority voting is possible, reflects the depth of EU integration as well as the EU's partly supranational and partly intergovernmental nature.

How the EU benefits the UK

The EU benefits the UK because we can trade with Europe and the rest of the World easily. It allows free movement of citizens of the EU in and out of the UK and other EU countries.

Disadvantages of the EU

The EU sets limits on how many people a member state must take per year. This means that the UK has to take in ~~benefit-scrounging, good for nothing scum~~ migrants that take all the jobs from native-born British people and take all the money out of the national pot for themselves.

Member states of the EU

The following countries are member states of the EU:

Name	Capital	Accession	Population	Area (km²)
Austria	Vienna	199501011 January 1995	8,584,926	83,855
Belgium	Brussels	19570325Founder	11,258,434	30,528
Bulgaria	Sofia	200701011 January 2007	7,202,198	110,994
Croatia	Zagreb	201307011 July 2013	4,225,316	56,863
Cyprus	Nicosia	200405011 May 2004	847,008	9,251
Czech Republic	Prague	200405011 May 2004	10,538,275	78,866
Denmark	Copenhagen	197301011 January 1973	5,659,715	43,075
Estonia	Tallinn	200405011 May 2004	1,313,271	45,227
Finland	Helsinki	199501011 January 1995	5,471,753	338,424
France	Paris	19570325Founder	66,352,469	640,679
Germany	Berlin	19570325Founder	81,174,000	357,021
Greece	Athens	198101011 January 1981	10,812,467	131,990
Hungary	Budapest	200401011 May 2004	9,849,000	93,030
Ireland	Dublin	197301011 January 1973	4,625,885	70,273
Italy	Rome	19570325Founder	60,795,612	301,338
Latvia	Riga	200405011 May 2004	1,986,096	64,589
Lithuania	Vilnius	200405011 May 2004	2,921,262	65,200
Luxembourg	Luxembourg City	19570325Founder	562,958	2,586
Malta	Valletta	200405011 May 2004	429,344	316
Netherlands	Amsterdam	19570325Founder	16,900,726	41,543
Poland	Warsaw	200405011 May 2004	38,005,614	312,685
Portugal	Lisbon	198601011 January 1986	10,374,822	92,390
Romania	Bucharest	200701011 January 2007	19,861,408	238,391
Slovakia	Bratislava	200405011 May 2004	5,421,349	49,035
Slovenia	Ljubljana	200405011 May 2004	2,062,874	20,273
Spain	Madrid	198601011 January 1986	46,439,864	504,030
Sweden	Stockholm	199501011 January 1995	9,747,355	449,964
United Kingdom	London	197301011 January 1973	64,767,115	243,610

Culture

This is a selection of pictures of the culture of the EU:

A typical Schengen border crossing.
A European Court of Justice courtroom.
The outside of the European Central Bank.
The European Court of Auditors.
The EU flags in front of the main office of the European Commission.
The inside of the Louise Weiss building of the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
A European Council room.
The European Council.
A bird protected under EU laws.
A protected area under EU laws.
The European coastline in Cyprus.
Mont Blanc in the Alps, the highest peak in the EU.
The fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989.
The European flag in 2004 after EU enlargements.
The European Central Bank building in Frankfurt, Germany, under construction in this picture.
The Öresund bridge.
A vineyard in Romania
A view of Madrid, from a downtown building.
The view of Berlin.
A panorama of Paris.
London from a hot air balloon.
The Colosseum in Rome at night.
The Acropolis in Athens.

[ref-1-1] Although not EU treaties per se, these treaties affected the development of the EU defence arm, a main part of the CFSP. The Franco-British alliance established by the Dunkirk Treaty was de facto superseded by WU. The CFSP pillar was bolstered by some of the security structures that had been established within the remit of the 1955 Modified Brussels Treaty (MBT). The Brussels Treaty was terminated in 2011, consequently dissolving the WEU, as the mutual defence clause that the Lisbon Treaty provided for EU was considered to render the WEU superfluous. The EU thus de facto superseded the WEU.

[ref-6-2] Plans to establish a European Political Community (EPC) were shelved following the French failure to ratify the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community (EDC). The EPC would have combined the ECSC and the EDC.

[ref-3-3] The European Communities obtained common institutions and a shared legal personality (i.e. ability to e.g. sign treaties in their own right).

[ref-2-4] The treaties of Maastricht and Rome form the EU's legal basis, and are also referred to as the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), respectively. They are amended by secondary treaties.

[ref-4-5] Between the EU's founding in 1993 and consolidation in 2009, the union consisted of three pillars, the first of which were the European Communities. The other two pillars consisted of additional areas of cooperation that had been added to the EU's remit.

[ref-5-6] The consolidation meant that the EU inherited the European Communities' legal personality and that the pillar system was abolished, resulting in the EU framework as such covering all policy areas. Executive/legislative power in each area was instead determined by a distribution of competencies between EU institutions and member states. This distribution, as well as treaty provisions for policy areas in which unanimity is required and qualified majority voting is possible, reflects the depth of EU integration as well as the EU's partly supranational and partly intergovernmental nature.

[i]

[ii]

[iii]

[iv]

[v]

[vi]