¤
International Update:
The European Union
welcomes two new
members¤
Two new
members join the EU family
On 1 January 2007 the EU
welcomed two new Member
States and 30 million
people, when Bulgaria
and Romania joined
the European Union. This
completes the EU’s historic
fifth round of enlargement
peacefully reuniting Western
and Eastern Europe after
decades of division.
Official Name:
European Union.
Location: Europe
between the North Atlantic
Ocean in the west and
Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine
to the east.
Size: 4,324,782 sq km
(less than one-half the size
of the US).
History: The
evolution of the European
Union (EU) from a regional
economic agreement among six
neighboring states in 1951
to today's supranational
organization of 27 countries
across the European
continent stands as an
unprecedented phenomenon in
the annals of history.
Following the two
devastating World Wars of
the first half of the 20th
century, six members,
Belgium, France, West
Germany, Italy, Luxembourg,
and the Netherlands, signed
the Treaty of Paris to
establish the European
Coal and Steel Community
(ECSC).In 1957, the Treaties
of Rome created the
European Economic Community
(EEC) and the
European Atomic Energy
Community (Euratom), and
the six member states
undertook to eliminate trade
barriers among themselves by
forming a common market. In
1967, the institutions of
all three communities were
formally merged into the
European Community (EC),
creating a single
Commission, a single Council
of Ministers, and the
European Parliament. In
1973, the first enlargement
of the EC took place with
the addition of Denmark,
Ireland, and the United
Kingdom. The 1980s saw
further membership expansion
with Greece joining in 1981
and Spain and Portugal in
1986. The 1992 Treaty of
Maastricht laid the
basis for further forms of
cooperation in foreign and
defense policy, in judicial
and internal affairs, and in
the creation of an economic
and monetary union -
including a common currency.
This further integration
created the European
Union (EU). In 1995,
Austria, Finland, and Sweden
joined the EU, raising the
membership total to 15. A
new currency, the euro,
was launched in world money
markets on 1 January 1999;
it became the unit of
exchange for all of the EU
states except the United
Kingdom, Sweden, and
Denmark.Ten new countries
joined the EU in 2004 -
Cyprus, the Czech Republic,
Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,
Lithuania, Malta, Poland,
Slovakia, and Slovenia - and
in 2007 Bulgaria and Romania
joined, bringing the current
membership to 27.
Climate: cold
temperate; potentially
subarctic in the north to
temperate; mild wet winters;
hot dry summers in the
south.
Official Languages:Bulgarian,
Czech, Danish, Dutch,
English, Estonian, Finnish,
French, Gaelic, German,
Greek, Hungarian, Italian,
Latvian, Lithuanian,
Maltese, Polish, Portuguese,
Romanian, Slovak, Slovene,
Spanish, Swedish.
Population:
486,642,177 (July 2006 est.)
Member States: 27
countries: Austria, Belgium,
Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Hungary, Ireland,
Italy, Latvia, Lithuania,
Luxembourg, Malta,
Netherlands, Poland,
Portugal, Romania, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK;
note - Canary Islands
(Spain), Azores and Madeira
(Portugal), French Guyana,
Guadeloupe, Martinique, and
Reunion (France) are
sometimes listed separately
even though they are legally
a part of Spain, Portugal,
and France; candidate
countries: Croatia,
Macedonia, Turkey.
Political structure:
a hybrid intergovernmental
and supranational
organization.
Capital: Brussels
(Belgium).
National Holiday:
Europe Day 9 May.
