The European Union

Some Basic Info The European Union (EU) is an organization of European countries dedicated to increasing economic integration and strengthening among its members. The European Union headquarters are in Brussels, Belgium. History - The EU was formally established on November 1, It’s the most recent in a series of European cooperative organizations that originated with European Coal and Steel community (ECSC) of 1951, which became the European community (EC) in The Members of EC were Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and UK. – members states signed Treaty on the European Union called Maastricht Treaty. –The Maastricht treaty transformed the EC into the EU on January 1, 1993 – Austria, Finland and Sweden joined the EU – Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia. – Bulgaria and Romania - the total number of EU countries increased to 27.

Structure of the EU European Commission - The EU Commission is the highest administrative body in the EU. It proposes policy and law to be discussed by the Council and carries out the Council‘s decisions. Members are choses by the Community governments for 5 years. Council of the EU - The Council represents the national governments. It is the primary decision-making authority of the EU and the most important and powerful EU body. Each member country has a seat on the Council. EU Parliament – The EP is made up of 785 members who are directly elected by the citizens of the EU for period of 5 years. The Parliament has little real power apart from overseeing the work of the Council and the Commission. It may make corrections, suggest changes to laws. European Court of Justice – The ECJ is the judicial arm of the EU. Each member country appoints one judge to the Court. The Court has no direct links to national courts and no control over national law. Court of Auditors – The CoA is made up of 27 members, one from each EU state. The court oversees the finances of the EU. European Central Bank – The ECB began operations in It is overseen by an executive board that is chosen with the agreement of EU member governments and includes the ECB president. The ECB played and continous to play major role in overseeing consilidation of the euro as the common EU currency.

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Symbols Symbols of EU include: Flag, Anthem, Motto, currency. Flag - The Flag is used to represent both the EU and the Council of Europe. It consists of a circle of 12 golden stars on a blue backround. The blue represent the west, the number of stars represents number of the states in organization. The flag was designed by Arsene Heitz and Paul Levy in Anthem - The European anthem is based on the prelude to “The Ode to Joy” by Ludwig van Bethoven. Euro

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7 The euro is the monetary unit of the European Union. On January 1, 2002, the euro went into circulation in 12 of the member states - Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain Slovenia Cyprus, Malta The euro is divided into 100 cents. Euro notes are issued in denominations of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100, 200 and 500 euros. Coins are issued in denominations of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 and 50 cents, and 1 and 2 euros. Benefits: Citizens can travel more easily within the euro area without the difficulty of exchanging currencies each time they cross a border, and are able to compare prices more conveniently –Travelling outside the euro area is also easier, since the euro is an international currency and therefore widely accepted in many places outside the euro, particularly in popular tourist destinations. 7

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9 The EU and the Czech Republic The enlargement of the EU on May 2004, admiting 10 countries including the Czech Republic was the biggest and the most ambitious in the EU’s history. 1.Each Czech resident becomes a member of the EU. As citizens of the EU we have the right to travel, stay or work in any of the member states. 2.Czech becomes an official language of the EU. In esence this means that all official documents are translated into Czech. When we get into trouble in a foreign country, we can ask for help at any diplomatic or consular representation of any EU member state. 3.Czech students have the right to spend not only several terms, but their whole studies at European universities. 4.The Czech Republic will remain a sovereign democratic state with president, parliament, government and constitution. 9

10 Advantages and Disadvantages Disadvantages: Reduction of sovereignty when European Institutions ask countries to give some of their souvereign powers to the E.U. which doesn't always benefit to every country Advantages : High reduction of war probability, Europeans can move around freely within the European Union and therefore seek jobs in other countries than their own 10