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Outline Of European Union
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the European Union: The European Union (EU) is an economic and political union of 27 member states, located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht on 1 November 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community.; With about 445 million citizens, the EU generates an estimated 30% share (US$18.4 trillion in 2008) of the nominal gross world product. The EU has seven principal decision-making bodies known as the Institutions of the European Union, while the adoption of laws and coordination of EU policies is the role of the Council of the European Union which currently meets in ten different configurations. Origins * History of the European Union ** Ideas of European unity before 1945 ** History of the European Coal and Steel Community (1945–57) ** History of the European Communities (1958–72) ** ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Special Member State Territories And The European Union
The special territories of members of the European Economic Area (EEA) are the 32 special territories of EU member states and EFTA member states which, for historical, geographical, or political reasons, enjoy special status within or outside the European Union and the European Free Trade Association. (Switzerland, a member of EFTA but not of the EEA, does not have any special territories). The special territories of EU member states are categorised under three headings: nine Outermost Regions (OMR) that form part of the European Union, though they benefit from derogations from some EU laws due to their geographical remoteness from mainland Europe; thirteen Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) that do not form part of the European Union, though they cooperate with the EU via the Overseas Countries and Territories Association; and ten special cases that form part of the European Union (with the exception of the Faroe Islands), though EU laws make ''ad hoc'' provisions. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enlargement Of The European Union
The European Union (EU) has expanded a number of times throughout its history by way of the accession of new member states to the Union. To join the EU, a state needs to fulfil economic and political conditions called the Copenhagen criteria (after the Copenhagen summit in June 1993), which require a stable democratic government that respects the rule of law, and its corresponding freedoms and institutions. According to the Maastricht Treaty, each current member state and the European Parliament must agree to any enlargement. The process of enlargement is sometimes referred to as European integration. This term is also used to refer to the intensification of co-operation between EU member states as national governments allow for the gradual harmonisation of national laws. The EU's predecessor, the European Economic Community,Current Article 1 of the Treaty on European Union reads:"The Union shall be founded on the present Treaty and on the Treaty on the Functioning of the Eu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Europe Day
Europe Day is a day celebrating "peace and unity in Europe" celebrated on 5 May by the Council of Europe and on 9 May by the European Union. The first recognition of Europe Day was by the Council of Europe, introduced in 1964. The European Union later started to celebrate its own European DayNicole Scicluna, ''European Union Constitutionalism in Crisis'', Routledge (2014)p. 56/ref> in commemoration of the 1950 Schuman Declaration which first proposed the European Coal and Steel Community, leading it to be referred to by some as "Schuman Day" or "Day of the united Europe". Both days are celebrated by displaying the Flag of Europe. History The Council of Europe was founded on 5 May 1949, and hence it chose that day for its celebrations when it established the holiday in 1964. The "Europe Day" of the EU was introduced in 1985 by the European Communities (the predecessor organisation of the EU). The date commemorates the Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950, put forward by Robert S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthem Of Europe
"Anthem of Europe" is the anthem of both the European Union (EU) and Council of Europe. It is used to represent both the European Union and the whole of Europe; its purpose is to honour shared European values. The EU describes it as expressing the ideals of freedom, peace and solidarity. It is based on "Ode to Joy" from the final movement of Beethoven's 9th Symphony composed in 1823. The anthem is played on official occasions such as political or civil events. History Friedrich Schiller wrote the poem "An die Freude" ("To Joy") in 1785 as a "celebration of the brotherhood of man". In later life, the poet was contemptuous of this popularity and dismissed the poem as typical of "the bad taste of the age" in which it had been written. After Schiller's death, the poem provided the words for the choral movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's 9th Symphony. In 1971 the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe decided to propose adopting the prelude to the "Ode to Joy" f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symbols Of The European Union
The European Union (EU) uses a number of symbols, including the Flag of Europe, Anthem of Europe, Motto of the European Union and Europe Day. These symbols have no official status based in the EU treaties, but they are in ''de facto'' use by the EU institutions and are in widespread use as expressions of the political ideologies of Pan-Europeanism and European integration. Use of the Flag of Europe in particular is widespread also among pro-EU factions outside of the European Union, especially in the "colour revolutions" of Eastern Europe. History These symbols go back to 1985, when they were introduced by the European Communities summit in Milan. A "raft of cultural icons" was launched by the European Commission in 1985, in reaction to the report by the ad hoc commission "for a People's Europe" chaired by Pietro Adonnino. The aim was to facilitate European integration by fostering a Pan-European identity among the populations of the EC member states. The European Council ad ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symbols Of Europe
A number of symbols of Europe have emerged since antiquity, notably the mythological figure of ''Europa (mythology), Europa''. Several symbols were introduced in the 1950s and 1960s by the European Council. The European Communities created additional symbols for itself in 1985, which was to become inherited by the European Union (EU) in 1993. Such symbols of the European Union now represent political positions in support of EU policies and European integration as advocated by Europeans. Europa and the bull ''Europa'' was used as a geographical term, for one of the great divisions of the Ecumene, known world, by Herodotus (in a reduced geographical scope, referring to parts of Thrace or Epirus, also in the Homeric hymn to Apollo). It became the geographical term for the landmass west of the Tanais in the Roman-era geography by Strabo and Ptolemy. ''Europa'' first began to be used in a cultural sense, denoting the territory of Latin Church, Latin Christendom, in the Caroling ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Subsidiarity
Subsidiarity is a principle of social organization that holds that social and political issues should be dealt with at the most immediate or local level that is consistent with their resolution. The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' defines subsidiarity as "the principle that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed at a more local level". The concept is applicable in the fields of government, political science, neuropsychology, cybernetics, management and in military command (mission command). The OED adds that the term "subsidiarity" in English follows the early German usage of ''"Subsidiarität"''. More distantly, it is derived from the Latin verb ''subsidio'' (to aid or help), and the related noun ''subsidium'' (aid or assistance). The development of the concept of subsidiarity has roots in the natural law philosophy of Thomas Aquinas and was mediated by the social scientific theories of Luigi Taparelli, SJ, in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Value-added Tax
A value-added tax (VAT), known in some countries as a goods and services tax (GST), is a type of tax that is assessed incrementally. It is levied on the price of a product or service at each stage of production, distribution, or sale to the end consumer. If the ultimate consumer is a business that collects and pays to the government VAT on its products or services, it can reclaim the tax paid. It is similar to, and is often compared with, a sales tax. VAT is an indirect tax because the person who ultimately bears the burden of the tax is not necessarily the same person as the one who pays the tax to the tax authorities. Not all localities require VAT to be charged, and exports are often exempt. VAT is usually implemented as a destination-based tax, where the tax rate is based on the location of the consumer and applied to the sales price. The terms VAT, GST, and the more general consumption tax are sometimes used interchangeably. VAT raises about a fifth of total tax revenues bo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trade Bloc
A trade bloc is a type of intergovernmental agreement, often part of a regional intergovernmental organization, where barriers to trade (tariffs and others) are reduced or eliminated among the participating states. Trade blocs can be stand-alone agreements between several states (such as the North American Free Trade Agreement) or part of a regional organization (such as the European Union). Depending on the level of economic integration, trade blocs can be classified as preferential trading areas, free-trade areas, customs unions, common markets, or economic and monetary unions. Use Historic trading blocs include the Hanseatic League, a Northern European economic alliance between the 12th and 17th centuries, and the German Customs Union, formed on the basis of the German Confederation and subsequently the German Empire from 1871. Surges of trade bloc formation occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as in the 1990s after the collapse of Communism. By 1997, more than 50% of a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
