Which Countries Are European Union

Currency Of The Eu Area

The euro is the common currency for the EU area. It’s the second most commonly held currency in the world after the U.S. dollar. It replaced the Italian lira, the French franc, and the German Deutschmark, among others.

The value of the euro is a free-floating rather than a fixed exchange rate. Foreign exchange traders determine its value each day as a result. The most widely-watched value is how much the euro’s value is compared to the U.S. dollar. The dollar is the unofficial world currency.

Was The Uk Ever In The Schengen Area

The United Kingdom was never a member of the Schengen Agreement, as it secured an opt-out that other countries did not. Similarly, while Ireland is in the EU it is not in Schengen. Before Brexit, the U.K. was subject to European Union law and Europeans had a right to live and work in the U.K. – and vice versa. Little has changed for those outside the EU as they were subject to these laws before Brexit – and so they have to apply for a short or long stay visa accordingly to the relevant authorities.

Why Is There A European Union

Key Points

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UNC Professors Gary Marks and Liesbet Hooghe explain the origins of the European Union in this mini-lecture video.

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International Cooperation And Development Partnerships

The European Union uses foreign relations instruments like the European Neighbourhood Policy which seeks to tie those countries to the east and south of the European territory of the EU to the union. These countries, primarily developing countries, include some who seek to one day become either a member state of the European Union, or more closely integrated with the European Union. The EU offers financial assistance to countries within the European Neighbourhood, so long as they meet the strict conditions of government reform, economic reform and other issues surrounding positive transformation. This process is normally underpinned by an Action Plan, as agreed by both Brussels and the target country.

EU development action is based on the European Consensus on Development, which was endorsed on 20 December 2005 by EU Member States, the council, the European Parliament and the commission. It is applied from the principles of Capability approach and Rights-based approach to development. Funding is provided by the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance and the Global Europe programmes.

Partnership and cooperation agreements are bilateral agreements with non-member nations.

List Of Countries In The European Union 2022

The European Union is a group of 27 nations in Europe, formed in the aftermath of World War II. The first batch of countries joined in 1957, including Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands. In 1973, Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom joined. Greece joined in 1981, followed by Spain and Portugal in 1986 and Austria, Finland and Sweden in 1995. In 2004, nine countries were added, two more in 2007, and finally Croatia in 2013 to bring the total to 28. On June 23, 2016, the United Kingdom voted to leave the EU, a process it completed in 2020.

Membership in the EU is expected to grow in 2022. The Ukraine submitted an application for membership in February 2022, though Russia‘s February invasion of the Ukraine may complicate or derail the membership process. Georgia and Moldova also submitted applications for membership in March 2022.

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Europeans Most Optimistic About Their Culture Relations With Other European Nations

A median of 68% across 14 EU member countries say that, when thinking about the future of their country, they are optimistic when it comes to their countrys relations with other European nations as well as their national culture. In fact, their own countrys culture was the first- or second-most named area for optimism in every nation surveyed all but Italy and the UK also chose relations with other countries in Europe as a source of optimism.

For 54% of Italians and 46% of Britons, their nations education system was the second most commonly cited reason for feeling optimistic about the future. While not a top choice elsewhere, at least half of publics in seven other countries also felt hopeful about their education system.

When it comes to the availability of well-paying jobs, a median of just 37% feel a sense of optimism. And while the EUs overall unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest point in almost a decade, the job situation is not equally hopeful in each individual EU member country. In Greece, for example, where only 17% voice optimism about their countrys job prospects, the unemployment rate was 19.3% in 2018, the highest such rate in the EU by far. Fellow employment pessimists in Spain and Italy have relatively high unemployment rates of 15.4% and 10.8%, respectively. Across the 14 EU member nations in the survey, nations with higher unemployment rates tend to voice more pessimism about their prospects for well-paying jobs.

Why Was The European Union Created

The overarching purpose of the European Union, in the years after World War II, was to put an end to the devastating wars that had wracked Europe for centuries. At the same time, it became increasingly clear that a united Europe would have far greater economic and political power than the individual nations in the post-war world.

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Is Etias For Travel To Eu Or Schengen Area

ETIAS is not for all European countries. The ETIAS travel authorisation grants access to all countries included in the Schengen Area and some that are in the process of joining.

The ETIAS countries and the Schengen countries are the same, an ETIAS permit is like the Schengen visa, but for visa-exempt travellers.

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Military And Security Forces

the EU’s Common Security and Defense Policy provides the civilian, military, and political structures for EU crisis management and security issues the highest bodies are:

the Political and Security Committee , which meets at the ambassadorial level as a preparatory body for the Council of the EU it assists with defining policies and preparing a crisis response

the European Union Military Committee is the EU’s highest military body it is composed of the chiefs of defense of the Member States, who are regularly represented by their permanent Military Representatives the EUMC provides the PSC with advice and recommendations on all military matters within the EU

the Committee for Civilian Aspects of Crisis Management provides advice and recommendations to the PSC in parallel with the EUMC on civilian aspects of crisis management

the Politico-Military Group provides advice and recommendations to the PSC on political aspects of EU military and civil-military issues, including concepts, capabilities and operations and missions, and monitors implementation

other bodies set up under the CSDP include the Security and Defense Policy Directorate , the Integrated approach for Security and Peace Directorate , the EU Military Staff , the Civilian Planning and Conduct Capability , the Militaryà Planningà andà Conductà Capability , the European Defense Agency, the European Security and Defense College , the EU Institute for Security Studies, and the EU Satellite Center

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External Security And Defence

The predecessors of the European Union were not devised as a military alliance because NATO was largely seen as appropriate and sufficient for defence purposes. 21 EU members are members of NATO while the remaining member states follow policies of neutrality. The Western European Union, a military alliance with a mutual defence clause, was disbanded in 2010 as its role had been transferred to the EU.

Since the withdrawal of the United Kingdom, France is the only member officially recognised as a nuclear weapon state and the sole holder of a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council. France and Italy are also the only EU countries that have power projection capabilities outside of Europe. Italy, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium participate in NATO nuclear sharing.

Most EU member states opposed the Nuclear Weapon Ban Treaty.

Creation Of The European Union

The idea of creating the European Union emerged against the backdrop of the horrific consequences of World War II. To avoid a repetition of such events and to link countries together economically as much as possible, in 1950, the French Foreign Minister Robert Schuman proposed a merger of the coal and steel industries of Europe.

As a result, in 1951 six states – France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg – signed the Treaty of Paris and created the European Coal and Steel Community. The rapid growth of trade relations over 6 years led to the conclusion of the 1957 Rome Accords, which conditioned the formation of the European Economic Community, the basis of the modern EU.

The European Union in its present form was created on the basis of the Maastricht Treaty, in force since November 1, 1993, which led to the creation of the single European currency, the euro. The main EU agreements were subsequently amended by the treaties signed in Amsterdam , Nice and Lisbon .

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What Is The European Union

The European Union is a political and economic union, consisting of 27 member states that are subject to the obligations and the privileges of the membership.

Every member state is part of the founding treaties of the union and is subjected to binding laws within the common legislative and judicial institutions. In order for the EU to adopt policies that concern defence and foreign affairs, all member states must agree unanimously.

The European Union was founded on November 1, 1993 in Maastricht, Netherlands.

Before 1993, the EU was not as big as it is today. European countries started to cooperate economically in 1951 when only states such as Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Germany, The Netherlands and Italy participated. Gradually, more countries decided to join. The last to join is Croatia in 2013.

Member State Of The European Union

The European Union is a political and economic union of 27 member states that are signatories to the founding treaties of the union and thereby share in the privileges and obligations of membership. They have agreed by the treaties to share their own sovereignty through the institutions of the European Union in some, but not all, aspects of government. State governments must agree unanimously in the Council for the union to adopt some policies for others, collective decisions are made by qualified majority voting. These obligations and sharing of sovereignty within the EU make it unique among international organisations, as it has established its own legal order which by the provisions of the founding treaties is both legally binding and supreme on all the member states . A founding principle of the union is the principle of subsidiarity, meaning that decisions are taken collectively if and only if they cannot realistically be taken individually.

Another notable and unique feature of membership are the commissioners of the European Commission, who are appointed by each of the governments of the member states but do not represent their member state but instead work collectively in the interests of all the member states.

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Schengen Area Migration And Asylum

The Schengen Area is an area comprising 26 European countries that have officially abolished all passport and all other types of border control at their mutual borders. It mostly functions as a single jurisdiction under a common visa policy for international travel purposes. The area is named after the 1985 Schengen Agreement and the 1990 Schengen Convention, both signed in Schengen, Luxembourg. The Area comprises 22 EU member states, the four states of the European Free Trade Association and several European microstates.

The European Border and Coast Guard Agency is an agency of the EU aiming to detect and stop illegal immigration, human trafficking and terrorist infiltration, having since 2015 a stronger role and mandate along with national authorities for border management. The EU also operates the European Travel Information and Authorisation System, the Entry/Exit System, the Schengen Information System, the Visa Information System and the Common European Asylum System which provide common databases for police and immigration authorities. The impetus for the development of this co-operation was the advent of open borders in the Schengen Area and the associated cross-border crime.

• Europol Headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands

• Eurojust Headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands

• Seat of Frontex in Warsaw, Poland

Current List Of All 27 European Union Countries

The “Birthday” of the European Union is considered May 9, 1950. At present, May 9 is celebrated annually as Europe Day.

The first agreement establishing the European Economic Community was signed in 1957 by six countries: Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom joined in 1973, Greece in 1981, Spain and Portugal in 1986. In subsequent years many other countries joined the Union. The United Kingdom withdrew from the European Union on January 31, 2020. Today the EU consists of 27 member countries.

It is not only an economic union but the single market with no borders for trade and the single euro currency used by 19 member states of the Eurozone. Furthermore, it is the political union with own parliament and other institutions. The Schengen Agreement signed in 1985 allows free movement of citizens without passport controls at border crossings within Schengen Area.

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What Are The Powers Of The European Parliament

Although Parliament cant initiate legislation, EU law cant pass without Parliaments approval. Parliament negotiates all laws, including the budget, with the commission and the Council of Ministers in an arrangement known as co-decision.

In addition, international agreements, including trade agreements, require Parliaments sign-off. The president of Parliament, who is elected by the body, must also sign off on laws for their passage.

Parliament has a number of other powers. It approves members of the European Commission, meaning that parliamentary elections go far in determining the direction of EU policy. Parliament can also force the commissions resignation. That has never happened, but on one occasion, in 1999, the commission resigned en masse over a corruption scandal before Parliament could act.

What Does The European Commission Do

As the executive body, the commission is most responsible for the day-to-day operations of the EU.

The commission is tasked with drafting legislation and drawing up the EU budget. It sends these proposals to Parliament and the Council of Ministers and negotiates with them until it wins approval from both institutions.

The commission is also responsible for making sure EU laws are implemented and the budget is allocated correctly, whether through oversight of the member states or through one of the EUs dozens of agencies.

Other duties include representing the EU in international organizations, promoting the blocs foreign policy, and leading trade negotiations. The commission also helps enforce EU treaties by raising legal disputes with the Court of Justice.

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How Big Is The Eu Budget

The European Unions spending was a little more than $197 billion in 2020, the last year for which the European Commission released its full accounting.

• One of the largest chunks, at about 35 percent, is spent on agricultural programs. The biggest outlays are for direct payments to farmers and the development of fisheries, forests, and rural communities.
• An equal share goes to economic, social, and territorial cohesion, meant to help the EUs less developed countries catch up. The spending covers investments and technical assistance for small businesses, infrastructure development, jobs programs, and low-carbon energy.
• Related spending on competitiveness, about 14 percent, goes to EU-wide research and development, energy, transportation, and telecom initiatives.
• Global Europe covers the EUs foreign policy efforts, while security and citizenship focuses largely on migration and law-enforcement programs.

The EU budget, while renegotiated by the European Commission, Parliament, and the Council of Ministers yearly, must fit previously agreed budget frameworks that set a cap on total spending, generally over a seven-year time span.

The EU budget must balance, since the bloc has no authority to spend more than it takes in. Almost all of its revenue comes from member states, which contribute varying amounts based on their economic heft. Many less developed states are net beneficiaries, receiving more in EU funding than they pay.

Membership Conditions For Eu

Any European country has the right to apply for EU membership provided they meet the following criteria:

• Have a functioning democratic government that guarantees and protects the fundamental rights of its citizens and minority groups.
• Have a stable market and economic foundation that enables them to participate in the EU market.
• Be able to follow the EU laws and policies in every aspect.

In addition to these essential criteria, each new member must pay the membership fee negotiated during the joining process. However, due to a complicated political situation, the EU has put additional conditions on some countries, i.e., Balkan countries.

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