THE EUROPEAN UNION

History

•THE FLAG

The European flag is the symbol of the European Union.The European flag consists of 12 golden stars in a circle on a blue background. The stars symbolise the ideals of unity, solidarity and harmony. The stars in circle seems a symbol of union.The history of the flag goes back to 1995.

• THE ANTHEM

The anthem of the European Union is the final movement of Bethoven’s 9º symphony. In 1971 the Council of Europe Assembly  of the Council of Europe decided to propose adopting the prelude to the Ode to Jay from Beethoven's 9th Symphony as the European anthem, taking up a suggestion made by Count Richard Nikalous von Coudenhove-Kalerai in 1955. Beethoven, "the spearhead of early Romanticism's universalist pretentions", was generally seen as the natural choice for a European anthem.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrexhus-8kw

• BEFORE THE EU

After World War II, moves towards European integration were seen by many as an escape from the extreme forms of nationalism which had devastated the continent. One such attempt to unite Europeans was the European coal and steel Comunity, which was declared to be "a first step in the federation of Europe", starting with the aim of eliminating the possibility of further wars between its member states by means of pooling the national heavy industries.

• THE MEMBERS OF THE EU

Austria Latvia   Belgium Lithuania

Bulgaria Luxemburg Cyprus Malta 

Czech Republic Netherlands Denmark Poland   Estonia Portugal Finland Romania  France  Slovakia Germany Slovenia Greece Spain Hungary Sweden Ireland United Kingdom

Italy

• THE TREATIE OF ROME

Was an international agreement that led to the founding of the  European Economic Comunity (EEC) on 1 January 1958. It was signed on 25 March 1957.

•THE SINGLE EUROPEAN ACT

Was the first major revision of the 1957 Treaty of Rome.

• AMSTERDAM TREATY

Meant a greater emphasis on citizenship and the rights of individuals, an attempt to achieve more democracy in the shape of increased powers for the European parlament, a new title on employment, a Community area of freedom, security and justice, the beginnings of a common foreign and security policy and  (CFSP) and the reform of the institutions in the run-up to enlargement.

• THE TREATY OF NIZA

 The Treaty of Nice reformed the institutional structure of the European Union to withstand eastward expansion, a task which was originally intended to have been done by the Amsterdam Treaty, but failed to be addressed at the time.

•THE TREATY OF LISBONIt provides the EU with modern institutions and optimised working methods to tackle both efficiently and effectively today's challenges in today's world.

• THE EUROPEAN GOVERNMENT

All Western and Central European countries are democracies of various kinds.There are doubts about the democratic credentials of some East European and Balkan countries (Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Serbia, Macedonia, Albania - and a few others).For many purposes the European Union (EU) is governed by small groups of people nominated by the governments of the member states.

EUROPEAN ECONOMY

-The euro is the official currency of the eurozone which consists of 17 of the 27 member states of European Union. The euro was introduced to world financial markets as an accounting currency in 1999 but Euro coins and banknotes entered circulation in 2002.

-The infrastructure, types.

Hard Infrastructures:

Transportation infrastructure like road and highway networks, Energy infrastructure like electrical power network, Water management infrastructure like drinking water supply, Communications infrastructure like telephone networks, this infrastructures are hard infrastructures.

Soft Infrastructures:

Governance infrastructure like emergency services, Economic infrastructure like manufacturing, Social infrastructure like social welfare systems, Cultural, sports and recreational infrastructure like museums.

ENVIROMENT The first environmental policy of the European

Community was launched in 1972. They worked in the acid rain, the thinning of the

ozone layer, air quality, noise pollution, waste and water pollution.

The European Union is the most important environmental policies of any state in the world.

Member states agreed that the EU is to use 20% renewable energy in the future and that it has to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in 2020 by at least 20%.

In 2006, the 27 member states of the EU had an energy consumption of 1,825 million tonnes of oil. The most of the energy consumed was produced for us but we used imported energy too

Europa measured 10,527,345 square kms. In the centre and in the north are mountains of about

1,000 meters, the most important are: Scandinavian Mts, Grampian Mts, or Massif Central.

In the centre there is a great triangular plain from the Atlantic to the Urals.

In the south are young mountains that measure about 3,000 meters. The most important are: Caucasus, Alps, Carpathian Mts, Balcans, Pirineos,and Apenines.

The highest peak in Europe is the Elbrus, that measured 5,642 m, in the Caucasus; the second highest is the Mont Blanc, that measured 4,808 m, in the Alps.

Population:Germany 82.314.906 357.050 Austria 8.334.325 83.871 Belgium 10.392.226 30.528 Bulgaria 7.322.858 110.910 Cyprus 766.400 9.251 Croatia 4.489.409 56.594 Denmark 5.457.415 43.094 Slovakia 5.396.168 49.037 Slovenia 2.013.597 20.273 Spain 47.190.493 504.645 Estonia 1.342.409 45.226 Finland 5.289.128 338.145 France 65.821.885 674.843 11.260.401 131.990 Hungary 10.066.158 93.030 Ireland 4.239.848 70.273 Italy 60.742.397 301.318 Latvia 2.281.305 64.589 Lithuania 3.373.991 65.303 Luxemburg 476.200 2.586 Malta 404.962 316 Netherlands 16.372.715 41.526 Poland 38.116.486 312.683 Portugal 11.317.192 92.391 United kingdom 62.262.806 244.820 Czech Republic 10.306.709 78.866 Romania 22.276.056 238.391 Sweden 9.142.817 449.964 European union 499.747.211

Climates:

Mediterranean climate: in the south of Spain, South of France, Italy, San Marino, Greece and Turkey

Atlantic climate: From Norway to the north coast of Portugal

Continental climate: In the center of Europe, from Poland to Russia and in Norway and Sweden too.

Tundra climate: In Russia and to the north of Norway, Sweden and Finland.

Mountain climate: in all the mountains of Europe, specially Austria.

Arctic climate: in the north of Sweden, Finland, and Russia.

The rivers: Some of the largest are rivers are the Rhine, Danube,

Volga-Don Rivers of the west are: Duero, Tajo, Ebro, Thames, Loire

and Garonne. Rivers in the center are: Vistula, Sena, Rhine and Danube The longest rivers are the Volga, that measure 3,531 km,

the Danube, that measured 2,860 km and the Ural that measured 2,428 km