History of the European Union

From Free net encyclopedia

Council and Commission. A customs union was established in 1968.

The first direct elections for the European Parliament were held in 1979, after a decision to that effect was first adopted in 1976 and ratified in 1978.

The first step in transforming the European Communities into the European Union was made with the Solemn Declaration on European Union (also known as the Stuttgart Declaration), of 19 June, 1983.

In 1986 the Single European Act was signed, the first step towards the single European market. At the same it formally introduced the concept of European Political Cooperation.

In 1992, the Maastricht treaty was signed, which at the same time modified the Treaty of Rome. It established the European Union, turning the European Communities into the EU's so-called "first-pillar", and adding two further pillars of cooperation, on Common Foreign and Security Policy and on Justice and Home Affairs. At the same time it established Economic and Monetary Union as a formal objective. The Maastricht treaty came into force in 1993.

The European Economic Area was founded in 1994 in order to allow EFTA countries to participate in the Single Market without having to join the EU.

In 1997, the Treaty of Amsterdam was signed, which updated the Maastricht treaty and aimed to make the EU more democratic.

In January 1999, eleven countries (Austria, the Benelux countries, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain) agreed to join the euro and abandon their existing currencies. Greece joined two years later, in January 2001, bringing the members of the eurozone to twelve. On January 1 2002, Euro notes and coins entered circulation.

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Current issues

Currently, the EU is undergoing organisational difficulties, especially those dealing with the proposed European Constitution. The new constitution must be ratified by all 25 member states before it can enter into force, in some cases by national referenda. To date, although ten countries have ratified the constitution, voters in France and the Netherlands have rejected it in popular votes. The future of the constitution is now uncertain.

Some also believe there is inconsistent application of EU laws in favour of larger member states: while smaller countries like Portugal have been 'called to the carpet' for failing to control deficits, both France and Germany appeared to have been given a free hand by the EU finance ministers (and against the wishes of the EU Commission) to ignore the Stability and Growth Pact. [1] Others argue that the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact, which has been called "stupid" and "rigid" by former EU Commission President Romano Prodi, are deeply flawed, and therefore urgently need to be revised.[2] Recently the EU Court of Justice ruled on this issue in favour of the EU Commission, deciding that the finance ministers' decision to annul the sanctions was unlawful.

Another issue is the application for EU membership of Turkey. On 16-17 December 2004, at the Council summit of the 25 EU leaders in Brussels, Turkey finally won its reward for "decisive progress" in reforming its economy and improving its domestic human rights situation: a target date of 3 December 2005 for opening accession negotiations. [3]. Nonetheless, there is still significant concern about Turkey's suitability as a member, for political, cultural and economic reasons. There's also a question of its continuing disputes with Greece and Cyprus.

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