The European Union

The European Union is a unique economic and political partnership. The European Union was not always as big as it is today. When European countries started to cooperate economically in 1951, only Belgium, ermany, !rance, "taly, #u$embourg and the %etherlands participated. &'er time, more and more countries decided to (oin. %owadays according to an actual statistica data The European Union has )* member countries. +ungary (oined into this community in ),,-, on the .irst day o. /ay. There are 5 candidate countries, .or e$ample Tur0ey, 1erbia, /ontenegro, they are in the process o. integrating EU legislation into national law. There are 2 potential candidates, such as 3lbania, 4oso'o, Bosnia and +er5ego'ina, these countries don6t yet .ul.ill the requirements .or European Union membership. The EU has se'eral symbols, the most well70nown is the circle o. yellow stars on a blue bac0ground. 8United in di'ersity9 is the motto o. European Union. The 8&de to :oy9 .rom Beetho'en is the o..icial anthem o. the EU. The 2 main institutions o. the EU are the European ;arliament, European <ouncil and the European <ommission. The last one6s president is :os= /anuel Barroso. The European <ommission based in Brussels and #u$embourg. The European ;arliament based in Brussels, #u$embourg and 1trasbourg. The <ouncil o. the EU based in Brussels. The euro > used e'ery day by some 22) million Europeans > is the most tangible proo. o. cooperation between EU countries. The EU institutions employ o'er -, ,,, men and women .rom the )* EU member countries. The EU pro'ides .unding and grants .or a broad range o. pro(ects and programmes co'ering areas such as education, health, en'ironmental protection. The ?oung are also pro'ided by the European Union. There are two types o. .unding. &ne o. them is the #i.elong #earning ;rogramme, the Erasmus, which pro'ides 'ocational training in another countries. The second is The ?outh in 3ction ;rogramme.