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1951: The Treaty of Paris establishing the European Coal and Steel Community (it enters into
force in 1952)
1954: The French National Assembly votes down plans to set up a European Defense
Community
1957: The Treaty establishing the European Economic Community and the Euratom Treaty
signed in Rome (they enter into force on 1 January 1958)
1962: EEC Assemby renamed European Parliament
1965: The „empty chairs crisis” and the Merger Treaty (it enters into force in 1967)
1970: Beginning of the European Political Cooperation, forerunner to the Common Foreign
and Security Policy
1973: United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark join the EEC
1979: European Monetary System set up, first direct elections to the European Parliament
1981: Greece joins the EEC
1986: Spain and Portugal join the EEC
1986: Single European Act signed (it enters into force in 1987)
1992: The Treaty on European Union signed in Maastricht (it enters into force on 1
November 1993)
1995: Austria, Sweden and Finland join the EU
1997: The Treaty of Amsterdam signed (it enters into force on 1 May 1999)
1999: The euro is born as an electronic currency
2002: Euro notes and coins enter circulation; the ECSC Treaty expires
2001: Treaty of Nice signed (it enters fully into force on 1 February 2003)
2004: Eight Central and Eastern European and two Mediterranean countries join the EU
2004: Treaty establishing a (draft) Constitution for Europe signed
II. People
• Jean Monnet – French diplomat, businessman, lobbyist, the brain behind the
European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community
• Robert Schuman – French politician, diplomat, father of the ECSC and the EEC, his
famous speech in 1950 on European unity is remember on Europe day, May 9, official
day of the European Union
• Paul-Henri Spaak – Belgian foreign minister, chairman of the Messina Conference
preparing the Treaty of Rome, first President of the EEC Assembly (later European
Parliament)
• Alcide de Gasperi – Italian politican, founder of the modern Italian state, founder of
the Council of Europe
• Konrad Adenauer – first Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, founder of
the democratic and European West Germany
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Actual presidents of other EU institutions and bodies and other important people
IV. EU jargon
• Tampere programme – after the 1999 Tampere EU summit that launched the EU’s
common immigration and asylum policy.
• Hague programme – the second phase of Tampere, since 2004
• Lisbon programme – after the 2000 Lisbon EU summit (also known as the „dotcom
summit”) that launched a strategy to modernise the European economy
• Laeken declaration – after the 2001 Laeken EU summit that called for a Convention
on the future of Europe and a new EU Treaty
• Gothenburg programme – after the 2001 Gothenburg EU summit that launched the
EU’s sustainable development strategy
• Maastricht targets – after the 1991 Maastricht EU summit that launched the
Economic and Monetary Union – it states that any state seeking to join the EMU must
not have a public debt higher than 60 per cent of GDP or a deficit higher than 3 per
cent of GDP or an inflation rate more then 1.5 per cent higher than the average rate of
the three states with the lowest inflation
• Copenhagen criteria – after the 1993 Copenhagen EU summit that laid down
political requirements for any state seeking to join the EU
• Schengen – after the 1985 Schengen Agreement that did away with border controls
between member states – it doesn’t include the UK, Ireland and (temporarily) the new
member states but it does include non-EU members Norway, Iceland and Switzerland
• Petersberg tasks – after the Petersberg declaration of 1992 setting certain military
aims for the Western European Union and later (after Amsterdam) for the European
Union
• Bologna process – after the Bologna Declaration of 1999 that aims to establish a
European area of higher education. Some 40 European countries take part.
VI. Memberships
European Economic Area (28 Members): EU-25 + Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway
Schengen countries (15 Members): Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany,
Greece, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain and Sweden
NATO (26 Members): Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,
France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg,
Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Turkey, UK, US
Eurozone (13 Members): Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Slovenia
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Member State Capital Population Area Population Inflation GDP per GDP Unemployment Number of Number of
(million) (1000 density rate capita in growth rate (2004) votes in members of
(2002) km [2]) (people/km [2]) (2004) PPS rate Council Parliament
(2002) (2002) (2002) (2004)
Austria Vienna 8,1 84 96 2,0 26 700 2,0 4,5 10 18
Belgium Brussels 10,3 31 330 [3] 1,9 25 100 2,9 8,0 12 24
Cyprus Nicosia 0,8 9 90 1,9 18 500 3,7 5,5 4 6
Czech Prague 10,3 79 130 2,6 14 600 4,0 8,3 12 24
Republic
Denmark Copenhagen 5,4 43 126 0,9 [2] 28 300 [3] 2,4 5,1 7 14
Estonia Tallinn 1,4 45 31 3,0 10 900 6,2 [3] 8,3 4 6
Finland Helsinki 5,2 337 15 0,1 [1] 24 600 3,7 8,8 7 14
France Paris 59,3 [3] 544 [1] 109 2,3 23 900 2,3 9,7 29 [1] 78 [2]
Germany Berlin 82,4 [1] 357 231 1,8 24 800 1,6 9,5 29 [1] 99 [1]
Greece Athens 10,6 132 80 3,0 16 500 4,2 10,2 12 24
Hungary Budapest 10,2 93 110 6,8 12 600 4,1 6,2 12 24
Ireland Dublin 3,9 70 56 2,3 28 400 [2] 5,4 4,3 [1] 7 13
Italy Rome 58,0 301 193 2,3 25 000 1,2 8,0 29 [1] 78 [2]
Latvia Riga 2,4 65 37 6,2 7 900 8,5 [1] 9,6 4 9
Lithuania Vilnius 3,5 65 54 1,1 8 800 6,7 [2] 9,3 7 13
Luxembourg Luxembourg 0,4 3 133 3,2 45 000 [1] 4,5 4,4 [2] 4 6
Malta Valletta 0,4 0,3 1333 [1] 2,7 13 300 1,0 7,0 3 5
Netherlands Amsterdam 16,1 41 393 [2] 1,4 26 600 1,4 4,8 13 [3] 27
Poland Warsaw 38,6 313 123 3,6 9 000 5,3 18,3 27 [2] 54 [3]
Portugal Lisbon 10,3 92 112 2,5 17 300 1,0 7,1 12 24
Slovakia Bratislava 5,4 49 110 7,4 12 000 5,5 16,8 7 14
Slovenia Ljubljana 2,0 20 100 3,6 17 000 4,6 5,8 4 7
Spain Madrid 40,4 505 [2] 80 3,1 19 900 3,1 10,4 27 [2] 54 [3]
Sweden Stockholm 8,9 411 [3] 22 1,0 [3] 24 900 3,6 6,4 10 19
United London 60,1 [2] 244 246 1,3 24 200 3,1 4,6 [3] 29 [1] 78 [2]
Kingdom
EU-25 454,6 3929 174 2,1 18 660 2,3 8,9 321 732
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2005 – Cork, IE
2006 - Patras, EL
2007 - Luxembourg, LU and Sibiu, RO
2008 - Liverpool, UK and Stavanger, NO
Sakharov Prize:
- presented by European Parliament for freedom of thought
- last winner (2006): Alexander Milinkevich
Charlemagne Prize
- presented by the City of Aachen
- last winner (2006): Jean-Claude Juncker