In 1973, the Communities enlarged to include Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.[17]Norway had negotiated to join at the same time but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a referendum and so Norway remained outside. In 1979, the first direct, democratic elections to the European Parliament were held.[18]
Since the end of World War II, sovereignEuropean countries have entered into treaties and thereby co-operated and harmonised policies (or pooled sovereignty) in an increasing number of areas, in the European integration project or the construction of Europe (French: la construction européenne). The following timeline outlines the legal inception of the European Union (EU)—the principal framework for this unification. The EU inherited many of its present responsibilities from the European Communities (EC), which were founded in the 1950s in the spirit of the Schuman Declaration.
Legend: S: signing F: entry into force T: termination E: expiry de facto supersession Rel. w/ EC/EU framework: de facto inside outside
^ abcdeAlthough not EU treaties per se, these treaties affected the development of the EU defence arm, a main part of the CFSP. The Franco-British alliance established by the Dunkirk Treaty was de facto superseded by WU. The CFSP pillar was bolstered by some of the security structures that had been established within the remit of the 1955 Modified Brussels Treaty (MBT). The Brussels Treaty was terminated in 2011, consequently dissolving the WEU, as the mutual defence clause that the Lisbon Treaty provided for EU was considered to render the WEU superfluous. The EU thus de facto superseded the WEU.
^Between the EU's founding in 1993 and consolidation in 2009, the union consisted of three pillars, the first of which were the European Communities. The other two pillars consisted of additional areas of cooperation that had been added to the EU's remit.
The member states of the European Union (European Communities pre-1993), animated in order of accession. Only territories in and around Europe are shown.
The Union's membership has grown from the original six founding states–Belgium, France, (then-West) Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands–to the present day 27 by successive enlargements as countries acceded to the treaties and by doing so, pooled their sovereignty in exchange for representation in the institutions.[25]
To join the EU a country must meet the Copenhagen criteria, defined at the 1993 Copenhagen European Council. These require a stable democracy that respects human rights and the rule of law; a functioning market economy capable of competition within the EU; and the acceptance of the obligations of membership, including EU law. Evaluation of a country's fulfilment of the criteria is the responsibility of the European Council.[26]
No member state has ever left the Union, although Greenland (an autonomous province of Denmark) withdrew in 1985. The Lisbon Treaty now provides a clause dealing with how a member leaves the EU.
There are three official candidate countries, Croatia, Macedonia and Turkey. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and Iceland are officially recognised as potential candidates.[27]Kosovo is also listed as a potential candidate but the European Commission does not list it as an independent country because not all member states recognise it as an independent country separate from Serbia.[28]
The territory of the EU consists of the combined territories of its 27 member states with some exceptions, outlined below. The territory of the EU is not the same as that of Europe, as parts of the continent are outside the EU, such as Switzerland, Norway, European Russia, and Iceland. Some parts of member states are not part of the EU, despite forming part of the European continent (for example the Isle of Man and Channel Islands (two Crown Dependencies), and the Faroe Islands (a territory of Denmark)). The island country of Cyprus, a member of the EU, is closer to Turkey than to continental Europe and is often considered part of Asia.[32][33]
The EU's climate is influenced by its 65,993 km (41,006 mi) coastline. (Crete)
The EU's member states cover an area of 4,422,773 square kilometres (1,707,642 sq mi).[35] The EU is larger in area than all but six countries, and its highest peak is Mont Blanc in the Graian Alps, 4,807 metres (15,771 ft) above sea level. The landscape, climate, and economy of the EU are influenced by its coastline, which is 65,993 kilometres (41,006 mi) long. The EU has the world's second-longest coastline, after Canada. The combined member states share land borders with 19 non-member states for a total of 12,441 kilometres (7,730 mi), the fifth-longest border in the world.[11][36][37]
The EU's population is also highly urbanized, with some 75% of people (and growing, projected to be 90% in 7 states by 2020) living in urban areas. Cities are largely spread out across the EU, although with a large grouping in and around the Benelux and a large amount of urbanization in Spain since it joined the EU [citation needed]. An increasing percentage of this is due to low density urban sprawl which is extending into natural areas. In some cases this urban growth has been due to the influx of EU funds into a region.[39]
The institutions of the EU operate solely within those competencies conferred on it upon the treaties and according to the principle of subsidiarity (which dictates that action by the EU should only be taken where an objective cannot be sufficiently achieved by the member states alone). Law made by the EU institutions is passed in a variety of forms, primarily that which comes into direct force and that which must be passed in a refined form by national parliaments.
Legislative competencies are divided equally, with some exceptions, between the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union while executive tasks are carried out by the European Commission and in a limited capacity by the European Council (not to be confused with the aforementioned Council of the European Union). The interpretation and the application of EU law and the treaties are ensured by the Court of Justice of the European Union. There are also a number of ancillary bodies which advise the EU or operate in a specific area.
The EU receives its political leadership from the European Council, which usually meets four times a year. It comprises one representative per member state—either its head of state or head of government—plus its President as well as the President of the Commission. The member states' representatives are assisted by their Foreign Ministers. The European Council uses its leadership role to sort out disputes between member states and the institutions, and to resolve political crises and disagreements over controversial issues and policies. The European Council should not be mistaken for the Council of Europe, an international organisation independent from the EU.
The Council (also called "Council of the European Union"[40] and sometimes referred to as the "Council of Ministers"[41]) forms one half of the EU's legislature. It consists of a government minister from each member state and meets in different compositions depending on the policy area being addressed. Notwithstanding its different compositions, it is considered to be one single body.[42] In addition to its legislative functions, the Council also exercises executive functions in relations to the Common Foreign and Security Policy.
The European Commission acts as the EU's executive arm and is responsible for initiating legislation and the day-to-day running of the EU. It is intended to act solely in the interest of the EU as a whole, as opposed to the Council which consists of leaders of member states who reflect national interests. The commission is also seen as the motor of European integration. It is currently composed of 27 commissioners for different areas of policy, one from each member state. The President of the Commission and all the other commissioners are nominated by the Council. Appointment of the Commission President, and also the Commission in its entirety, have to be confirmed by Parliament.[43]
The European Parliament forms the other half of the EU's legislature. The 736 (soon to be 750) Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are directly elected by EU citizens every five years. Although MEPs are elected on a national basis, they sit according to political groups rather than their nationality. Each country has a set number of seats and in some cases is divided into sub-national constituencies. The Parliament and the Council of Ministers pass legislation jointly in nearly all areas under the ordinary legislative procedure. This also applies to the EU budget. Finally, the Commission is accountable to Parliament, requiring its approval to take office, having to report back to it and subject to motions of censure from it. The President of the European Parliament carries out the role of speaker in parliament and represents it externally. The president and vice presidents are elected by MEPs every two and a half years.[44]
The Court of Justice primarily deals with cases taken by member states, the institutions, and cases referred to it by the courts of member states.[46] The General Court mainly deals with cases taken by individuals and companies directly before the EU's courts,[47] and the European Union Civil Service Tribunal adjudicates in disputes between the European Union and its civil service.[48] Decisions from the General Court can be appealed to the Court of Justice but only on a point of law.[49]
The EU is based on a series of treaties. These first established the European Community and the EU, and then made amendments to those founding treaties.[50] These are power-giving treaties which set broad policy goals and establish institutions with the necessary legal powers to implement those goals. These legal powers include the ability to enact legislation[51] which can directly affect all member states and their inhabitants.[52] Under the principle of supremacy, national courts are required to enforce the treaties that their member states have ratified, and thus the laws enacted under them, even if doing so requires them to ignore conflicting national law, and (within limits) even constitutional provisions.[53]
The main legal acts of the EU come in three forms: regulations, directives, and decisions. Regulations become law in all member states the moment they come into force, without the requirement for any implementing measures,[54] and automatically override conflicting domestic provisions.[51] Directives require member states to achieve a certain result while leaving them discretion as to how to achieve the result. The details of how they are to be implemented are left to member states.[55]
EU member states have a standardised passport design, burgundy coloured with the name of the member state, Coat of Arms and with the words "European Union" given in their official language(s) at the top; in this case those of Ireland.
When the time limit for implementing directives passes, they may, under certain conditions, have direct effect in national law against member states. Decisions offer an alternative to the two above modes of legislation. They are legal acts which only apply to specified individuals, companies or a particular member state. They are most often used in Competition Law, or on rulings on State Aid, but are also frequently used for procedural or administrative matters within the institutions. Regulations, directives, and decisions are of equal legal value and apply without any formal hierarchy.
One of the complicating features of the EU's legal system is the multiplicity of legislative procedures used to enact legislation. The treaties micro-manage the EU's powers, indicating different ways of adopting legislation for different policy areas and for different areas within the same policy areas.[56] A common feature of the EU's legislative procedures, however, is that almost all legislation must be initiated by the Commission, rather than member states or European parliamentarians.[57] The two most common procedures are co-decision, under which the European Parliament can veto proposed legislation, and consultation, under which Parliament is only permitted to give an opinion which can be ignored by European leaders. In most cases legislation must be agreed by the council.[58]
National courts within the member states play a key role in the EU as enforcers of EU law, and a "spirit of cooperation" between EU and national courts is laid down in the Treaties. National courts can apply EU law in domestic cases, and if they require clarification on the interpretation or validity of any EU legislation related to the case it may make a reference for a preliminary ruling to the Court of Justice. The right to declare EU legislation invalid however is reserved to the EU courts.
Fundamental rights
As a product of efforts to establish a written fundamental rights code, the EU drew up the Charter of Fundamental Rights in 2000. The Charter is legally binding since the Lisbon Treaty has come into force.[59] Also, the Court of Justice gives judgements on fundamental rights derived from the "constitutional traditions common to the member states,"[60] and may even invalidate EU legislation based on its failure to adhere to these fundamental rights.[61]
Although signing the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) is a condition for EU membership,[62] the EU itself is not covered by the convention as it is neither a state[63] nor, prior to the entry into force of the Lisbon treaty, had the competence to accede.[64] Lisbon Treaty and Protocol 14 to the ECHR have changed this: the first binding the EU to accede to the Convention and the second formally allowing this. Nonetheless the Court of Justice and European Court of Human Rightsco-operate to ensure their case-law does not conflict.[65] The EU opposes the death penalty and promotes its world wide abolition.[66] Abolition of the death penalty is a condition for EU membership.[67]
Foreign policy cooperation between member states dates from the establishment of the Community in 1957, when member states negotiated as a bloc in international trade negotiations under the Common Commercial Policy.[68] Steps for a more wide ranging coordination in foreign relations began in 1970 with the establishment of European Political Cooperation which created an informal consultation process between member states with the aim of forming common foreign policies. It was not, however, until 1987 when European Political Cooperation was introduced on a formal basis by the Single European Act. EPC was renamed as the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) by the Maastricht Treaty.[69]
The Maastricht Treaty gives the CFSP the aims of promoting both the EU's own interests and those of the international community as a whole. This includes promoting international co-operation, respect for human rights, democracy, and the rule of law.[70]
The Amsterdam Treaty created the office of the High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy (currently held by Catherine Ashton) to co-ordinate the EU's foreign policy.[71] The High Representative, in conjunction with the current Presidency, speaks on behalf of the EU in foreign policy matters and can have the task of articulating ambiguous policy positions created by disagreements among member states. The Common Foreign and Security Policy requires unanimity among the now 27 member states on the appropriate policy to follow on any particular issue. The unanimity and difficult issues treated under the CFSP makes disagreements, such as those which occurred over the war in Iraq,[72] not uncommon.
Besides the emerging international policy of the European Union, the international influence of the EU is also felt through enlargement. The perceived benefits of becoming a member of the EU act as an incentive for both political and economic reform in states wishing to fulfil the EU's accession criteria, and are considered an important factor contributing to the reform of former Communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe.[73] This influence on the internal affairs of other countries is generally referred to as "soft power", as opposed to military "hard power".[74]
In the UN, as an observer and working together, the EU has gained influence in areas such as aid due to its large contributions in that field (see below).[75] In the G8, the EU has rights of membership besides chairing/hosting summit meetings and is represented at meetings by the presidents of the Commission and the Council.[76] In the World Trade Organisation (WTO), where all 27 member states are represented, the EU as a body is represented by Trade CommissionerKarel De Gucht.[77]
The Eurofighter is built by a consortium of four EU countries.
The predecessors of the European Union were not devised as a strong military alliance because NATO was largely seen as appropriate and sufficient for defence purposes.[78] Twenty-one EU members are members of NATO[79] while the remaining member states follow policies of neutrality.[80] The Western European Union (WEU) is a European security organisation related to the EU. In 1992, the WEU's relationship with the EU was defined, when the EU assigned it the "Petersberg tasks" (humanitarian missions such as peacekeeping and crisis management). These tasks were later transferred from the WEU to the EU by the Amsterdam Treaty and now form part of the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defence Policy. Elements of the WEU are currently being merged into the Common Foreign and Security Policy, and the President of the WEU is currently the EU's foreign policy chief.[81][82]
File:Eufor222.jpgCSDP forces are peacekeeping in parts of the Balkans and Africa.
Following the Kosovo War in 1999, the European Council agreed that "the Union must have the capacity for autonomous action, backed by credible military forces, the means to decide to use them, and the readiness to do so, in order to respond to international crises without prejudice to actions by NATO". To that end, a number of efforts were made to increase the EU's military capability, notably the Helsinki Headline Goal process. After much discussion, the most concrete result was the EU Battlegroups initiative, each of which is planned to be able to deploy quickly about 1500 personnel.[83]
The EU's aid has previously been criticised by the euroscepticthink-tankOpen Europe for being inefficient, mis-targeted and linked to economic objectives.[89] Furthermore, some charities have claimed European governments have inflated the amount they have spent on aid by incorrectly including money spent on debt relief, foreign students, and refugees. Under the de-inflated figures, the EU as a whole did not reach its internal aid target in 2006[90] and is expected not to reach the international target of 0.7% of gross national income until 2015.[91]
However, four countries have reached that target, most notably Sweden, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Denmark.[88] In 2005 EU aid was 0.34% of the GNP which was higher than that of either the United States or Japan.[92] The previous commissioner for aid, Louis Michel, has called for aid to be delivered more rapidly, to greater effect, and on humanitarian principles.[93]
The Schengen Area comprises most member states ensuring open borders.
Since the creating of the EU in 1993, it has developed its competencies in the area of justice and home affairs, initially at an intergovernmental level and later by supranationalism. To this end, agencies have been established that co-ordinate associated actions: Europol for co-operation of police forces,[94]Eurojust for co-operation between prosecutors,[95] and Frontex for co-operation between border control authorities.[96] The EU also operates the Schengen Information System[9] which provides a common database for police and immigration authorities. This cooperation had to particularly be developed with the advent of open borders through the Schengen Agreement and the associated cross border crime.
The EU and the next five largest economies in the world by nominal GDP (IMF, 2009)[105]
Since its origin, the EU has established a single economic market across the territory of all its members. Currently, a single currency is in use between the 16 members of the eurozone.[106][107] If considered as a single economy, the EU generated an estimated nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of US$16.45 trillion (14.794 trillion international dollars based on purchasing power parity) in 2009, amounting to over 21% of the world's total economic output in terms of purchasing power parity,[4] which makes it the largest economy in the world by nominal GDP and the second largest trade bloc economy in the world by PPP valuation of GDP. It is also the largest exporter ,[108] and largest importer[109] of goods and services, and the biggest trading partner to several large countries such as China and India.[110][111][112]
In May 2007 unemployment in the EU stood at 7%[114] while investment was at 21.4% of GDP, inflation at 2.2% and public deficit at −0.9% of GDP.[115] There is a great deal of variance for annual per capita income within individual EU states, these range from US$7,000 to US$69,000.[116]
Two of the original core objectives of the European Economic Community were the development of a common market, subsequently renamed the single market, and a customs union between its member states. The single market involves the free circulation of goods, capital, people and services within the EU,[107] and the customs union involves the application of a common external tariff on all goods entering the market. Once goods have been admitted into the market they cannot be subjected to customs duties, discriminatory taxes or import quotas, as they travel internally. The non-EU member states of Iceland, Norway, Liechtenstein and Switzerland participate in the single market but not in the customs union.[29] Half the trade in the EU is covered by legislation harmonised by the EU.[117]
Free movement of capital is intended to permit movement of investments such as property purchases and buying of shares between countries.[118] Until the drive towards Economic and Monetary Union the development of the capital provisions had been slow. Post-Maastricht there has been a rapidly developing corpus of ECJ judgements regarding this initially neglected freedom. The free movement of capital is unique insofar as that it is granted equally to non-member states.
The free movement of persons means citizens can move freely between member states to live, work, study or retire in another country. This required the lowering of administrative formalities and recognition of professional qualifications of other states.[119]
The free movement of services and of establishment allows self-employed persons to move between member states in order to provide services on a temporary or permanent basis. While services account for between sixty and seventy percent of GDP, legislation in the area is not as developed as in other areas. This lacuna has been addressed by the recently passed Directive on services in the internal market which aims to liberalise the cross border provision of services.[120] According to the Treaty the provision of services is a residual freedom that only applies if no other freedom is being exercised.
File:Euro coins version II.png16 EU countries have introduced the euro as their sole currency.
The creation of a European single currency became an official objective of the EU in 1969. However, it was only with the advent of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993 that member states were legally bound to start the monetary union no later than 1 January 1999. On this date the euro was duly launched by eleven of the then fifteen member states of the EU. It remained an accounting currency until 1 January 2002, when euro notes and coins were issued and national currencies began to phase out in the eurozone, which by then consisted of twelve member states. The eurozone has since grown to sixteen countries, the most recent being Slovakia which joined on 1 January 2009.
All other EU member states, except Denmark and the United Kingdom, are legally bound to join the euro[121] when the convergence criteria are met, however only a few countries have set target dates for accession. Sweden has circumvented the requirement to join the euro by not meeting the membership criteria.[122]
The euro is designed to help build a single market by, for example: easing travel of citizens and goods, eliminating exchange rate problems, providing price transparency, creating a single financial market, price stability and low interest rates, and providing a currency used internationally and protected against shocks by the large amount of internal trade within the eurozone. It is also intended as a political symbol of integration and stimulus for more.[106] Since its launch the euro has become the second reserve currency in the world with a quarter of foreign exchanges reserves being in euro.[123]
The euro, and the monetary policies of those who have adopted it in agreement with the EU, are under the control of the European Central Bank (ECB).[124] There are eleven other currencies used in the EU[106] with all but two legally obliged to be switched to the euro. A number of other countries outside the EU, such as Montenegro, use the euro without formal agreement with the ECB.[31]
The total expenditure of the European Union in 2006[125]
The twenty-seven member state EU had an agreed budget of €120.7 billion for the year 2007 and €864.3 billion for the period 2007–2013,[126] representing 1.10% and 1.05% of the EU-27's GNI forecast for the respective periods. By comparison, the United Kingdom's expenditure for 2004 was estimated to be €759 billion, and France was estimated to have spent €801 billion. In 1960, the budget of the then European Economic Community was 0.03% of GDP.[127]
In the 2006 budget, the largest single expenditure item was agriculture with around 46.7% of the total budget.[128] Next came structural and cohesion funds with approximately 30.4% of the total.[128] Internal policies took up around 8.5%. Administration accounted for around 6.3%. External actions, the pre-accession strategy, compensations and reserves brought up the rear with approximately 4.9%, 2.1%, 1% and 0.1% respectively.[128]
The Competition Commissioner, currently Joaquín Almunia, is one of the most powerful positions in the Commission, notable for the ability to affect the commercial interests of trans-national corporations.[131] For example, in 2001 the Commission for the first time prevented a merger between two companies based in the United States (GE and Honeywell) which had already been approved by their national authority.[132] Another high profile case against Microsoft, resulted in the Commission fining Microsoft over €777 million following nine years of legal action.[133]
In negotiations on the Treaty of Lisbon, French PresidentNicolas Sarkozy succeeded in removing the words "free and undistorted competition" from the treaties. However, the requirement is maintained in an annex and it is unclear whether this will have any practical effect on EU policy.[134]
File:Bodega Granbazan.jpgEU farms are supported by the CAP, the largest budgetary expenditure. (Vineyard in Spain)
The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is one of the oldest policies of the European Community, and was one of its core aims.[135] The policy has the objectives of increasing agricultural production, providing certainty in food supplies, ensuring a high quality of life for farmers, stabilising markets, and ensuring reasonable prices for consumers.[136] It was, until recently, operated by a system of subsidies and market intervention. Until the 1990s, the policy accounted for over 60% of the then European Community's annual budget, and still accounts for around 35%.[135]
The policy's price controls and market interventions led to considerable overproduction, resulting in so-called butter mountains and wine lakes. These were intervention stores of produce bought up by the Community to maintain minimum price levels. In order to dispose of surplus stores, they were often sold on the world market at prices considerably below Community guaranteed prices, or farmers were offered subsidies (amounting to the difference between the Community and world prices) to export their produce outside the Community. This system has been criticised for under-cutting farmers in the developing world.[137]
The overproduction has also been criticised for encouraging environmentally unfriendly intensive farming methods.[137] Supporters of CAP say that the economic support which it gives to farmers provides them with a reasonable standard of living, in what would otherwise be an economically unviable way of life. However, the EU's small farmers receive only 8% of CAP's available subsidies.[137]
Since the beginning of the 1990s, the CAP has been subject to a series of reforms. Initially these reforms included the introduction of set-aside in 1988, where a proportion of farm land was deliberately withdrawn from production, milk quotas (by the McSharry reforms in 1992) and, more recently, the 'de-coupling' (or disassociation) of the money farmers receive from the EU and the amount they produce (by the Fischler reforms in 2004). Agriculture expenditure will move away from subsidy payments linked to specific produce, toward direct payments based on farm size. This is intended to allow the market to dictate production levels, while maintaining agricultural income levels.[135] One of these reforms entailed the abolition of the EU's sugar regime, which previously divided the sugar market between member states and certain African-Caribbean nations with a privileged relationship with the EU.[138]
In 2006, the 27 member states of the EU had a gross inland energy consumption of 1,825 million tonnes of oil equivalent (toe).[140] Around 46% of the energy consumed was produced within the member states while 54% was imported.[140] In these statistics, nuclear energy is treated as primary energy produced in the EU, regardless of the source of the uranium, of which less than 3% is produced in the EU.[141]
The EU has had legislative power in the area of energy policy for most of its existence; this has its roots in the original European Coal and Steel Community. The introduction of a mandatory and comprehensive European energy policy was approved at the meeting of the European Council in October 2005, and the first draft policy was published in January 2007.[142]
The Commission has five key points in its energy policy: increase competition in the internal market, encourage investment and boost interconnections between electricity grids; diversify energy resources with better systems to respond to a crisis; establish a new treaty framework for energy co-operation with Russia while improving relations with energy-rich states in Central Asia[143] and North Africa; use existing energy supplies more efficiently while increasing use of renewable energy; and finally increase funding for new energy technologies.[142]
The developing European transport policies will increase the pressure on the environment in many regions by the increased transport network. In the pre-2004 EU members, the major problem in transport deals with congestion and pollution. After the recent enlargement, the new states that joined since 2004 added the problem of solving accessibility to the transport agenda.[148] The Polish road network in particular was in poor condition: at Poland's accession to the EU, 4,600 roads needed to be upgraded to EU standards, demanding approximately €17 billion.[149]
Another infrastructure project is the Galileo positioning system. Galileo is a proposed Global Navigation Satellite System, to be built by the EU and launched by the European Space Agency (ESA), and is to be operational by 2010. The Galileo project was launched partly to reduce the EU's dependency on the US-operated Global Positioning System, but also to give more complete global coverage and allow for far greater accuracy, given the aged nature of the GPS system.[150] It has been criticised by some due to costs, delays, and their perception of redundancy given the existence of the GPS system.[151]
The REACH regulation was a piece of EU legislation designed to ensure that 30,000 chemicals in daily use are tested for their safety.[158] In 2006, toxic waste spill off the coast of Côte d'Ivoire, from a European ship, prompted the Commission to look into legislation regarding toxic waste. With members such as Spain now having criminal laws against shipping toxic waste, the Commission proposed to create criminal sentences for "ecological crimes". Although the Commission's right to propose criminal law was contested, it was confirmed in this case by the Court of Justice.[159]
In 2007, member states agreed that the EU is to use 20% renewable energy in the future and that is has to reduce carbon dioxideemissions in 2020 by at least 20% compared to 1990 levels.[160] This includes measures that in 2020, one-tenth of all cars and trucks in EU 27 should be running on biofuels. This is considered to be one of the most ambitious moves of an important industrialised region to fight global warming.[161]
At the 2007 United Nations Climate Change Conference, dealing with the successor to the Kyoto Protocol, the EU has proposed at 50% cut in greenhouse gases by 2050.[162] The EU's attempts to cut its carbon footprint appear to have also been aided by an expansion of Europe's forests which, between 1990 and 2005, grew 10% in western Europe and 15% in Eastern Europe. During this period they soaked up 126 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, equivalent to 11% of EU emissions from human activities.[163]
Renewable energy is one priority in transnational research activities such as the FP7.
Education and science are areas where the EU's role is limited to supporting national governments. In education, the policy was mainly developed in the 1980s in programmes supporting exchanges and mobility. The most visible of these has been the ERASMUS programme, a university exchange programme which began in 1987. In its first 20 years it has supported international exchange opportunities for well over 1.5 million university and college students and has become a symbol of European student life.[164]
There are now similar programmes for school pupils and teachers, for trainees in vocational education and training, and for adult learners in the Lifelong Learning Programme 2007–2013. These programmes are designed to encourage a wider knowledge of other countries and to spread good practices in the education and training fields across the EU.[165] Through its support of the Bologna process the EU is supporting comparable standards and compatible degrees across Europe.
Scientific development is facilitated through the EU's Framework Programmes, the first of which started in 1984. The aims of EU policy in this area are to co-ordinate and stimulate research. The independent European Research Council allocates EU funds to European or national research projects.[166] The Seventh Framework Programme (FP7) deals in a number of areas, for example energy where it aims to develop a diverse mix of renewable energy for the environment and to reduce dependence on imported fuels.[167]
Since January 2000 the European Commission has set its sights on a more ambitious objective, known as the European Research Area, and has extensively funded research in a few key areas. This has the support of all member states, and extends the existing financing structure of the frameworks. It aims to focus on co-ordination, sharing knowledge, ensuring mobility of researchers around Europe, improving conditions for researchers and encouraging links with business and industry as well as removing any legal and administrative barriers.[168]
The EU is involved with six other countries to develop ITER, a fusionreactor which will be built in the EU at Cadarache. ITER builds on the previous project, Joint European Torus, which is currently the largest nuclear fusion reactor in the world.[169] The Commission foresees this technology to be generating energy in the EU by 2050.[142]
It has observer status within CERN, there are various agreements with ESA and there is collaboration with ESO.[170] These organisations are not under the framework of the EU, but membership heavily overlaps between them.
The combined population of all 27 member states has been forecast at 501,259,840 as of January 2010.[3][172]
The EU's population is 7.3% of the world total, yet the EU covers just 3% of the Earth's land, amounting to a population density of 113 km2 (44 sq mi) making the EU one of the most densely populated regions of the world. One third of EU citizens live in cities of over a million people, rising to 80% living in urban areas generally.[173] The EU is home to more global cities than any other region in the world.[174] It contains 16 cities with populations of over one million.
German is the most widely spoken mother tongue (about 88.7 million people as of 2006), followed by English, Italian and French. English is by far the most spoken foreign language at over half (51%) of the population, with German and French following. 56% of European citizens are able to engage in a conversation in a language other than their mother tongue.[184] Most official languages of the EU belong to the Indo-Europeanlanguage family, except Estonian, Finnish, and Hungarian, which belong to the Uralic language family, and Maltese, which is an Afroasiatic language. Most EU official languages are written in the Latin alphabet except Bulgarian, written in Cyrillic, and Greek, written in the Greek alphabet.[185]
Besides the 23 official languages, there are about 150 regional and minority languages, spoken by up to 50 million people.[185] Of these, only the Spanish regional languages (Catalan/Valencian, Galician, and the non-Indo-European Basque), Scottish Gaelic and Welsh[186] can be used by citizens in communication with the main European institutions.[187] Although EU programmes can support regional and minority languages, the protection of linguistic rights is a matter for the individual member states. Though the population of Romani speakers is triple[188] that of Welsh speakers (despite the Porajmos) and the history of Romani people in Europe is seven centuries long, their language is not official in any EU state.
Besides the many regional languages, a broad variety of languages from other parts of the world are spoken by immigrant communities in the member states: Turkish, Maghrebi Arabic, Russian, Urdu, Bengali, Hindi, Tamil, Ukrainian, Punjabi and Balkan languages are spoken in many parts of the EU. Many older immigrant communities are bilingual, being fluent in both the local (EU) language and in that of their ancestral community. Migrant languages have no formal status or recognition in the EU or in the EU countries, although from 2007 they are eligible for support from the language teaching section of the EU's Lifelong Learning Programme 2007–2013.[185]
Percentage of Europeans in each member state who believe in "a God"[189]
The EU is a secular body with no formal connection with any religion, but Article 17 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union recognises the "status under national law of churches and religious associations" as well as that of "philosophical and non-confessional organisations".[190] The preamble to the Treaty on European Union mentions the "cultural, religious and humanist inheritance of Europe".[190] Discussion over the draft texts of the European Constitution and later the Treaty of Lisbon included proposals to mention Christianity or God, or both, in the preamble of the text, but the idea faced opposition and was dropped.[191] This emphasis on Christianity stems from it being by far the largest religion in Europe as well as a cultural marker for, and vastly influential on, Europe and Western/European civilization. Other significant religions present in the EU are Islam and Judaism.
Eurostat's Eurobarometeropinion polls show that in 2005 the majority of EU citizens (52%) believed in a god, and that a majority had some form of belief system, with 21% seeing it as important. Many countries have experienced falling church attendance and membership in recent years.[194] The 2005 Eurobarometer showed that of the European citizens (of the 25 members at that time), 52% believed in a god, 27% in "some sort of spirit or life force", and 18% had no form of belief. The countries where the fewest people reported a religious belief were the Czech Republic (19%) and Estonia (16%).[195]
The most religious countries are Malta (95%; predominantly Roman Catholic), and Cyprus and Romania both with about 90% of the citizens believing in God (both predominantly Eastern Orthodox). Across the EU, belief was higher among women, increased with age, those with religious upbringing, those who left school at 15 with a basic education, and those "positioning themselves on the right of the political scale (57%)."[195]
In addition, the EU gives grants to cultural projects (totalling 233 in 2004) and has launched a Web portal dedicated to Europe and culture, responding to the European Council's expressed desire to see the Commission and the member states "promote the networking of cultural information to enable all citizens to access European cultural content by the most advanced technological means".[201]
Sport is mainly the responsibility of individual member states or other international organisations rather than that of the EU. However, some EU policies have had an impact on sport, such as the free movement of workers which was at the core of the Bosman ruling, which prohibited national football leagues from imposing quotas on foreign players with European citizenship.[202] Under the Treaty of Lisbon sports were given a special status which exempted this sector from many of the EU's economic rules. This followed lobbying by governing organisations such as the International Olympic Committee and FIFA, due to objections over the applications of free market principles to sport which led to an increasing gap between rich and poor clubs.[203]
^ abCraig, Paul (2007). EU Law: Text, Cases and Materials (4th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 15. ISBN978-0-19-927389-8. ((cite book)): Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help); "Treaty of Maastricht on European Union". Activities of the European Union. Europa web portal. Retrieved 20 October 2007.
^ ab"European Union". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 11 October 2009. The evolution of the European Union (EU) from a regional economic agreement among six neighbouring states in 1951 to today's supranational organisation of 27 countries across the European continent stands as an unprecedented phenomenon in the annals of history....
^Anneli Albi (2005). "Implications of the European constitution". EU enlargement and the constitutions of Central and Eastern Europe. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 2008. p. 204. ISBN9067042854: "In practical terms, the EU is perhaps still best characterised as a ‘supranational organisationsui generis’: this term has proved relatively uncontroversial in respect of national constitutional sensitivities, being at the same time capable of embracing new facets of integration."((cite book)): CS1 maint: postscript (link)
^ abSee Article 288 (ex Article 249 TEC) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. [2]
^According to the principle of Direct Effect first invoked in the Court of Justice's decision in Van Gend en Loos v. Nederlanse Administratie Der Belastingen, Eur-Lex (European Court of Justice 1963).. See: Craig and de Búrca, ch. 5.
^According to the principle of Supremacy as established by the ECJ in Case 6/64, Falminio Costa v. ENEL [1964] ECR 585. See Craig and de Búrca, ch. 7. See also: Factortame Ltd. v. Secretary of State for Transport (No. 2) [1991] 1 AC 603, Solange II (Re Wuensche Handelsgesellschaft, BVerfG decision of 22 Oct. 1986 [1987] 3 CMLR 225,265) and Frontini v. Ministero delle Finanze [1974] 2 CMLR 372; Raoul George Nicolo [1990] 1 CMLR 173.
^See: Case 34/73, Variola v. Amministrazione delle Finanze[1973] ECR 981.
^To do otherwise would require the drafting of legislation which would have to cope with the frequently divergent legal systems and administrative systems of all of the now 27 member states. See Craig and de Búrca, p. 115
^For a good example of this see Title IV of Part Three of the Treaty of Rome, Council Decision (2004/927/EC) of 22 December 2004 providing for certain areas covered by Title IV of Part Three of the Treaty establishing the European Community to be governed by the procedure laid down in Article 251 of that Treaty and the Protocol on Article 67 of the Treaty establishing the European Community attached to the Nice Treaty.
^Case 11/70, Internationale Handelsgesellschaft v. Einfuhr und Vorratstelle für Getreide und Futtermittel; Article 6(2) of the Maastrict Treaty (as amended).
^It is effectively treated as one of the Copenhagen criteria [3]. It should be noted that this is a political and not a legal requirement for membership.
^The European Convention on Human Rights is currently only open to members of the Council of Europe (Article 59.1 of the Convention) [4], and only states may become member of the Council of Europe (Article 4 of the Statute of the Council of Europe) [5].
^Opinion (2/92) of the European Court of Justice on "Accession by the Community to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms" 1996 E.C.R. I-1759 (in French), ruled that the European Community did not have the competence to accede to the ECHR.
^Wilkinson, Paul. International Relations. Oxford University Press. p. 100. The EU states have never felt the need to make the organization into a powerful military alliance. They already have NATO to undertake that task.
^Laursen, Finn (29 May-1 June 1997). "The EU 'neutrals,' the CFSP and defence policy". Biennial Conference of the European Union Studies Association. Seattle, WA.: University of Pittsburgh. p. 27. Retrieved 2009-07-24. ((cite conference)): Check date values in: |date= (help); Unknown parameter |booktitle= ignored (|book-title= suggested) (help)
^Council Directive 2000/43/EC of 29 June 2000 implementing the principle of equal treatment between persons irrespective of racial or ethnic origin (OJ L 180, 19.7.2000, p. 22–26); Council Directive 2000/78/EC of 27 November 2000 establishing a general framework for equal treatment in employment and occupation (OJ L 303, 2.12.2000, p. 16–22).
^David Smith., David (1999). Will Europe work?. London: Profile Books. ISBN1861971028. Archived from the original on 2007-10-21. Retrieved 13 March 2009. ((cite book)): Unknown parameter |flast1= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |origurl= ignored (help)
^Note that although almost all Uranium is imported, Nuclear Power is considered primary energy produced in the EU
^ ab"Energy consumption and production: EU27 energy dependence rate at 54% in 2006: Energy consumption stable"(PDF) (Press release). Eurostat. 10 July 2008. Retrieved 12 September 2008.
In the EU27, gross inland energy consumption was 1 825 million tonnes of oil equivalent (toe) in 2006, stable compared with 2005, while energy production decreased by 2.3% to 871 mn toe...
Gross inland consumption is defined as primary production plus imports, recovered products and stock change, less exports and fuel supply to maritime bunkers (for seagoing ships of all flags)...
A tonne of oil equivalent (toe) is a standardised unit defined on the basis of one tonne of oil having a net calorific value of 41.868 Gigajoules.((cite press release)): line feed character in |quote= at position 6 (help)
^ ab"EU supply and demand for nuclear fuels". Euratom Supply Agency — Annual Report 2007(PDF). Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. 2008. p. 22. ISBN978-92-79-09437-8. Retrieved 1 March 2009. European uranium mining supplied just below 3 % of the total EU needs, coming from the Czech Republic and Romania (a total of 526 tU). Nuclear energy and renewable energy are treated differently from oil, gas , and coal in this respect.
^LUZ figures all for 2004 "Data that can be accessed". Urban Audit. European Commission, Directorate-General Regional Policy, Unit D2 Urban Actions. Retrieved 31 July 2008.
Urban areas: all figures for 2005 (est.):
"Pays, villes d'Europe et du monde". InsInstitut National de la Statistiqueet des Études Économiques. Retrieved 6 February 2008.
City limits figures:
London as at 1 July 2006:
"Mid-2006 Population Estimates"(CSV). Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 6 February 2008.
Berlin as at September 2007:
"Bevölkerung Berlin". Statistische Ämter des Bundes und der Länder (German statistics office). Retrieved 6 February 2008.
Madrid as at 1 january 2007:
"Cifras de población". Instituto Nacional de Estadística (Spanish national statistics office). Retrieved 6 February 2008.
Paris as at 1 July 2005:
"Résultats des enquêtes annuelles de recensement de 2004 à 2007 pour les grandes villes". Institut National de la Statistique
et des Études Économiques (French national institute for statistics). Retrieved 6 February 2008. ((cite web)): line feed character in |publisher= at position 36 (help)
Rome as at 31 December 2007
"Bilancio demografico Anno 2007". ISTAT (Italian national statistics office). Retrieved 6 February 2008.
^Jewish population figures may be unreliable. Sergio DellaPergola. "World Jewish Population (2002)". American Jewish Year Book. The Jewish Agency for Israel. Retrieved 3 May 2007.
Bindi, Federiga, ed. The Foreign Policy of the European Union: Assessing Europe's Role in the World (Brookings Institution Press; 2010) 367 pages; $E.U.'s foreign-policy mechanisms and foreign relations, including with its eastern neighbors.
Kaiser, Wolfram. Christian Democracy and the Origins of European Union (2007)
ed. by John Peterson ... (2006). Peterson, John; Shackleton, Michael (eds.). The Institutions of the European Union (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN0-19-870052-0. ((cite book)): |author= has generic name (help)
McCormick, John. The European Union: Politics and Policies (2007)
Pinder, John, and Simon Usherwood. The European Union: A Very Short Introduction (2008) excerpt and text search
Rifkin, Jeremy (2004). The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream. Jeremy P. Tarcher. ISBN978-1-58542-345-3. ((cite book)): More than one of |author= and |last1= specified (help)
Smith, Charles (2007). International Trade and Globalisation, 3rd edition. Stocksfield: Anforme. ISBN1-905504-10-1. ((cite book)): Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
Staab, Andreas. The European Union Explained: Institutions, Actors, Global Impact (2008) excerpt and text search
Steiner, Josephine; Woods, Lorna; Twigg-Flesner, Christian (2006). EU Law (9th ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0-19-927959-3. ((cite book)): More than one of |author= and |last1= specified (help)
Yesilada, Birol A. and David M. Wood. The Emerging European Union (5th ed. 2009)
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