1 - People, History, Stats

Interactive EU Tests & Preparatory Material www.eutests.eu

People – History – Statistics – and more… I. History of the European integration 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 Founding fathers and other important personalities • • • • •

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

Interactive EU Tests & Preparatory Material www.eutests.eu

• • • • • •

Winston Churchill – British politician, statesman, early supporter of European unity, founder of the Council of Europe General Charles de Gaulle – French military officer, politician, statesman, founder of the Fifth French Republic, supporter of the anti-federalist „Europe of nations” idea of integration Walter Hallstein – West German diplomat, first President of the European Commisson Altiero Spinelli – Italian politician, Federalist thinker, leader of the Communist group in the European Parliament, author of a significant report on European political union in 1984 Jacques Delors – French politician, President of the European Commission from 1985 to 1995, father of the single market and the single currency Valéry Giscard d’Estaing – French President, President of the European Convention that wrote the European Consitution

Presidents of the European Commission • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Jean Monnet, High Authority President (FR) – 1952-1955 René Mayer, High Authority President (FR) – 1955-1958 Walter Hallstein (DE) – 1958-1967 Jean Rey (BE) – 1967-1970 Franco Malfatti (IT) – 1970-1972 Sicco Mansholt (NL) – 1972 Francois-Xavier Ortoli (FR) – 1973-1977 Roy Jenkins (UK) – 1977-1981 Gaston Thorn (LU) – 1981-1985 Jacques Delors (FR) – 1985-1995 Jacques Santer (LU) – 1995-1999 Manuel Marin (ES) – acting: March 1999 – September 1999 Romano Prodi (IT) – 1999-2004 José Manuel Barroso (PT) – 2004-

Presidents of the European Parliament • • • • • •

Paul Henry Spaak – 1952-1954 … Nicole Fontaine – 1999-2002 Pat Cox – 2002-2004 Josep Borrell Fontelles (ES) – 2004-2007 Hans-Gert Pöttering (DE)– 2007-2009

Actual presidents of other EU institutions and bodies and other important people • • •

Vassilios Skouris – President of the European Court of Justice Bo Vesterdorf – President of the Court of First Instance Jean-Claude Trichet - President of the European Central Bank

Interactive EU Tests & Preparatory Material www.eutests.eu

• • • •

Hubert Weber - President of the European Court of Auditors Philippe Maystadt - President of the European Investment Bank Nikoforos Diamandouros - the European Ombudsman Javier Solana - High Representative for CFSP / Secretary General of the Council / Mr. Europe

III. Portfolio and nationality of Commissioners Name José Manuel Barroso Margot Wallström Günter Verheugen Jacques Barrot Siim Kallas Franco Frattini Viviane Reding Stavros Dimas Joaquín Almunia Danuta Hübner Joe Borg Dalia Grybauskaite Janez Potocnik Jan Figel Markos Kyprianou Olli Rehn Louis Michel László Kovács Neelie Kroes Mariann Fischer Boel Benita FerreroWaldner Charlie McCreevy Vladimir Spidla Peter Mandelson Andris Piebalgs Meglena Kuneva Leonard Orban

Portfolio President Vice-President; Institutional Relations and Communication Strategy Vice-President; Enterprise and Industry Vice-President; Transport Vice-President; Administrative Affairs, Audit and Anti-Fraud Vice-President; Justice, Freedom and Security Information Society and Media Environment Economic and Monetary Affairs Regional Policy Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Financial Programming and Budget Science and Research Education, Training, Culture and Multilingualism Health and Consumer Protection Enlargement Development and Humanitarian Aid Taxation and Customs Union Competition Agriculture and Rural Development External Relations and European Neighbourhood Policy Internal Market and Services Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities Trade Energy Consumer protection Multilingualism

Nationality Portugal Sweden Germany France Estonia Italy Luxembourg Greece Spain Poland Malta Lithuania Slovenia Slovakia Cyprus Finland Belgium Hungary Netherlands Denmark Austria Ireland Czech Republic UK Latvia Bulgaria Romania

Interactive EU Tests & Preparatory Material www.eutests.eu

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.

V. The EU budget in 2005 (app. 119 billion euros in total) Expenditure (in % of total expenditure) Agriculture (42%) Structural actions (35%, of which structural funds 31%, cohesion fund 4%) Internal policies (7%) External actions (4%)

Administration (5%) Pre-accession aid (3%)

Revenue (in % of total revenues) Resource based on gross national income (73%) VAT-based resource (14%) Traditional own resources: customs duties, agricultural duties and sugar levies (12%) Other revenues: tax and other deductions from staff remunerations, bank interest, contributions from non-member countries to certain Community programmes (1%)

Interactive EU Tests & Preparatory Material www.eutests.eu

VI. Memberships European Free Trade Association (4 Members): Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland 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

Interactive EU Tests & Preparatory Material www.eutests.eu VII. Statistics on the European Union (first three data in brackets) Member State

Capital

Population (million) (2002)

Austria Belgium Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Estonia Finland France Germany Greece Hungary Ireland Italy Latvia Lithuania Luxembourg Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal Slovakia Slovenia Spain Sweden United Kingdom EU-25

Vienna Brussels Nicosia Prague Copenhagen Tallinn Helsinki Paris Berlin Athens Budapest Dublin Rome Riga Vilnius Luxembourg Valletta Amsterdam Warsaw Lisbon Bratislava Ljubljana Madrid Stockholm London

Population density (people/km [2]) (2002) 96 330 [3] 90 130

Inflation rate (2004)

8,1 10,3 0,8 10,3

Area (1000 km [2]) (2002) 84 31 9 79

5,4 1,4 5,2 59,3 [3] 82,4 [1] 10,6 10,2 3,9 58,0 2,4 3,5 0,4 0,4 16,1 38,6 10,3 5,4 2,0 40,4 8,9 60,1 [2]

43 45 337 544 [1] 357 132 93 70 301 65 65 3 0,3 41 313 92 49 20 505 [2] 411 [3] 244

454,6

3929

GDP growth rate (2004) 2,0 2,9 3,7 4,0

Unemployment rate (2004)

Number of votes in Council

Number of members of Parliament

2,0 1,9 1,9 2,6

GDP per capita in PPS (2002) 26 700 25 100 18 500 14 600

4,5 8,0 5,5 8,3

10 12 4 12

18 24 6 24

126 31 15 109 231 80 110 56 193 37 54 133 1333 [1] 393 [2] 123 112 110 100 80 22 246

0,9 [2] 3,0 0,1 [1] 2,3 1,8 3,0 6,8 2,3 2,3 6,2 1,1 3,2 2,7 1,4 3,6 2,5 7,4 3,6 3,1 1,0 [3] 1,3

28 300 [3] 10 900 24 600 23 900 24 800 16 500 12 600 28 400 [2] 25 000 7 900 8 800 45 000 [1] 13 300 26 600 9 000 17 300 12 000 17 000 19 900 24 900 24 200

2,4 6,2 [3] 3,7 2,3 1,6 4,2 4,1 5,4 1,2 8,5 [1] 6,7 [2] 4,5 1,0 1,4 5,3 1,0 5,5 4,6 3,1 3,6 3,1

5,1 8,3 8,8 9,7 9,5 10,2 6,2 4,3 [1] 8,0 9,6 9,3 4,4 [2] 7,0 4,8 18,3 7,1 16,8 5,8 10,4 6,4 4,6 [3]

7 4 7 29 [1] 29 [1] 12 12 7 29 [1] 4 7 4 3 13 [3] 27 [2] 12 7 4 27 [2] 10 29 [1]

14 6 14 78 [2] 99 [1] 24 24 13 78 [2] 9 13 6 5 27 54 [3] 24 14 7 54 [3] 19 78 [2]

174

2,1

18 660

2,3

8,9

321

732

Interactive EU Tests & Preparatory Material www.eutests.eu Bulgaria Romania Turkey

Sofia Bucharest Ankara

7,9 22,4 69,2

111 238 775

71 94 89

6,1 11,9 N/A

7 700 6 200 6 200

5,6 8,3 7,7

N/A 6,2 N/A

10 14 N/A

17 33 N/A

Interactive EU Tests & Preparatory Material www.eutests.eu

VIII. Current and upcoming EU presidencies 2005 – first semester: Luxembourg, second semester: UK 2006 – first semester: Austria, second semester: Finland 2007 – first semester: Germany, second semester: Portugal IX. European Years 2005 – European Year of Citizenship through Education 2006 – European Year of Workers’ Mobility 2007 - European Year of Equal Opportunities for All X. Cultural Capitals of Europe 2005 – Cork, IE 2006 - Patras, EL 2007 - Luxembourg, LU and Sibiu, RO 2008 - Liverpool, UK and Stavanger, NO XI. European prizes 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