European Union
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| Introduction - European Union: | Country | European Union | | Preliminary statement | The evolution of the European Union (EU) from a regional economic agreement among six neighboring states in 1951 to todays supranational organization of 27 countries across the European continent stands as an unprecedented phenomenon in the annals of history. Dynastic unions for territorial consolidation were long the norm in Europe. On a few occasions even country-level unions were arranged - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Austro-Hungarian Empire were examples - but for such a large number of nation-states to cede some of their sovereignty to an overarching entity is truly unique. Although the EU is not a federation in the strict sense, it is far more than a free-trade association such as ASEAN, NAFTA, or Mercosur, and it has many of the attributes associated with independent nations: its own flag, anthem, founding date, and currency, as well as an incipient common foreign and security policy in its dealings with other nations. In the future, many of these nation-like characteristics are likely to be expanded. Thus, inclusion of basic intelligence on the EU has been deemed appropriate as a new, separate entity in The World Factbook. However, because of the EUs special status, this description is placed after the regular country entries. | | Background | Following the two devastating World Wars of the first half of the 20th century, a number of European leaders in the late 1940s became convinced that the only way to establish a lasting peace was to unite the two chief belligerent nations - France and Germany - both economically and politically. In 1950, the French Foreign Minister Robert SCHUMAN proposed an eventual union of all Europe, the first step of which would be the integration of the coal and steel industries of Western Europe. The following year the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was set up when six members, Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands, signed the Treaty of Paris.
The ECSC was so successful that within a few years the decision was made to integrate other parts of the countries economies. In 1957, the Treaties of Rome created the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom), and the six member states undertook to eliminate trade barriers among themselves by forming a common market. In 1967, the institutions of all three communities were formally merged into the European Community (EC), creating a single Commission, a single Council of Ministers, and the European Parliament. Members of the European Parliament were initially selected by national parliaments, but in 1979 the first direct elections were undertaken and they have been held every five years since.
In 1973, the first enlargement of the EC took place with the addition of Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The 1980s saw further membership expansion with Greece joining in 1981 and Spain and Portugal in 1986. The 1992 Treaty of Maastricht laid the basis for further forms of cooperation in foreign and defense policy, in judicial and internal affairs, and in the creation of an economic and monetary union - including a common currency. This further integration created the European Union (EU). In 1995, Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU, raising the membership total to 15.
A new currency, the euro, was launched in world money markets on 1 January 1999; it became the unit of exchange for all of the EU states except the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Denmark. In 2002, citizens of the 12 euro-area countries began using the euro banknotes and coins. Ten new countries joined the EU in 2004 - Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia - and in 2007 Bulgaria and Romania joined, bringing the current membership to 27. In order to ensure that the EU can continue to function efficiently with an expanded membership, the Treaty of Nice (in force as of 1 February 2003) set forth rules streamlining the size and procedures of EU institutions. An effort to establish an EU constitution, begun in October 2004, failed to attain unanimous ratification. A new effort, undertaken in June 2007, calls for the creation of an Intergovernmental Conference to form a political agreement, known as the Reform Treaty, which is to serve as a constitution. Unlike the constitution, however, the Reform Treaty would amend existing treaties rather than replace them. | |
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| Location - European Union: | Location | Europe between the North Atlantic Ocean in the west and Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine to the east | | Geographic coordinates | 46 00 N, 2 00 E | | Map references | Europe | | Area | total: 4,324,782 sq km | | Area comparative | less than one-half the size of the US | | Land boundaries | total: 12,440.8 km
border countries: Albania 282 km, Andorra 120.3 km, Belarus 1,050 km, Croatia 999 km, Holy See 3.2 km, Liechtenstein 34.9 km, Macedonia 394 km, Moldova 450 km, Monaco 4.4 km, Norway 2,348 km, Russia 2,257 km, San Marino 39 km, Serbia 945 km, Switzerland 1,811 km, Turkey 446 km, Ukraine 1,257 km
note: data for European Continent only | | Coastline | 65,992.9 km | | Maritime claims | NA | | Climate | cold temperate; potentially subarctic in the north to temperate; mild wet winters; hot dry summers in the south | | Terrain | fairly flat along the Baltic and Atlantic coast; mountainous in the central and southern areas | | Elevation extremes | lowest point: Lammefjord, Denmark -7 m; Zuidplaspolder, Netherlands -7 m
highest point: Mont Blanc 4,807 m; note - situated on the border between France and Italy | | Natural resources | iron ore, natural gas, petroleum, coal, copper, lead, zinc, bauxite, uranium, potash, salt, hydropower, arable land, timber, fish | | Land use | arable land: NA%
permanent crops: NA%
other: NA% | | Irrigated land | 168,050 sq km (2003 est.) | | Natural hazards | flooding along coasts; avalanches in mountainous area; earthquakes in the south; volcanic eruptions in Italy; periodic droughts in Spain; ice floes in the Baltic | | Environment current issues | NA | | Environment international agreements | party to: Air Pollution, Air Pollution-Nitrogen Oxides, Air Pollution-Persistent Organic Pollutants, Air Pollution-Sulphur 94, Antarctic-Marine Living Resources, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Climate Change-Kyoto Protocol, Desertification, Hazardous Wastes, Law of the Sea, Ozone Layer Protection, Tropical Timber 82, Tropical Timber 94
signed but not ratified: Air Pollution-Volatile Organic Compounds | |
| People - European Union: | Population | 490,426,060 (July 2007 est.) | | Age structure | 0-14 years: 15.72% (male 37,208,905/female 35,254,445)
15-64 years: 67.16% (male 155,807,769/female 153,690,235)
65 years and over: 17.11% (male 32,592,595/female 46,273,197) (2007 est.) | | Median age | NA | | Population growth rate | 0.16% (2007 est.) | | Birth rate | 10 births/1,000 population (2007 est.) | | Death rate | 10 deaths/1,000 population (2007 est.) | | Net migration rate | 1.6 migrant(s)/1,000 population (2007 est.) | | Sex ratio | at birth: NA
under 15 years: 1.06 male(s)/female
15-64 years: 1.01 male(s)/female
65 years and over: 0.69 male(s)/female
total population: 0.96 male(s)/female (2007 est.) | | Infant mortality rate | total: 4.8 deaths/1,000 live births male: 5.3 deaths/1,000 live births female: 4.3 deaths/1,000 live births (2007 est.) | | Life expectancy at birth | total population: 78.7 years male: 75.6 years female: 82 years (2007 est.) | | Total fertility rate | 1.5 children born/woman (2007 est.) | | Hiv aids adult prevalence rate | NA | | Hiv aids people living with hiv aids | NA | | Hiv aids deaths | NA | | Union name | conventional long form: European Union abbreviation: EU | | Political structure | a hybrid intergovernmental and supranational organization | | Religions | Roman Catholic, Protestant, Orthodox, Muslim, Jewish | | Languages | Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Gaelic, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish; note - only official languages are listed | | Member states | 27 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, UK; note - Canary Islands (Spain), Azores and Madeira (Portugal), French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, and Reunion (France) are sometimes listed separately even though they are legally a part of Spain, Portugal, and France; candidate countries: Croatia, Macedonia, Turkey | |
| Government - European Union: | Capital | name: Brussels (Belgium), Strasbourg (France), Luxembourg
geographic coordinates: 50 50 N, 4 20 E
time difference: UTC+1 (6 hours ahead of Washington, DC during Standard Time)
daylight saving time: +1hr, begins last Sunday in March; ends last Sunday in October
note: the Council of the European Union meets in Brussels, Belgium, the European Parliament meets in Brussels and Strasbourg, France, and the Court of Justice of the European Communities meets in Luxembourg | | Independence | 7 February 1992 (Maastricht Treaty signed establishing the EU); 1 November 1993 (Maastricht Treaty entered into force) | | National holiday | Europe Day 9 May (1950); note - a Union-wide holiday, the day that Robert SCHUMAN proposed the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community to achieve an organized Europe | | Constitution | based on a series of treaties: the Treaty of Paris, which set up the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) in 1951; the Treaties of Rome, which set up the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (Euratom) in 1957; the Single European Act in 1986; the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht) in 1992; the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997; and the Treaty of Nice in 2003; note - a new draft Constitutional Treaty, signed on 29 October 2004 in Rome, gave member states two years for ratification either by parliamentary vote or national referendum before it was scheduled to take effect on 1 November 2006; defeat in French and Dutch referenda in May-June 2005 dealt a severe setback to the ratification process; in June 2007, the European Council agreed on a clear and concise mandate for an Intergovernmental Conference to form a political agreement and put it into legal form; this agreement, known as the Reform Treaty, is to serve as a constitution and will be presented to the European Council in October 2007, in order to begin the ratification process | | Legal system | comparable to the legal systems of member states; first supranational law system | | Suffrage | 18 years of age; universal | | Executive branch | chief of union: President of the European Commission Jose Manuel DURAO BARROSO (since 22 November 2004)
cabinet: European Commission (composed of 27 members, one from each member country; each commissioner responsible for one or more policy areas)
elections: the president of the European Commission is designated by member governments and is confirmed by the European Parliament; working from member state recommendations, the Commission president then assembles a college of Commission members; the European Parliament confirms the entire Commission for a five-year term; the last confirmation process was held 18 November 2004 (next to be held in 2009)
election results: European Parliament approved the European Commission by an approval vote of 449 to 149 with 82 abstentions
note: the European Council brings together heads of state and government and the president of the European Commission and meets at least four times a year; its aim is to provide the impetus for the major political issues relating to European integration and to issue general policy guidelines | | Legislative branch | two legislative bodies consists of the Council of the European Union (27 member-state ministers having 345 votes; the number of votes is roughly proportional to member-states population; note - the Council is the main decision-making body of the EU) and the European Parliament (785 seats, as of 1 January 2007; seats allocated among member states by proportion to population; members elected by direct universal suffrage for a five-year term)
elections: last held 10-13 June 2004 (next to be held June 2009)
election results: percent of vote - NA; seats by party - EPP-ED 268, PES 202, ALDE 88, Greens/EFA 42, EUL/NGL 41, IND/DEM 36, UEN 27, independents 28; note - seats by party as of 1 January 2007 - EPP-ED 277, PES 218, ALDE 106, UEN 44, Greens/EFA 42, EUL/NGL 41, IND/DEM 23, ITS 20, independents 14 | | Judicial branch | Court of Justice of the European Communities (ensures that the treaties are interpreted and applied uniformly throughout the EU; resolve constitutional issues among the EU institutions) - 27 justices (one from each member state) appointed for a six-year term; note - for the sake of efficiency, the court can sit with 13 justices known as the Grand Chamber; Court of First Instance - 27 justices appointed for a six-year term | | Political parties and leaders | Confederal Group of the European United Left-Nordic Green Left or EUL/NGL [Francis WURTZ]; European Peoples Party-European Democrats or EPP-ED [Joseph DAUL]; Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe or ALDE [Graham R. WATSON]; Group of Greens/European Free Alliance or Greens/EFA [Monica FRASSONI and Daniel Marc COHN-BENDIT]; Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty Group or ITS [Bruno GOLLNISCH]; Independence/Democracy Group or IND/DEM [Jens-Peter BONDE and Nigel FARAGE]; Socialist Group in the European Parliament or PES [Martin SCHULZ]; Union for Europe of the Nations Group or UEN [Brian CROWLEY and Cristiana MUSCARDINI] | | International organization participation | European Union: ARF (dialogue member), ASEAN (dialogue member), IDA, OAS (observer), UN (observer)
European Community: Australian Group, CBSS, CERN, FAO, EBRD, G-10, NAM (observer), NSG (observer), OECD, UNRWA, WTO, ZC (observer)
European Central Bank: BIS
European Investment Bank: EBRD, WADB (nonregional member) | | Diplomatic representation in the us | chief of mission: Ambassador John BRUTON
chancery: 2300 M Street, NW, Washington, DC 20037
telephone: [1] (202) 862-9500
FAX: [1] (202) 429-1766 | | Diplomatic representation from the us | chief of mission: Ambassador C. Boyden GRAY
embassy: 13 Zinnerstraat/Rue Zinner, B-1000 Brussels
mailing address: same as above
telephone: [32] (2) 508-2222
FAX: [32] (2) 512-5720 | | Flag description | on a blue field, 12 five-pointed gold stars arranged in a circle, representing the union of the peoples of Europe; the number of stars is fixed | |
| Economy - European Union: | Economy overview | Internally, the EU is attempting to lower trade barriers, adopt a common currency, and move toward convergence of living standards. Internationally, the EU aims to bolster Europes trade position and its political and economic power. Because of the great differences in per capita income among member states (from $7,000 to $69,000) and historic national animosities, the EU faces difficulties in devising and enforcing common policies. For example, since 2003 Germany and France have flouted the member states treaty obligation to prevent their national budgets from running more than a 3% deficit. In 2004 and 2007, the EU admitted 10 and two countries, respectively, that are, in general, less advanced technologically and economically than the other 15. Twelve established EU member states introduced the euro as their common currency on 1 January 1999, but the UK, Sweden, and Denmark chose not to participate. Of the 12 most recent member states, only Slovenia has adopted the euro (1 January 2007); the remaining 11 are legally required to adopt the currency upon meeting EUs fiscal and monetary convergence criteria. | | Gdp purchasing power parity | $13.06 trillion (2006 est.) | | Gdp official exchange rate | $13.73 trillion (2006 est.) | | Gdp real growth rate | 3.1% (2006 est.) | | Gdp per capita ppp | $29,900 (2006 est.) | | Gdp composition by sector | agriculture: 2.1% industry: 27.3% services: 70.5% (2006 est.) | | Labor force | 222.7 million (2005 est.) | | Labor force by occupation | agriculture: 4.3%
industry: 27.2%
services: 67.1%
note: the remainder is in miscellaneous public and private sector industries and services (2002 est.) | | Unemployment rate | 8.5% (2006 est.) | | Population below poverty line | see individual country listings | | Household income or consumption by percentage share | lowest 10%: 2.9% highest 10%: 25.4% (1995 est.) | | Distribution of family income gini index | 31.3 (2003 est.) | | Inflation rate consumer prices | 1.8% (2006 est.) | | Investment gross fixed | 20.4% of GDP (2006 est.) | | Agriculture products | wheat, barley, oilseeds, sugar beets, wine, grapes; dairy products, cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry; fish | | Industries | among the worlds largest and most technologically advanced, the European Union industrial base includes: ferrous and non-ferrous metal production and processing, metal products, petroleum, coal, cement, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, aerospace, rail transportation equipment, passenger and commercial vehicles, construction equipment, industrial equipment, shipbuilding, electrical power equipment, machine tools and automated manufacturing systems, electronics and telecommunications equipment, fishing, food and beverage processing, furniture, paper, textiles, tourism | | Industrial production growth rate | 2.6% (2006 est.) | | Electricity production | 2.997 trillion kWh (2004 est.) | | Electricity consumption | 2.822 trillion kWh (2004 est.) | | Electricity exports | NA | | Electricity imports | NA | | Oil production | 3.115 million bbl/day (2004) | | Oil consumption | 14.68 million bbl/day (2004) | | Oil exports | NA | | Oil imports | NA | | Oil proved reserves | 7.55 billion bbl (2005) | | Natural gas production | 238.2 billion cu m (2004) | | Natural gas consumption | 506.9 billion cu m (2004 est.) | | Natural gas exports | 78.89 billion cu m (2001) | | Natural gas imports | 347.7 billion cu m (2001) | | Natural gas proved reserves | 3.219 trillion cu m (1 January 2005 est.) | | Current account balance | $NA | | Exports | $1.33 trillion; note - external exports, excluding intra-EU trade (2005) | | Exports commodities | machinery, motor vehicles, aircraft, plastics, pharmaceuticals and other chemicals, fuels, iron and steel, nonferrous metals, wood pulp and paper products, textiles, meat, dairy products, fish, alcoholic beverages. | | Exports partners | US 23.3%, Switzerland 7.6%, Russia 5.2%, China 4.8% (2006) | | Imports | $1.466 trillion; note - external imports, excluding intra-EU trade (2005) | | Imports commodities | machinery, vehicles, aircraft, plastics, crude oil, chemicals, textiles, metals, foodstuffs, clothing | | Imports partners | US 13.8%, China 13.4%, Russia 8.2%, Japan 6.2% (2006) | | Reserves of foreign exchange and gold | $NA | | Currency code | euro, British pound, Bulgarian lev, Cypriot pound, Czech koruna, Danish krone, Estonian kroon, Hungarian forint, Latvian lat, Lithuanian litas, Maltese lira, Polish zloty, Romanian leu, Slovak koruna, Swedish krona | | Exchange rates | euros per US dollar - 0.7964 (2006), 0.8041 (2005), 0.8054 (2004), 0.886 (2003), 1.0626 (2002) | |
| Communications - European Union: | Fiscal year | NA | | Telephones main lines in use | 238 million (2005) | | Telephones mobile cellular | 466 million (2005) | | Telephone system | note - see individual country entries of member states | | Radio broadcast stations | AM 930, FM 13,655, shortwave 71 (1998); note - sum of individual country radio broadcast stations; there is also a European-wide station (Euroradio) | | Television broadcast stations | 2,700 (1995); note - sum of individual country television broadcast stations excluding repeaters; there is also a European-wide station (Eurovision) | | Internet country code | .eu (effective 2005); note - see country entries of member states for individual country codes | | Internet hosts | 50.5 million (2005); note - sum of individual country Internet hosts | | Internet users | 247 million (2006) | |
| Transportation - European Union: | Airports | 3,393 (2006) | | Airports with paved runways | 2,020 (2006) | | Airports with unpaved runways | 1,373 (2006) | | Heliports | 100 (2006) | | Railways | total: 236,656 km
broad gauge: 28,240 km
standard gauge: 200,532 km
narrow gauge: 7,861 km
other: 23 km (2006) | | Roadways | total: 2,394,641 km (includes 61,522 km of expressways)
paved: 1,809,821 km
unpaved: 584,820 km (2005) | | Waterways | 52,332 km (2006) | | Ports and terminals | Antwerp (Belgium), Barcelona (Spain), Braila (Romania), Bremen (Germany), Burgas (Bulgaria), Constanta (Romania), Copenhagen (Denmark), Galati (Romania), Gdansk (Poland), Hamburg (Germany), Helsinki (Finland), Las Palmas (Canary Islands, Spain), Le Havre (France), Lisbon (Portugal), London (UK), Marseille (France), Naples (Italy), Peiraiefs or Piraeus (Greece), Riga (Latvia), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Stockholm (Sweden), Talinn (Estonia), Tulcea (Romania), Varna (Bulgaria) | |
| Military - European Union: | Military note | In November 2004, the EU heads of government signed a Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe that offers possibilities for increased defense and security cooperation. If ratified, this treaty will give operational effect to the European Security and Defense Policy (ESDP), approved in the 2000 Nice Treaty. Despite limits of cooperation for some EU members, development of a EU military planning unit is likely to continue. The planning unit will support the EU Rapid Reaction Force, which EU ministers have said will deploy 2 battle groups in January 2007. France, Germany, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Italy continue to press for wider coordination. The 5-nation Eurocorps - created in 1992 by France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, and Luxembourg - has already deployed troops and police on peacekeeping missions to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo and assumed command of the ISAF in Afghanistan in August 2004. Eurocorps directly commands the 5,000-man Franco-German Brigade, the Multinational Command Support Brigade, and EUFOR, which took over from SFOR in Bosnia in December 2004. Individual EU nations made commitments to provide 67,100 troops following the December 1999 EU summit in Helsinki. Some 56,000 troops from EU member states were actually deployed on various international operations in 2003. In August 2004, the new European Defense Agency, tasked with promoting cooperative European defense capabilities, began operations. In November 2004, the EU Council of Ministers formally committed to creating 13 1,500-man battle groups by the end of 2007, to respond to international crises on a rotating basis. Twenty-two of the EUs 25 nations have agreed to supply troops. France, Italy, and the UK formed the first of 3 battle groups in 2005. In May 2005, Norway, Sweden and Finland agreed to establish one of the battle groups, possibly to include Estonia forces. The remaining 9 groups are to be formed in 2007. A rapid-reaction naval EU Maritime Task Group was stood up in March 2007. (2005) | |
This page was last updated on 16 September, 2007
Source: CIA >>> |
