On 1st May 2004 Slovenia became a member of the European Union, and now belongs to a family of 27 member states connected at the economic, social and political level. Slovenia is represented in all EU institutions. This unit will give you some insight into the history of the EU, its institutions and some other expressions connected with the EU.
Fig. 6: The EU flag
Source: http://www.euro.cauce.org/images/flags/eu-flag.gif (12.1.2008)
Can you answer some questions about the EU?
1. In 1985 an agreement among European states allowed for the abolition of border controls between the participating countries. The name of the agreement?
Common Border Treaty Schengen Rome Maastricht 2. How many stars are there on the EU flag?
27, 10, 18, 12
3. The anthem of the European Union is: Ode to Joy. Who wrote the music?
Beethoven Mozart Mendelson
4. Where will you find the headquarters of the European Central Bank?
Stockholm Frankfurt Strasbourg Brussels
5. The Euro symbol was inspired by the Greek letter epsilon. When did the Euro banknotes and coins become a reality?
1 January 2002 1 January 2000 1 January 1992 6. Which of the following countries did not adopt the euro?
Denmark Finland the Netherlands
9.1 HISTORY OF ENLARGEMENT
The EU began life in the 1950s as the European Economic Community with six founding members – Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. They were joined by Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom in 1973, Greece in 1981, and Spain and Portugal in 1986.
In 1992, a new treaty introduced new forms of cooperation between national governments, thus creating the European Union as such. In 1995 the EU was enlarged with three new member states: Austria, Finland and Sweden.
The Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia and Slovakia joined in 2004, followed in 2007 by Bulgaria and Romania. Three candidates, Croatia, Turkey and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, have applied for membership.
Did you know?
The European Union has 493 million inhabitants – the world’s third largest population after China and India.
The European Union is less than half the size of the United States, but its population is over 50 % larger. In fact, the EU population is the world’s third largest after China and India.
Birth rates in the EU are falling and Europeans are living longer. These trends have important implications for the future.
The EU’s gross domestic product (GDP) – i.e. the economy’s output of goods and services – is steadily growing. Following the entry of new member states in 2004, the EU’s GDP is now greater than that of the United States.
In all EU countries, over 60 % of GDP is generated by the service sector (this includes things such as banking, tourism, transport and insurance). Industry and agriculture, although still important, have declined in economic importance in recent years.
Although the Union’s GDP continues to rise, it has grown more slowly than that of the United States in recent years, but faster than that of Japan.
Adapted http://ec.europa.eu/publications/booklets/eu_glance/66/en.doc, 2009
VOCABULARY
Check the text and quiz and find words corresponding to their definitions.
1. a formal agreement between two or more states / countries ______________
2. to become larger ______________
3. to become smaller and weaker ______________
4. a song which has a special importance for a country, a hymn ______________
5. a formal act of ending a law, a system, … ______________
6. to make a formal request, e.g. for a job, passport, … ______________
7. produced or created by ______________
9.2 HOW DOES THE EU WORK
The European Union functions through a number of institutions and bodies. Alongside these institutions and bodies are agencies created on the basis of specific legal acts to perform clearly defined tasks.
The three main EU institutions are:
• the European Parliament (EP), which represents the EU’s citizens and is directly elected by them;
• the Council of the European Union, also known as the Council of Ministers, representing national governments;
• the European Commission, representing the interests of the Union as a whole.
The European Parliament (EP) is elected by the citizens of the European Union to represent their interests. Its origins go back to the 1950s and the founding treaties, and since 1979 its
members have been directly elected by the people they represent. Elections are held every five years, and every EU citizen is entitled to vote, and to stand as a candidate, wherever they live in the EU.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) do not sit in national blocks, but in seven Europe-wide political groups. The present parliament has 785 members – Slovenia has 7 seats.
Fig.7: The EU institutions
Source:http://www.eu2007.de/en/About_the_EU/Institutions_and_Other_Bodies/Institutions/i ndex.html (12.1.2008)
Where is the Parliament based?
The European Parliament has three places of work: Brussels (Belgium), Luxembourg and Strasbourg (France).
Luxembourg is home to the administrative offices (the ‘General Secretariat’). Meetings of the whole Parliament, known as ‘plenary sessions’, take place in Strasbourg and sometimes in Brussels. Committee meetings are also held in Brussels.
The main job of the Parliament is to pass European laws on the basis of proposals presented by the European Commission. Parliament shares this responsibility with the Council of the European Union. Parliament and Council also share joint authority for approving the EU’s
€ 130 billion annual budget.
The Parliament has the power to dismiss the European Commission.
The Council of the European Union is the EU's main decision-making body. It represents the member states, and its meetings are attended by one minister from each of the EU’s national governments.
Which ministers attend which meeting depends on what subjects are on the agenda. If, for example, the Council is to discuss environmental issues, the meeting will be attended by the
Environment Minister from each EU country and it will be known as the ‘Environment Council’.
Altogether there are nine different Council configurations:
• General Affairs and External Relations
• Economic and Financial Affairs (ECOFIN)
• Justice and Home Affairs (JHA)
• Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs
• Competitiveness
• Transport, Telecommunications and Energy
• Agriculture and Fisheries
• Environment
• Education, Youth and Culture
The European Commission is responsible for implementing the decisions of the Parliament and the Council. That means managing the day-to-day business of the European Union:
implementing its policies, running its programmes and spending its funds.
The term ‘Commission’ is used in two senses. First, it refers to the team of men and women – one from each EU country – appointed to run the institution and take its decisions. Secondly, the term ‘Commission’ refers to the institution itself and to its staff.
Informally, the appointed Members of the Commission are known as ‘commissioners’. They have all held political positions in their countries of origin and many have been government ministers, but as Members of the Commission they are committed to acting in the interests of the Union as a whole and not taking instructions from national governments. The seat of the Commission is in Brussels.
A new Commission is appointed every five years, within six months of the elections to the European Parliament. The day-to-day running of the Commission is done by its administrative officials, experts, translators, interpreters and secretarial staff. There are approximately 23,000 of these European civil servants.
We have a commissioner in the European Commission, seven MEPs and a voice equal to all other members in decisions taken by the Council of the EU.
Adapted http://europa.eu/institutions/inst/parliament/index_en.htm, 2009
Answer the following questions about the three main EU institutions.
1. Who elects the European Parliament?
2. How many seats does Slovenia have in the European Parliament?
3. What is the main job of the European Parliament?
4. How many commissioners are there in the European Commission?
5. Where are the headquarters of the European Commission?
If you want to check your knowledge about the EU and be sure what the expressions connected with the EU mean, go to the following websites. Just change the language and there will be no unanswered questions left.
• http://europa.eu/institutions/inst/parliament/index_en.htm
• http://evropa.gov.si/en/
What have you learned?
o the history of the EU
o the main institutions of the EU
o lots of the EU-related expressions. As a member of the EU one should master such expressions!!!!
Conclusion
You have covered a wide range of business topics so far. What you have learnt is not meant to be just part of your exams and curricula. You should now be able to apply what you have studied to your own practice, and become more fluent and accurate English language speaker.