Mediaboss Marketing

The European Union (abbreviation: EU) is a confederation of 28 member countries in Europe, started in 1957 as the European Economic Community (EEC). It has created a common economic area with Europe-wide laws allowing people to move and trade in other EU countries almost the same as they do in their own. Nineteen of these countries also share the same type of money: the euro.

The Treaty of Lisbon is the most recent treaty that says how the Union is run. Every member state signed to say that they each agreed with what it says. Most importantly, it says which jobs ('powers') the Union should do for the members and which jobs they should do themselves. The members decide how the Union should act by voting for or against proposals.

The objective of the EU is to bring its member states closer together with respect of human rights and democracy. It does this with a common style of passport, common rules about fair trading with each other, common agreements about law enforcement, and other agreements. Most members share a common currency (the euro) and most allow people to travel from one country to another without having to show a passport.

After World War II, the countries in Europe wanted to live peacefully together and help one another's economies. Instead of fighting for coal and steel, the first member countries (West) Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg created one European Coal and Steel Community in 1952.

In 1957 in the Italian city of Rome, the member countries signed another treaty and made the European Economic Community. Now it was a community for coal, steel and for trade. Later it changed the name to the European Community.

In 1993, with the Treaty of Maastricht it changed its name to the European Union. Now the member countries work together not only in politics and economy (coal, steel and trade), but also in money, justice (laws), and foreign affairs. With the Schengen Agreement, 22 member countries of the EU opened their borders to each other, so people can now travel from one country to the other without a passport or identity card. Now already 16 member countries have replaced their national currencies with the euro. 10 new countries became members of the EU in 2004, 2 more became members in 2007, and 1 more in 2013. Today there are 28 member countries altogether.

A person who is a citizen of a European Union country can live and work in any of the other 27 member countries without needing a work permit or visa. For example, a British person can move to Greece to work there, or just to live there, and he or she does not need permission from an authority in Greece.

In the same way, products made in one member country can be sold in any other member country without any special permissions or extra taxes. For this reason, the members agree rules on product safety - they want to know that a product made in another country will be as safe as it would be if it had been made in their own.

Institutions of the European Union

The Council of the European Union is the main decision-making group. The cabinet ministers of the member countries meet (Ministers for Foreign affairs, for Agriculture, for Justice, etc...) and discuss issues that are important to them.

Before the Treaty of Lisbon (written in 2007, implemented in 2008) each member state takes a turn at being President of the Council for six months. For example, from January 2007 until July 2007, Germany held the presidency. The six months before that, Finland held the presidency. Now the President of the European Union chairs the council summits. The President of the Council is the organiser and manager and is voted into office for a duration of two and a half years. He or she does not have the power to make decisions about the European Union like the President of the United States does for that country.

Member countries with a large population (Germany, France, United Kingdom, etc.) have more votes than countries with small populations (Luxembourg, Malta, etc.) but a decision cannot be made if enough countries vote against the decision.

Twice a year, the heads of government (Prime Ministers) and/or the heads of state (Presidents) meet to talk about the main issues and make decisions on different issues. This meeting is different and not as formal. It is known as a European Council.

The European Commission runs the day to day running of the EU and writes laws, like a government. Laws written by the Commission are discussed and changed by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union.

The Commission has one President and 27 Commissioners, selected by the European Council. The Commission President is appointed by the European Council with the approval of the European Parliament.

The Commission operates like a cabinet government. There is one Commissioner per member state, though Commissioners are bound to represent the interests of the EU as a whole rather than their home state.

The Parliament has a total of 785 members (called Members of the European Parliament, or MEP). They are elected in their countries every five years by the citizens of the European Union member countries. The Parliament can approve, reject or change proposed laws. It can also sack the European Commission. In that case, the entire commission would have to give up their jobs.

There are many discussions in the EU about how it should develop and change in the future.

The main reasons why European countries came together are political and economic:

In 1951, six countries made the European Coal and Steel Community, a basic version of what the EU is now. These six then went further and in 1957 they made the European Economic Community and the European Coal and Steel Community. The UK and others decided not to join, and then when the UK changed its mind it was stopped from joining by French President Charles de Gaulle. When he was no longer President, the UK and others started to join. Today there are 28 members but the idea that more should join is not seen as a good one by everyone.

Serbia, Montenegro, the Republic of Macedonia, Turkey and Iceland are "candidate countries", they are being considered for membership. Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo are expected to follow.

United in diversity (or together with many types of people in Simple English), is the motto of the European Union.

The motto in other languages:

The continental territories of the member states of the European Union (European Communities pre-1993), coloured in order of accession.

The euro was introduced in 2002, replacing 12 national currencies. Seven countries have since joined.

EU representatives receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2012

Viru Bog in Lahemaa National Park in Estonia, a protected habitat under the Habitats Directive

A black stork, a protected species under Regulation (EC) No. 338/97

The ceremony of the 1990 Sakharov Prize awarded to Aung San Suu Kyi by Martin Schulz, inside the Parliament's Strasbourg hemicycle, in 2013.

The EU participates in all G8 and G20 summits. (G20 summit in Seoul)

An A400M military transport aircraft built by Airbus Group SE (Societas Europaea; Latin: European company)

The European Union co-funds psychosocial support by the IAHV, Jordan at the Zaatari refugee camp for the Syrian refugees.

A standardised passport design, displaying the name of the member state, the national arms and the words "European Union" given in their official language(s). (Irish model)

The resund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden is part of the Trans-European Networks.

Vineyards in Romania; EU farms are supported by the Common Agricultural Policy, the largest budgetary expenditure.

European Health Insurance Card(French version pictured)

Golden bust of Charlemagne with the German reichsadler embossed on the metal and the French fleur-de-lis embroidered on the fabric.

Visit link:
European Union Facts for Kids - Kiddle encyclopedia

U.K. leader loses 3rd vote on Brexit plan

The United Kingdom is issuing British passports without the words "European Union" on the front cover despite the delay to Brexit, BBC News reports.The U.K. government had said the new burgundy passports would be introduced starting several days ago, on March 30.

"Passports that include the words European Union will continue to be issued for a short period after this date," Her Majesty's Passport Office, which issues U.K. passports, said in a statement. "You will not be able to choose whether you get a passport that includes the words European Union, or a passport that does not."

The office said "both designs will be equally valid for travel."

The rollout is part of a two-stage design change that will see new blue passports being "phased in gradually" later this year. And it comes even though Brexit has been delayed.

Initially, the deadline for Britain to leave the European Union was March 29, but the EU granted the U.K. an extension, CBS News' Haley Ott reported. The deadline is now April 12, but the U.K. has asked for another extension.

Susan Hindle Barone, who said on Twitter she received a new passport on Friday, tweeted she was "TRULY APPALLED" by the change to the document's cover.

"Dear Passport Agency, @HM_Passport We're still in the EU - Why doesn't my new passport reflect that?" she tweeted.

British Prime Minister Theresa May formally asked the EU on Friday to delay Britain's departure from the bloc until June 30, hoping to avoid a potentially damaging "no-deal" crash-out in mid-April. European Council President Donald Tusk made a counteroffer. He proposed an indefinite time frame and urged 27 other EU states to offer the U.K. a "flextension" -- a delay of up to one year, CBS News' Ott reported.

Tusk will seek to get his concept approved at an EU summit scheduled to take place in mid April, according to EU officials.

More:
UK removes "European Union" from British passports despite ...

London Friday was meant to be the day Britain formally ceased to be a member of the European Union. But three years after the public referendum calling for the divorce, the two sides appeared no closer to agreeingon an amicable separation. Even Britain has yet to figure out what it wants.

British lawmakers have made it abundantly clear, however, what they don't want: the hard-won draft "Brexit" plan that Prime Minister Theresa May negotiated with the EU. On Friday afternoon, Parliament rejected for a third time May's withdrawal deal, or at least the most elemental part of it: the legal withdrawal agreement.

The vote leaves the U.K. closer to a possible "crash out" of the European Union on April 12 with no deal in place risking a dramatic impact on the British economy. Or Britain could seek a much longer delay to the process from the EU.

May's government stripped out all of the "political agreement" aspect of her draft deal to bring it to a vote on Friday because she has been forbidden by the legislature from bringing the exact same deal back for a third vote.

But it wasn't just that she needed to present an altered plan for a vote; she also knew the devil was in the details.

Nobody really knows for sure. Lawmakers will gather again on Monday to hold another series of votes on a range of alternative plans to May's. But they tried that just days ago and not one of the eight options put forward gained majority backing from lawmakers.

As CBS News correspondent Mark Phillips reported from Parliament on Friday, there is no clear path to Brexit.

"I fear we are reaching the limits of this process in this house," May herself noted immediately after losing the vote. But she vowed to "continue to press the case for an orderly Brexit."

Calls were made quickly, however, for May to step down, and the prospect of a new general election was also rising.

There are still huge differences of opinion in London over key aspects of how any divorce should work, most notably how to keep goods and people flowing smoothly across the border between Northern Ireland (part of Britain) and Ireland (an independent nation and EU member). The small frontier is the only land border between the U.K. and the EU, and it has essentially been an invisible line for decades, since peace was restored after years of sectarian violence on the island; "The Troubles."

On Wednesday, May even offered to resign the premiership if lawmakers backed her deal, but the concession didn't work. She lost by 58 votes.

The Prime Minister may now seek another, longer extension to Britain's exit from the EU, but it isn't clear if May will be allowed to remain in power long enough to continue driving the process not that a new general election would bring any near-term certainty to the Brexit fiasco.

There were also mounting calls after Friday's vote for an outright revocation of the "Article 50" measure that the U.K. filed under EU law, officially putting the Brexit process in motion. Some Members of Parliament want Article 50 revoked to give the British legislature more time to find a consensus plan. Others want it revoked to simply stop the process, and possibly not resume it.

EU leaders said right after the vote that it had made a "no-deal" Brexit even more likely, and they reissued their call for Britain's lawmakers to decide on and then tell the other 27 members states what they want.

"The risk of a no-deal Brexit is very real," Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte told journalists right after the vote in London. "One of the two routes to an orderly Brexit seems now to be closed. This leaves only the other route, which is for the British to make clear what they want before April 12."

Poland's prime minister said before the vote that the European Union was open to further extending Britain's departure from the bloc. Premier Mateusz Morawiecki told reporters, after talks with EU Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier, that if May's bid in the House of Commons failed, the EU was "open to extending the departure process" on a motion from London, by "six or nine or 12 months, these options are available." But they only want to do that if it looks like such a delay will yield progress at breaking the deadlock in London.

In a statement released on Friday, the European Commission said: "As per the European Council (Article 50) decision on 22 March, the period provided for in Article 50(3) is extended to 12 April. It will be for the UK to indicate the way forward before that date, for consideration by the European Council. A "no-deal" scenario on 12 April is now a likely scenario."

Many Brexit backers in Britain, including in May's own Conservative Party, would be loathe to see the process dragged out much longer, fearing it could lead to death-by-delay of the mandate given by the public in the 2016 referendum.

Retired charity worker Mandy Childs, one of a band of hard-core Brexit supporters who walked across England to London under the slogan "Leave Means Leave," said she felt "heartbroken."

"We were told over a 100 times by a British prime minister that we would be leaving on the 29th of March, 2019," she said.

"To do that, promise the British people that and then say 'Actually, no, we need to just put it back' absolute betrayal. And how dare she?"

Opinion polls have shown that since the referendum, as the complexities of the divorce have become apparent and the "Vote Leave" campaign has come under mounting criticism for its tactics during the run-up to the public vote, the tide has likely turned, and a thin majority now appears to be against leaving the EU at all.

Indeed hundreds of people did join the "March to Leave" rally that trooped through central London on Friday, but the numbers were dwarfed by a huge demonstration in the British capital over the weekend, demanding a second public vote, with many rejecting any Brexit at all.

Read the original post:
Brexit vote today: Theresa May's European Union withdrawal ...

After World War II the countries of western Europe wanted to avoid future wars. Some leaders thought that having their countries work together would help.

In 1952 six countriesFrance, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourgformed the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). The ECSC brought together the countries coal and steel businesses. It was a success.

The ECSC countries then looked for other ways to cooperate. In 1958 they set up the European Atomic Energy Community (also called Euratom) to produce nuclear power together. They also formed the European Economic Community (EEC). The EEC worked to get rid of taxes and rules that limited trade in Europe.

The ECSC, Euratom, and the EEC merged in 1967 to form the European Communities (EC). More countries joined the EC in the 1970s and 1980s. The EC was so successful in economic matters that its members started working together in other ways as well. In 1991 the members agreed to form the European Union. The EU was officially created in 1993. The EU added more members in the years that followed.

The EU currency, or form of money, is called the euro. It was introduced in 1999. Most member countries switched from their own currencies to the euro.

Read more from the original source:
European Union - Kids | Britannica Kids | Homework Help

EU's Brexit chief negotiator Michel Barnier (C) addresses the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs next to its German chairman at the European Parliament David McAllister in Brussels, April 2, 2019. Getty

The European Union's chief negotiator Michel Barnier said Tuesday that Britain's exit from the EU without a deal was becoming "day after day more likely." He issued the warning the morning after the U.K. Parliament again rejected alternatives to Prime Minister Theresa May's unpopular divorce deal.

Despite the downbeat assessment, Barnier said that "we can still hope to avoid it" through intensive work in London ahead of an April 10 summit. A no-deal Brexit could come as soon two days after that.

He urged the feuding lawmakers in London to back the plan that May spent more than two years negotiating with the EU, calling it the only hope.

"If the U.K. still wants to leave the EU in an orderly manner, this agreement, this treaty is and will be the only one," he said Tuesday in Brussels.

Despite the difficulties of a chaotic exit, "the EU will be able to manage," Barnier said, although he warned that "not everything will be smooth."

Exit without a deal would affect trade and travel overnight, with new checks on borders and new regulations on dealings between Britain and the 27 remaining EU nations. While the exact ramifications of an unprecedented EU withdrawal remain unclear, many -- including the U.K. government's own central bank -- have warned that the impact on the British economy could be dire.

A long list of global corporations have already announced plans to relocate their European headquarters from London to other cities in the EU over Brexit, and others have already shifted some personnel and put contingency plans in place to move more out of the Britain.

May was embarking on a marathon session with her Cabinet on Tuesday to try and find a way to avert a no-deal exit from the Union. Cabinet members arrived for a meeting expected to last five hours amid calls for compromise to prevent the potentially devastating crash out.

The government has been pushing for a fourth vote on May's deal, with Education Secretary Damian Hinds saying the agreement already represents a compromise between all sides in the Brexit debate.

Hinds told CBS News partner network BBC News that the deal was "a good balance, and I hope colleagues can get behind it."

While there was no majority in favor of any of the four options voted on Monday night, the votes did reveal a preference among lawmakers for a softer form of Brexit but no clear way to make that happen.

The narrowest defeat 276 votes to 273 was for a plan to keep Britain in a customs union with the EU, guaranteeing smooth and tariff-free trade in goods. A motion that went further, calling for Britain to stay in the EU's borderless single market for both goods and services, was defeated 282-261.

The United Kingdom helped to create the European Union more than six decades ago, and officially joined the tightly-knit common economic bloc more than four decades ago. Brexit, or the British exit, is the term used to describe the British public's decision to bail out of that union in a 2016 public referendum, and the ensuing process of doing so.

There are a few basic principles that bind the 28 (probably soon 27) member states, which basically state that goods and people must be permitted to flow freely across each other's borders. In exchange, each individual member state benefits from the collective bargaining power of the Union in the global economy -- a huge advantage as, collectively, the EU represents the world's second biggest economy after the U.S.

Another benefit is the standardization of regulations across Europe. That means if you buy medicine or food, for instance, in any of the members states, you can be relatively confident that it will be up to the same safety standards.

But all the bureaucracy and rules and regulations that come with such a partnership have their downsides. Some sovereignty is, by default, ceded by members states to the larger bloc. For instance, all nations are subject to collective human rights and trade laws, which are arbitrated by European courts. Pro-Brexit Brits, both in public and Parliament, believe too much independence has been given up to the EU -- particularly where it concerns border controls and immigration -- and they want it back.

Taking it back, it can be said almost unequivocally, has not proven to be nearly as simple or as financially beneficial as it was suggested it would be by the people who led the charge for Brexit in the first place.

Most polls now show that if a new referendum was held today, a slim majority would vote against leaving the European Union. But holding a new public vote -- which the pro-Brexit camp insists would be undemocratic -- is a political hot potato that still has too little support in Parliament. And the window, as Barnier made clear on Tuesday, is closing fast.

Here is the original post:
Brexit with no-deal "more likely" with just 10 days to ...