Otázka: The European Union
Jazyk: Angličtina
Přidal(a): Lukáš Kratochvíl
European Union and the CZ
The European Community was established in 1967, when three existing communities merged to one large.
- The European Coal and Steel Community
- The European Economic Community
- The European Atomic Energy Community
At first, the European Community consisted of just six countries
- Belgium
- Germany
- Italy
- France
- Luxembourg
- Netherlands
Other countries joined community later
- 1973 – Denmark, Ireland and United Kingdom
- 1981 – Greece
- 1986 – Spain and Portugal
- In year 1993 the European Union established.
- 1995 – Austria, Finland and Sweden
- 2004 – 10 other countries joined EU – including CZ
In the early years, much of the co-operation between EU countries was about trade and economy, but now the EU also deals with many other subjects such as citizen’s right, security, justice, job creation, environmental protection and making globalization work for everyone.
There are several important institutions connected with EU. Each institution has different political responsibilities. For example, the Commission proposes new laws and reforms, the Parliament discusses these proposals and at the end it is the task of the Council of the European Union to make the final decision.
The Czech Republic joined the EU in year 2004. EU membership has brought lot of benefits to the Czech Republic. From my point of view, one of the most important is opportunity it brings for people like me. In are of the EU I don’t need any visas or permissions to work or study. I actually applied for the university in London and even if I will not be accepted, there are so many job opportunities around the Europe. I would love to work abroad, it would mean fascinating experience for me but also it would give me a chance to be better in foreign languages.
Even travelling in the EU is much easier for us. We don’t even have to carry a passport to get into and EU country. All you need is your ID. Economies of EU countries are different – for example Czech Republic and Germany or France. Even though it is easier to get there now, it does not mean living in other EU countries will be cheap.
Several countries in EU now use EURO – the currency of the Europen Union. Lot of people are quite satisfied with the idea of Euro, but there are still some of countries which are against it. For example the Great Britain believes, that using Euro instead of Pounds would mean a lose of part of identity of the GB. In my opinion the EURO is not bad idea. We wouldn’t loose time with changing currencies. But we can also see some countries, for example Greek, that showed us weaknesses of the Euro. The Greek has been in a crisis for a while because of it!
It is also very important to mention the Schengen Agreement which enables controls on borders. It give us freedom of movement of goods, services and other things.
Interesting:
First Euro Banknotes were printed on January 1st in year 2002.
Since 2005 the European Union has its own website domain so people can buy website with .EU at the end.
