the story begins at the end of World War
two
as the European continent lies
devastated leaving the United States and
the USSR as the two major world powers
they're growing rivalry marks the
beginning of the Cold War while the
Soviets control Eastern Europe the West
looks to the US for reconstruction aid
while the old continent is found divided
by the Iron Curtain in the West the idea
of European unity begins to take hold on
the 9th of May 1950 France via its
foreign minister Robert Schumann
proposes a franco-german reconciliation
and placing under a common high
authority the production of coal and
steel the main wealth of industrialized
countries which is also needed for the
manufacture of weapons
the aim is to boost the economy and
maintain peace with the project left
open to countries wishing to join the
following year in Paris six countries
sign a treaty establishing the European
Coal and Steel community as Germany is
divided by the Iron Curtain only West
Germany becomes part of it
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to accelerate the development of Europe
the six founding countries meet on the
25th of March 1957 in Rome to sign two
new treaties the first treaty creates
the European Economic Community whose
main objective is to establish a common
market including allowing the free
movement of workers and eliminating
tariffs between member states the treaty
also defines common policies on
transport trade and agriculture the
common agricultural policy among other
goals aims to increase agricultural
productivity offer reasonable prices and
ensure a fair standard of living for
farmers the second treaty establishes
the European atomic energy community
coordinating civilian nuclear research
programs the treaties of Rome enter into
force in 1958 but it would take several
years for its policies to be implemented
many countries asked to join the
communities including the United Kingdom
but France under the leadership of
Charles de Gaulle vetoes the accession
requests considering the UK as too close
of an ally to the United States
the institutions of the three
communities are merged to enable more
efficient functioning there is now a
single commission composed of
commissioners chosen by the heads of
state its role is to propose European
laws in the common interest of its
members there is the council made up of
ministers of the Member States and whose
role it is to approve modify or reject
the proposals of the Commission
there is the Parliament representing the
people of Europe and which also gives
its opinion on Commission proposals its
power would increase over forthcoming
treaties finally there is a court of
justice that rules over the legality of
decisions taken in 1967 the United
Kingdom renews its request for
membership which France opposes a second
time with the removal of tariffs for
industrial and agricultural products and
the free movement of workers the
economic situation improves rapidly
prompting a new wave of membership
applications this time negotiations go
well but in Norway the population
opposes the country's accession in a
referendum in 1973 Island the United
Kingdom and Denmark joined the community
in Paris the heads of state and
government come to an agreement to
create the European Council leaders
would meet at least three times a year
to together define the broad guidelines
of the community south of the continent
after the end of dictatorships in
Portugal Greece and Spain the three
countries request membership of the
community in 1979 for the first time
members of the European Parliament are
elected by universal suffrage in 1981
Greece joins the community while the
following year Greenland which receives
more autonomy from Denmark chooses to
leave the community after a referendum
in 1984 the United Kingdom under
Margaret Thatcher says it does not
benefit enough from the Common
Agricultural Policy which then
represented 80% of EU spending the
country negotiates to obtain a reduction
in it
Tribune to the communities budget in
1986 Spain and Portugal joined the
community 12 Member State and the
European Commission give a boost to the
internal market by signing the single
European Act in addition to eliminating
custom fees the goal is to remove all
obstacles to the free movement of people
goods capital and services it is the
single market project to be completed by
1993 after the fall of the Berlin Wall
Germany is reunified in the East the
USSR can no longer contained revolts and
collapses opening up new horizons for
the community which establishes contacts
with the countries of Eastern Europe on
7th of February 1992 European heads of
state signed the Maastricht Treaty the
European Union is created and gets new
powers the treaty envisages and economic
union and the future creation of a
common European currency all countries
ratify the treaty including Denmark
where two referendums and negotiations
to be exempted from the common currency
are required a new wave of countries
request membership to the Union but
Switzerland and then Norway oppose
potential candidacy via referendums on
the other hand in Austria Sweden and
Finland negotiations succeed and in 1995
the EU grows to 15 members
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signed in Schengen Luxembourg in 1985
the Schengen Agreement is gradually
introduced from 1995 its objective is to
abolish border controls and therefore
have total freedom of movement within
the European Union the agreement is
incorporated into the European Union
through the Treaty of Amsterdam in
addition the common currency project
advances which would be called the euro
however the United Kingdom Sweden and
Denmark do not want it
the remaining member countries set up
the European Central Bank the euro was
officially launched on the market in
1999 although the currency would be put
into circulation only from the first of
January 2002 as negotiations take place
to enlarge the Union heads of state meet
in Nice to try and improve the structure
of the Union the outcome of the Treaty
of nice is considered mixed two
referendums are needed in Ireland for it
to come into force
on the 1st of May 2004 10 new countries
are included in the European Union all
new members join the Schengen area with
the exception of Cyprus as part of the
island is controlled by the Turkish army
since 1974 after the half failure of the
Treaty of nice the 25 heads of state
meet in Rome to again try to streamline
the functioning of the European Union
this time they aim to create a
constitutional treaty that would replace
all existing treaties with a single text
this sparks heated debate across Europe
fearing an overly powerful European
Union at the expense of national
sovereignty the French and Dutch
populations oppose the treaty via
referendums this triggers a period of
reflection and in-depth consultation
within Member States on January 1 2007
Romania and Bulgaria joined the European
Union the same year 27 heads of state
signed the Treaty of Lisbon which aims
to strengthen and improve the
functioning of the EU after enlargement
notably it is agreed that the EU role is
to promote peace support sustainable
development fight against social
exclusion and discrimination and
safeguard cultural heritage the treaty
is ratified by all states but Ireland
which holds a referendum and rejects it
yet again more negotiations and a second
referendum would be needed in Ireland
for it to take effect
the global economic and financial crisis
has repercussions on the eurozone which
enters a recession after the rout of
major European banks many countries find
themselves in difficulty in particular
Greece part of whose public debt has
been kept hidden with the help of
consultants from the goldman sachs bank
the country is forced to ask for
financial aid from the eurozone and the
IMF in exchange for which it must
implement austerity measures Ireland
coming to the aid of its banks also sees
its public debt explode but the country
does not want to ask for aid from the
eurozone fearing it may in return be
forced to raise its low corporate tax
rates the country finally receives aid
all the same in exchange for which it
must adopt a strict plan subsequently
Portugal Greece a second time Spain and
then Cyprus obtains financial aid from
the eurozone while almost everywhere on
the continent austerity plans are put
into place in 2013 Croatia joins the
European Union at the borders of the
continent the so-called Arab Spring
creates instability in many countries
the civil war in Syria a second civil
war in Libya and in Iraq and other
events such as the war in Afghanistan
and violence in the Horn of Africa push
many people to migrate to Europe despite
the construction of walls at the Turkish
border in 2015 over a million migrants
entered the Schengen area Europe tries
to slow the flow of migration security
patrols are reinforced on the
Mediterranean Sea while certain
countries temporarily reintroduce
controls at their borders
in addition the European Union signs
agreements with Turkey and then with
Libya where the political situation is
very unstable so that they control and
block the so-called illegal migration
routes in exchange for financial aid
migrant processing centres are funded
mainly in Italy and Greece where
migrants find themselves awaiting
regularization in overcrowded conditions
the migration crisis divides European
countries and fuels the rise of
nationalist and Euroskeptic parties
in June 2016 the United Kingdom through
a referendum votes in favor of leaving
the European Union the country then
enters long and difficult negotiations
with the European Union to define the
conditions of their withdrawal after
numerous failures and agreement for
brexit is finally reached and the United
Kingdom
exits the EU On January 31 2020 while
the UK no longer has any decision-making
power in the bloc it continues to
contribute to the European budget and
receive funding at least until the end
of the year by this deadline it is meant
to negotiate future agreements with the
EU in particular concerning customs
duties free movement the status of
Europeans living in the United Kingdom
and vice versa and the status of the
border that separates Ireland from
Northern Ireland after the departure of
the United Kingdom the European Union
has 27 member states with a population
of about 450 million negotiations are
underway for the accession of new
countries mostly in the Balkans
negotiations for Turkey's accession
which started in 2005 are stalled 19
countries are members of the eurozone
while 6 other countries have adopted the
euro without being a member of the
eurozone or the EU finally the Schengen
area now comprises 26 states including 4
non members of the European Union with
Cyprus Croatia Bulgaria and Romania
expected to integrate soon
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you