Each year, on the 9th
of May we celebrate Europe’s Day. Events take place all over the world in this
period to promote and remind the real values of Europe. In addition, this year the
European Union celebrates the 60th anniversary, moment that will be
marked with a series of conferences, exhibitions, lectures all over the world,
not only in Europe.
What started just with
a treaty that formed the European Coal and Steel Community 60
years ago, now it represents the role model of every society that wants to
improve in order to offer a high living standard to its citizens.
The first six countries
that were founding the European Union in the beginning of the 50s were Germany,
Italy, France, Belgium, Netherlands and Luxembourg. After this, a few years
later, in 1957 the Treaty of Rome creates the European Economic Community,
which will be transformed in the European Union that we all know today.
First years of the
Union were a good period for the economy because the States stopped charging
each other with custom duties when trading and also a reform
started in order to control food production.
First countries to be
added in the European Union were Denmark, United Kingdom and Ireland on the 1st
of January 1973 which made the number of members grow to 9 states.
Just a few years
later, in 1979 every citizen from the member countries could elect directly
their members. Also in this period the European Union adopts laws regarding protection
of the environment and sets up the notion “the polluter pays”.
The next ten
years were intense and in 1981 Greece becomes the 10th member of the
European Union, followed by Spain and Portugal in 1986.
In the same year is
signed the Single European Act that had the role to facilitate the free trade
across EU countries in order to create a single market.
The political
environment became more favorable for the EU when in 1989 the Berlin Wall fall
and one year later Germany was reunified. In this period members were
preoccupied to reinforce the laws which protected the environment signing 2 new
treaties in 1993 – European Union Treaty in Maastricht, and another one in 1999
in Amsterdam.
This decade also added
new members to the EU, and we are talking about Finland, Austria and Sweden.
“Schengen” is created also in this period to provide free circulation of the
citizens around EU using only an ID and not a passport. It`s a time when
millions of young people starts studying in different countries all over Europe
with the help of EU.
The euro currency also
has an important place in the development of EU and it was adopted on the 1st
of January 1999. Continuing with the year 2000, more countries adopt the currency and
this helps the Union grow even more. This could be seen also judging by the new
addition of 12 member states during this decade.
After the growth, the
crisis of 2008 came and Europe felt it really strong. Even though we are
talking about a difficult period for the European Union, the EU managed to
sustain the member states to confront their problems. In 2012 the EU also
received the Nobel Prize for advancing the causes of peace, reconciliation,
democracy and human rights in Europe. One year later the EU adds Croatia to the
Union, in this way raising the number of member states at 28.
The European society
continues to fight pollution and it is more and more concerned about the
environment. Another big concern it is represented by refugees and Europe is
still working to find and provide the best solution for helping the one in need
that are coming from Middle East to escape the bad conditions in their
countries.
Having all said, the European
Union is an example of modern society and organism that created the longest
peace period in Europe, more than 60 years. An union that tries to connect all
states of Europe and create a big family where every individual can access his
rights and has the opportunity to grow as a professional and as a person also.
photo credits: ©thinkstockphoto.com
www.europa.eu
Bogdan Burdusel
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