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Background:
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Following the two devastating World Wars of the first half
of the 20th century, a number of European leaders in the late 1940s became
convinced that the only way to establish a lasting peace was to unite the
two chief belligerent nations - France and Germany - both economically and
politically. In 1950, the French Foreign Minister Robert SCHUMAN proposed
an eventual union of all Europe, the first step of which would be the
integration of the coal and steel industries of Western Europe. The
following year the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was set up
when six members, Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and
the Netherlands, signed the Treaty of Paris. The ECSC was so successful
that within a few years the decision was made to integrate other parts of
the countries' economies. In 1957, the Treaties of Rome created the
European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community
(Euratom), and the six member states undertook to eliminate trade barriers
among themselves by forming a common market. In 1967, the institutions of
all three communities were formally merged into the European Community
(EC), creating a single Commission, a single Council of Ministers, and the
European Parliament. Members of the European Parliament were initially
selected by national parliaments, but in 1979 the first direct elections
were undertaken and they have been held every five years since. In 1973,
the first enlargement of the EC took place with the addition of Denmark,
Ireland, and the United Kingdom. The 1980s saw further membership
expansion with Greece joining in 1981 and Spain and Portugal in 1986. The
1992 Treaty of Maastricht laid the basis for further forms of cooperation
in foreign and defense policy, in judicial and internal affairs, and in
the creation of an economic and monetary union - including a common
currency. This further integration created the European Union (EU). In
1995, Austria, Finland, and Sweden joined the EU, raising the membership
total to 15. A new currency, the euro, was launched in world money markets
on 1 January 1999; it become the unit of exchange for all of the EU states
except the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Denmark. In 2002, citizens of the
12 euro-area countries began using the euro banknotes and coins. Ten new
countries joined the EU in 2004 - Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia -
bringing the current membership to 25. In order to ensure that the EU can
continue to function efficiently with an expanded membership, the 2003
Treaty of Nice set forth rules streamlining the size and procedures of EU
institutions. An EU Constitutional Treaty, signed in Rome on 29 October
2004, gave member states two years to ratify the document before it was
scheduled to take effect on 1 November 2006. Referenda held in France and
the Netherlands in May-June 2005 that rejected the constitution suspended
the ratification effort. Despite the expansion of membership and
functions, "Eurosceptics" in various countries have raised questions about
the erosion of national cultures and the imposition of a flood of
regulations from the EU capital in Brussels. Failure by all member states
to ratify the constitution or the inability of newcomer countries to meet
euro currency standards might force a loosening of some EU agreements and
perhaps lead to several levels of EU participation. These "tiers" might
eventually range from an "inner" core of politically integrated countries
to a looser "outer" economic association of members.
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TOURS
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