What is the European Union

What is the European Union?

It  is an Economic and Political Partnership involving 28 European countries. It began after World War II to foster economic co-operation, with the idea that countries that trade together are more likely to avoid going to war with each other.

It has since grown to become a "single market" allowing goods and people to move around, as if the member states were one country. It has its own currency, the euro, which is used by 19 of the member countries. It has its own parliament and it now sets rules in a wide range of areas - including  the environment, transport, consumer rights.

Brexit

Brexit 

“What does it mean ‘to leave the EU’?”

Leaving the EU can mean many things depending on the arrangement. The British had a referendum (a vote on a single decision) to decide whether the people wanted to be part of the EU or leave the EU. The vote to leave was won by 52% to 48%. Britain agrees with the rest of the EU to leave by the end of summer 2019. It means EU law is unlikely to be deemed generally more important than UK law, although the more elements of the European trading system Britain signs up to, the greater the role Brussels(Belgium) will still have in Britain’s affairs — even though the UK will no longer have any influence in setting policies for the whole of the EU.

The Currency

Currency 

The currency in Europe is the Euro and is used by 19 of the 28 member states of the European Union. The “Eurozone” is a geographic and economic region that consists of all the European Union countries that have fully incorporated the euro as their national currency. It is also referred to as "euroland". It includes the following countries: Austria, Belgium,  Cyprus,  Estonia,  Finland,  France,  Germany, Greece,  Ireland,  Italy,  Latvia,  Lithuania,  Luxembourg,  Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia,  Slovenia,  and Spain.

There are 9 countries that have chosen to keep their own currencies: Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Hungary, Poland,  Romania, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom never converted its pound sterling to euros, preferring to stick with its higher value currency. Then in the summer of 2016 after a national referendum it  left the EU altogether,  leaving only 8 Member states that still use their own currency. One of the reasons they may not be yet using the euro is because before joining the Eurozone, a state must spend two years in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism.
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what is the EU

What is the European Union?

How was the European Union Formed?

In 1951, six countries founded the European Coal and Steel Community which included: Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands. Later, in 1957, it expanded its economic range as the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community.   In the next half a century a further 22 countries have joined and the name changed to  European Economic Comunity (E.E.C.). In 2004, there was a historic expansion  marking the reunification of Europe after decades of division and the name changed again to the most  recent version: the European Union  (EU).