Page 77 - Exercise 2

Page 77 - Exercise 2

The European Union

In the first half of the 20th century, Europe saw to huge wars. The first world war 1914 to 1918 and the second world war, 1939 to 1945. Millions of people were killed and cities were destroyed. People didn’t want another war. So some European governments decided to work together and so the European Union was born. It wasn’t originally called the EU. It was called the EEC, which stands for the European economic community. In 1957, EEC was created by the Treaty of Rome. Six countries signed the Treaty in 1957, France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. In 1973, Denmark, Ireland and the UK joined. And they were followed in the 1980s by Greece, Portugal and Spain. In 1992, these 12 countries signed the Maastricht treaty and change the name to the European Union or the EU. Between then and 2007 15 more countries, mostly in Central and Eastern Europe joined the union. The EU is now the third largest economic area in the world after China and India. The EU is run by the European commission. Its offices are in Brussels. There’s also the European Parliament in Strasbourg and the European Central Bank in Frankfurt. The EU also has its own flag. It’s blue with a circle of 12 gold stars because there were 12 members when it was chosen in 1986. The European anthem is owed to Joy by Beethoven. The original EEC was just an economic area, but today the EU deals with many other things. Including education, culture and the environment. The EU is still changing. Several more countries want to join. We don’t know what the EU will be like in the future. However, we know that for over 50 years. The EU was helped to bring peace to Europe.