So - you want to know about the European Union do you? The first thing to remember is that Europe is a continent, that is an area of land. This land happens to be made up of many countries, some of which have joined together to form a union. This has happened many times in history. Sometimes France and Britain were enemies, sometimes they were on the same side (allies). The European Union started to be thought about after World War II, but it didn't really get going until a few decades later.
HOW DID THE EUROPEAN UNION CAME ABOUT?
IS THERE ANY MORE ABOUT THE EU (Official website)
The Second World War ended in 1945. It had been a time of terrible destruction and killing, and it had started in Europe. How could the leaders of European countries stop such dreadful things from ever happening again? They needed a really good plan that had never been tried before.
A Frenchman called Jean Monnet thought hard about this. He realised that there were two things
a country needed before it could make war: iron for producing steel (to make tanks, guns, bombs
and so on) and coal to provide the energy for factories and railways.
Europe had plenty of iron and steel: that’s why European countries had easily been able to make weapons and go to war.
So Jean Monnet came up with a very daring new idea. His idea was that the governments of France and Germany — and perhaps of other European countries too — should no longer run their own coal and steel industries. Instead, these industries should be organised by people from all the countries involved, and they would sit around a table and discuss and decide things together. That way, war between them would be impossible!
He convinced the French and German leaders and also the leaders of Belgium, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. They all decided to put their coal and steel industries together and to form a club they called the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). It would work for peaceful purposes and help rebuild Europe from the ruins of war. The ECSC was set up in 1951.
The Common Market
The six countries got on so well working together that they soon decided to start another club, called the European Economic Community (EEC). It was set up in 1957.
One of the main ideas was that the EEC countries would share a ‘common market’, to make it easier to trade together. Until then, lorries and trains and barges carrying goods from one country to another always had to stop at the border, and papers had to be checked and money called ‘customs duties’ had to be paid. This held things up and made goods from abroad more expensive.
The point of having a common market was to get rid of all those border checks and delays and customs duties, and to allow countries to trade with one another just as if they were all one single country.
From EEC to European Union
The common market was soon making life easier for people in the EEC. They had more money to spend, more food to eat and more varied things in their shops. Other neighbouring countries saw this and, in the 1960s, some of them began asking whether they too could join the club. After years of discussions, Britain, Denmark and Ireland joined in 1973. It was the turn of Greece in 1981, followed by Portugal and Spain in 1986, Austria, Finland and Sweden in 1995. So now the club had 15 members.
Because of the changes that had happened over the years, the club was so different and so much more united that, in 1992, it decided to change its name to the ‘European Union’ (EU).
Enlargement
For many years, the eastern and western parts of Europe had been kept apart. They weren’t at war, but their leaders disagreed strongly. The rulers of the eastern part believed in a system of government called ‘Communism’ which did not allow people much freedom. Because of the way they were governed, those countries were poor compared to western Europe. In the late 20th century, these countries broke away from their communist ideas and became 'free.' They soon began asking whether they could join the European Union, and soon there was quite a queue of ‘candidate’ countries waiting to become EU members.
Before a country can join the European Union, its economy has to be working well. It also has to be democratic — in other words, its people must be free to choose who they want to govern them. And it must respect human rights. (Human rights include the right to say what you think, the right not to be put in prison without a fair trial, the right not to be tortured, and many other important rights as well).
A lot of what the EU does is about bringing people in Europe closer together. Why not have a conversation with your friends about how they celebrate christmas. In one small classroom you will find lots of very different ways of doing things. Some children are up at five, ripping open presents. Others have to wait for Auntie Beryl to come before opening them. Imagine the differences in the way different countries run things. The EU tries to make things run more smoothly by getting everyone to agree on one way to do things. The areas in which it works are:
Money - the Euro is an attempt to have everyone use the same money, that way there is no awkward conversions;
Justice - the EU try to make rules and laws the same throughout Europe;
Environment - the EU try to make sure that all countries take care of their environment;
Peace - Soldiers help in areas where there is war. There has also been a very long period of peace in Europe;
Aid - the EU give money and aid to less well off countries:
Trade - the EU tries to make it easier for companies to trade around Europe. This is the main reason for starting the EU and still one of its main functions.
It tries to make it easier for Europeans to buy and sell things to each other. This is done by changing the rules that control trade.
These are some of the main parts of the EU.
The European Parliament
This makes laws and helps to decide how much money the EU should spend. It also checks that all the other parts of the EU are working fairly.
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are elected every five years. Anyone over 18 from a member country may vote.
Council of the European Union
This is where the EU's big decisions are normally made. It's like a school council, but instead of people from each year there are people from each country. Who turns up depends on what the council is talking about. If they are talking about farms then the 25 ministers for farming would go along, one from the government of each country.
The European Commission
The European Commission does the day-to-day work of running the EU. It does things like making sure that that the laws the European Parliament passes are used properly.
The presidency
Every six months a different country gets the presidency of the EU. With 25 members the UK's turn only comes round every 12 and a half years.
There's a big argument going on about this. It is mostly between these two groups of people.
Anti-Europeans (Eurosceptics)
These are people who think that getting more closely involved with Europe is a bad idea. Some Eurosceptics feel that the UK is different from other European countries. They are often worried that the UK is losing its independence and identity.
Pro-Europeans
They think being in the EU is a good idea and often want the UK to start using the Euro currency. Pro-Europe people think Britain will benefit from being part of a larger group of countries. They often argue that Britain is in danger of being left behind by the rest of the EU if it doesn't join the Euro.