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30th Anniversary of the European Union

Posted by (northern CA) on

On 01 November 1993, the European Union was formally established. The EU was a product of The Maastricht Treaty, which had been drafted in 1991 by delegates from the European Community Meeting at Maastricht in the Netherlands. They proposed strengthening the European parliament, creating a central European bank, and sharing common citizen rights, security, and foreign policies. The treaty also called for a single European currency, the “euro.” The idea of Europe forming a kind of super-bloc wasn’t new; the idea had been bandied about by Winston Churchill back in 1946, when he called for a “kind of United States of Europe” in a speech at Zurich.

By 1993, 12 nations had ratified the Maastricht Treaty, including Great Britain, France, Denmark, the Irish Republic, and Greece. In all, 28 countries decided to join the EU and open their borders to trade and travel.

On 23 June 2016, a referendum took place in the United Kingdom. “Brexit” was shorthand for whether or not Great Britain should “exit” the EU. Anyone of voting age could take part and nearly 30 million people did. 51.9 percent of voters voted to leave the European Union.

After the results of the referendum, Theresa May, Britain’s prime minister, said: “The victors have the responsibility to act magnanimously. The losers have the responsibility to respect the legitimacy of the result. And the country comes together. Now we need to put an end to the division and the language associated with it — leaver and remainer and all the accompanying insults — and unite to make a success of Brexit and build a truly global Britain.”

https://www.britannica.com/topic/European-Union

Posted by
2772 posts

I wonder how much space was taken up in the early Rick Steves' Europe guidebooks by info about currency exchange and border crossings that the new generation of travelers doesn't have to worry about. I suppose that goes for paper rail passes and plane tickets, too.

Posted by
113 posts

The historical evolution of what is now the European Union can be simplified to some key dates, as follows:

  • creation of the European Union of Coal and Steel in 1951 with the Treaty of Paris, effective July 23, 1952 - with the "original six countries", France, West-Germany, Italy and the 3 Benelux countires

  • European Economic Community with the Treaty of Rome of March 25, 1957, with the same original 6 countries, and progesssively enlarged to 12 countries by adding Denmark, Ireland and Great Britain (1973), Greece (1981), Spain and Portugal (1986)

  • European Union with the Treaty of Maastricht of November 1, 1993, progressively enlarged to 28 countries, and then reduced with the notorious Brexit of Great Britain leaving the Union, based on a referendum held in 2016.

The European flag with 12 stars has not been changed because of later additional countires.

For more details, see the Britannica article referenced by avirosemail.

Posted by
568 posts

Cheers to the EU!

When I regard world history over the last 30 years, it's mostly been negative. The formation of the EU is one of the few positives.

There are four major power centers in the world: US, Russia, China and the EU. For me, the EU is the one consistently positive major center of power and, unfortunately, the smallest.

Posted by
14997 posts

On the theme of unity, commonality, reconciliation, the year 2023 marks the 60th anniversary of the policy of normalisation and reconciliation between France and Germany undertaken by Adenauer and De Gaulle in 1963, die Aussoehnungspolitik, a cornerstone of Franco-German policy promoted by every French government from center-right to Socialist and every German government from center-right to center-left ever since.

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