An Alphabetical Guide to Europe for Beginners
A is for Accession. Applicants for membership of the EU have to sign an accession treaty. Ten new States did so in Athens in April 2003 and became members from May 2004. A is also for Acquis Communautaire, effectively all the EU Member States’ shared rights and obligations. The “acquis” includes all EU laws, treaties and declarations, as well as EU international agreements on EU affairs and judgments of the European Court of Justice.
B is for Berlaymont, the modernist HQ of the EU Commission in Brussels, long vacated for renovation and asbestos removal and not reoccupied until 2004.
C is for the Council of Europe, not to be confused with the European Council, or the EU Council of Ministers! The Council of Europe is based in Strasbourg, alongside - but wholly separate and different from - the EU Parliament. It was established in 1949 and currently has 44 European Member States. The Council of Europe established the European Convention on Human Rights in Rome in 1950. C is also for CAP, the Common Agricultural Policy. And C is for the EU Constitution, decided upon by all 25 Member States in 2004, subject to ratification by national parliaments or through referenda. The Constitution was famously rejected by the French referendum and its future is uncertain.
D is for Directives. EU law requires its Directives to be enacted into Member States’ own national law within a specifed time. If a State refuses to adopt a Directive, it may become binding on that State anyway.
E is for the European Union (EU) and for the European Council (EC), comprised of the EU Member States’ elected heads of state or government, plus the President of the European Commission (which is effectively the civil service of the EU, responsible for drafting EU legislation). E is also for the European Court of Justice, in Luxembourg. The ECJ adjudicates under EU treaties and is the final interpreter of EU legal issues under EU treaties. The courts of Member States can refer cases to the ECJ for such interpretation. And E is for ECHR, the European Court of Human Rights, established by the Council of Europe and based in Strasbourg, which considers individuals’ complaints against States’ infringements of the European Convention on Human Rights, derived from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
F is for the Four Freedoms, established by the Treaty of Rome: The free movement of goods, services, capital and people, within the EU. These principles were extended under the "internal market” rules introduced by the Single European Act, signed in 1986.
G is for the G8, a group of the world's richest and most powerful countries, which meets regularly to discuss currency issues and other topics. G8 comprises USA, UK, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Italy and Russia.
H is for the 1969 Hague Summit, when the EU resolved to negotiate enlargement, leading to the accession of the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark and Norway. The Hague Summit also initiated the extension of EU foreign policy and the steps towards Economic and Monetary Union.
I is for the International Court of Justice in the Hague, the United Nations’ main judicial body. I is also for the International Criminal Court, established by the UN in 2002 and whose jurisdiction remains unrecognized by USA.
J is for Jurisconsult, the EU Parliament’s legal adviser.
K is for the Kyoto Protocol, the 1997 UN climate summit, which agreed to limit atmospheric emissions by 5% a year, to counter global warming. The EU accepted a target reduction of 8% a year by 2008-12.
L is for the Lisbon Treaty, eventually ratified in 2007, stated to be intended to enhance "the efficiency and democratic legitimacy of the Union and to [improve] the coherence of its action."
M is for Member States. There are currently 25 EU member States. M is also for the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, since when the EEC has been known as the EC. John Major’s government kept the UK out of the Social Protocol, agreed at Mastricht, but it was subsequently ratified by Tony Blair’s government. The so called “Maastricht Criteria” are supposed to govern when the UK will join the single currency States who introduced the Euro (formerly the ECU) in January 2002.
N is for NON!, famously uttered by General de Gaulle in response to the UK’s application for EU membership in 1967. However, after De Gaulle’s political defeat in 1969, the UK had another chance and joined in 1973, ratified by a referendum in 1975, in which 67.2% of Britons voted for continued membership of the EC (as it then was).
O is for Official Languages of the EU, of which there are currently 20. O is also for Opt-out, which is another word for derogation, more popular with the UK than the EU, which prefers consistency. The EU Commission wants identical laws across the whole of Europe.
P is for Presidency of the European Council, held on a revolving 6 monthly basis by Member States. P is also for Parliament. The EU Parliament sits in Brussels and Strasbourg, currently with 732 elected MEPs representing all EU member states.
Q is for Qualified Majority Voting. The Council of the EU makes decisions by voting on most issues. Each country has a number of votes, relative to the size of its population. Thus France, Germany, Italy and the UK all have 29 votes and smaller countries have proportionately less. There must be a “qualified majority” in favour of a proposal for it to be adopted by the Council, i.e. at least 232 of the total 321. In addition, a majority of States (in some cases at least two thirds) must be in favour.
R is for Rome, Treaty of, 1957, the founding statute of the European Economic Community, as from January 1958. The original six signatories were Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and Netherlands.
S is for Schengen, the 1985 EU treaty (ratified by Mrs Thatcher) that introduced common travel areas without internal borders (not ratified by Mrs Thatcher!) and Subsidiarity, the principle that any decision ought to be made at its most local level.
T is for Twelve, the number of EU states until 1995 and the number of stars on the EU flag.
U is for the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaimed in Paris in 1948 by the General Assembly of the United Nations.
V is for VAT. All EU Member States are required to impose VAT at a rate between 15% and 25% on products and services, with few exceptions (known as derogations).
W is for Working Time: A 48 hour working week (with some derogations) was adopted for the EU as a whole in 1993 under provisions of the Single European Act Treaty.
X is for Xenophobia, not dissimilar to Europhobia, but more generalised.
Y is for Yugoslavia, the former Balkan federal republic that encompassed Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia, and Macedonia.
Z is for Schengen Zone countries, currently including some Non-EU States but excluding some EU States, specifically UK and Ireland.
