"fossil fuel plants than clean renewable energies, sparking several critics. Actually, transition plans did not meet their short-term goals and will hardly meet their medium-term goals; fossil fuel prices and technology are still more efficient, cheaper and easier to implement than heavily state-subsidised solar and wind power generation. Nuclear power in the European Union Nuclear power in the European Union accounted for approximately 15% of total energy consumption in 2005. The energy policies of the European Union (EU) member countries vary significantly. As of January 2010, 14 out of 27 countries have nuclear reactors. The countries with reactors are: Belgium,"
"thus essentially preventing it from participating in Government. The European Union (EU) is an association of twenty-eight sovereign member states, that by treaty have delegated certain of their competences to common institutions, in order to coordinate their policies in a number of areas, without however constituting a new state on top of the member states. Officially established by the Treaty of Maastricht in 1993 upon the foundations of the pre-existing European Economic Community. Thus, 12 states are founding members, namely, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and the United Kingdom. In 1995, Austria, Finland"
"Trade within the Union accounts for more than one-third of the world total. The European Union or EU is a supranational union of 28 European states, the most recent acceding member being Croatia, which became full member on 1 July 2013. It has many functions, the most important being the establishment and maintenance of a common single market, consisting of a customs union, a single currency (adopted by 18 of the 28 member states), a Common Agricultural Policy and a Common Fisheries Policy. The European Union also undertakes various initiatives to co-ordinate activities of the member states. The union has"
"the 15 countries of the European Union (a.k.a. ""EU-15""): Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden & United Kingdom. In April 1998, French newspaper ""Ouest-France""’s Patrick La Prairie proposed the organisation of a European mottoes contest for the, then 15, EU members' secondary education students. This event was meant as a 50-year celebration of Founding father of the European Union Robert Schuman's famous declaration about a supranational Community which eventually led to the creation of the actual European Union. Back in 1998, the European Union had already a flag of Europe, and anthem"
"The European Union has 28 member states and 7 candidates. See the geography of each state: Most of the European Union is on the European continent. The only member state of the EU which is wholly outside of Europe is Cyprus, which is in Asia. The EU includes less than half of the territory of Europe. Significant parts of the continent especially in the east (e.g. European Russia, Ukraine, Belarus) and smaller parts in the north and centre are not part of the EU. The member states of the EU have land borders with 19 other nations. It is estimated"
"Member state of the European Union The European Union (EU) consists of 28 member states. Each member state is party to the founding treaties of the union and thereby subject to the privileges and obligations of membership. Unlike members of most international organisations, the member states of the EU are subjected to binding laws in exchange for representation within the common legislative and judicial institutions. Member states must agree unanimously for the EU to adopt policies concerning defence and foreign policy. Subsidiarity is a founding principle of the EU. In 1957, six core states founded the EU's predecessor, the European"
"the creation of the EU in November 1993, it has enlarged to include a further sixteen countries by July 2013. Member states are represented in some form in each institution. The Council is also composed of one national minister who represents their national government. Each state also has a right to one European Commissioner each, although in the European Commission they are not supposed to represent their national interest but that of the Community. Prior to 2004, the larger members (France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom) had two Commissioners. In the European Parliament, members are allocated a set number"
"the most ambitious in comparison to other regional trade groups. It progressed from being the European Economic Community (EEC) to the European Community (EC) to finally the European Union. Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland who decided not to leave European Free Trade Area are linked together with the EU as a customs union. The EU comprises 28 countries, including 12 countries from mostly Central and Eastern Europe that joined since 2004. The EU abolished trade barriers on intra-zonal trade, instituted a common external tariff, created a common currency, the euro. The implications of the EU for corporate strategy are: NAFTA"
"of the Iron Curtain and the collapse of the Eastern Bloc of Communist states. After the end of the Cold War, the EU expanded eastward to include the former Communist countries. As of 2017, the EU has 28 member states. However there are a number of other international organisations made up predominantly of European nations, or explicitly claiming a European origin, including the 47-nation Council of Europe - the first post-war European organisation, regarded as a fore-runner to the European Union - and the 57-nation Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). Despite vastly improved relations between Russia and"
"established a parliament, court and central bank and introduced the euro as a unified currency. Between 2004 and 2013, more Central and Eastern European countries began joining, expanding the EU to its current size of 28 European countries, and once more making Europe a major economical and political centre of power. However, in June 2016 the people of the United Kingdom, in a non-binding referendum on EU membership voted to leave the European Union. Europe makes up the western fifth of the Eurasian landmass. It has a higher ratio of coast to landmass than any other continent or subcontinent. Its"
"Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and United Kingdom. Croatia, Cyprus, Liechtenstein, and Turkey joined in 2001. In 2003, Albania, Andorra, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Holy See (a Council of Europe permanent observer), Macedonia, Russia, and Serbia signed the convention. Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova and Ukraine followed in 2005. Montenegro joined in 2007. Finally, Kazakhstan (not a member of the Council of Europe) joined in 2010. This makes a total of 47 member states. Monaco and"
"of the EEC upon German reunification in 1990. Following the creation of the EU in 1993, it has enlarged to include an additional sixteen countries by 2013. Member states are represented in some form in each institution. The Council is also composed of one national minister who represents their national government. Each state also has a right to one European Commissioner each, although in the European Commission they are not supposed to represent their national interest but that of the Community. Prior to 2004, the larger members (France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom) have had two Commissioners. In the"
"so the current members are the EU states plus Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. A Joint Committee consisting of the non EU members plus the European Commission (representing the EU) has the function of extending relevant EU Law to the non EU members. The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a confederation consisting of 9 of the 15 states of the former Soviet Union, (the exceptions being the three Baltic states, Georgia, Turkmenistan, and Ukraine (Turkmenistan and Ukraine are participating states in the CIS)). Although the CIS has few supranational powers, it is more than a purely symbolic organization and possesses"
"the European Union in a referendum. The vote was in favour of leaving the EU by a margin of 51.9% in favour to 48.1% against. History of the European Union The European Union is a geo-political entity covering a large portion of the European continent. It is founded upon numerous treaties and has undergone expansions that have taken it from 6 member states to 28, a majority of the states in Europe. Apart from the ideas of federation, confederation, or customs union, the original development of the European Union was based on a supranational foundation that would ""make war unthinkable"
"and cultural) integration of European states as it has been pursued by the powers sponsoring the Council of Europe since the end of World War II The European Union has been the focus of economic integration on the continent since its foundation in 1993. More recently, the Eurasian Economic Union has been established as a counterpart comprising former Soviet states. 28 European states are members of the politico-economic European Union, 26 of the border-free Schengen Area and 19 of the monetary union Eurozone. Among the smaller European organizations are the Nordic Council, the Benelux, the Baltic Assembly and the Visegrád"
"today comprises 43 members: 28 European Union member states, and 15 partner countries (Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Monaco, Montenegro, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia, as well as the Palestinian Territories). Libya has had observer status since 1999. The Euro-Mediterranean Free Trade Area (EU-MEFTA) is based on the Barcelona Process and European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP). It will cover the EU, the EFTA, the EU customs unions with third states (Andorra, San Marino, and Turkey), the EU candidate states, and the partners of the Barcelona Process. The Union for the Mediterranean is a community of countries,"
"Ireland joined on 31 December 1975. In 1987, Austria and Norway became member states. Finland joined in 1995, Portugal in 2000, Greece and Luxembourg in 2005, the Czech Republic in 2008, and Romania in 2011. Currently, it has 20 member states: all the EU member states before 2004, plus Czech Republic, Norway, Poland, Romania, and Switzerland. In addition, Canada has had the special status of a Cooperating State under a series of cooperation agreements dating since 1979. The political perspective of the European Union is to make ESA an agency of the EU by 2014. ESA is likely to expand"
"Europe, which now comprises 47 states in Europe. Therefore, European integration has practically succeeded at the level of the Council of Europe, encompassing almost the whole European continent, with the exception of Kazakhstan and Belarus, the latter due to its still non-democratic government. European integration at the level of the Council of Europe functions through the accession of member states to its conventions, and through political coordination at the level of ministerial conferences and inter-parliamentary sessions. In accordance with its Statute of 1949, the Council of Europe works to achieve greater unity among its members based on common values, such"
"Austria and Finland (which had joined EFTA in 1986) in 1995, leaving only Norway and Switzerland as the remaining members of the original outer seven, although EFTA had gained two new members (Iceland and Liechtenstein) in the intervening time. On the other hand, membership of the Communities, now the European Union (EU), has reached 28. Today, there are still some groups within the European Union integrating faster than others, for example; the eurozone and Schengen Area (see: Opt-outs in the European Union). The Treaty of Lisbon includes provisions for a group of countries to integrate without the inclusions of others"
"states as of 2016: 28 EU member states, as well as three of the four member states of the EFTA (Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway). The Agreement is applied provisionally with respect to Croatia—the remaining and most recent EU member state—pending ratification of its accession by all EEA parties. One EFTA member, Switzerland, has not joined the EEA, but has a series of bilateral agreements with the EU which allow it also to participate in the internal market. In the late 1980s, the EFTA member states, led by Sweden, began looking at options to join the then-European Communities. The reasons identified"
"to prevent the conflict, though the zone is now within its sphere of enlargement. The EU now comprises 28 countries with majority of European non-member states seeking membership (twelve countries joined the EU in 2000s). In addition to that, most countries which remain outside are tied to the EU by economic agreements and treaties such as the European Economic Area. Within the zone of integration, there has been no conflict since 1945, making it the longest period of peace on the western European mainland since Pax Romana. The European Union was awarded the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize in recognition of"
"seventeen states have signed all integration agreements: Austria, Belgium, Finland, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain. The agreements considered include the fifth stage of economic integration or EMU, the Schengen agreement and the Common Security and Defence Policy. Thus, among the 28 EU countries, 19 have joined the Eurozone, 22 have joined Schengen, and 27 compose the European Military. Further, some countries which do not belong to the EU have joined several of these initiatives, albeit sometimes at a lower stage such as the Customs Union, the Common Market (EEA), or"
"History of the European Union The European Union is a geo-political entity covering a large portion of the European continent. It is founded upon numerous treaties and has undergone expansions that have taken it from 6 member states to 28, a majority of the states in Europe. Apart from the ideas of federation, confederation, or customs union, the original development of the European Union was based on a supranational foundation that would ""make war unthinkable and materially impossible"" and reinforce democracy amongst its members as laid out by Robert Schuman and other leaders in the Schuman Declaration (1950) and the"
"Parties in the European Council between July and December 2013 Since 1 July 2013 the European Union have twenty-eight members. Croatia joined the Union, therefore forcing a change of the influence each member-state has, as well as its Qualified Majority Voting. This article describes the party affiliations of leaders of each member-state represented in the European Council during the year 2013. The list below gives the political party that each head of government, or head of state, belongs to at the national level, as well as the European political alliance to which that national party belongs. The states are listed"
"Member states of the Council of Europe The Council of Europe was founded on 5 May 1949 by ten western and northern European states, with Greece and Turkey joining three months later, and Iceland and West Germany joining the next year. It now has 47 member states, with Montenegro being the latest to join. Article 4 of the Council of Europe Statute specifies that membership is open to any European country, provided they meet specific democratic and human rights standards. Nearly all European states have acceded to the Council of Europe, with the exception of Belarus, the Vatican City, predominantly"
"countries of Austria, Finland and Sweden acceded to the new European Union, though Switzerland, which applied in 1992, froze its application due to opposition from voters while Norway, which had applied once more, had its voters reject membership again. Meanwhile, the members of the former Eastern Bloc and Yugoslavia were all starting to move towards EU membership. Eight of these, plus Cyprus and Malta, joined in a major enlargement on 1 May 2004 symbolising the unification of East and Western Europe in the EU. They were followed by Bulgaria and Romania in 2007, then Croatia in 2013. The EU has"
"may apply to join the EU. Whether a country is European or not is subject to political assessment by the EU institutions. Past enlargement has brought membership to twenty-eight members since the foundation of the European Union (EU) as the European Economic Community by the Inner Six states in 1958. The three major western European countries that are not EU members, Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland, have all submitted membership applications in the past, but subsequently froze them. They do however, along with Liechtenstein, participate in the EU Single Market as well as the Schengen Area, which makes them closely aligned"
"28 member states of the EU plus EFTA countries Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein) plus Switzerland and Turkey. The manufacturer of products made within the EEA and the importer of goods made in other countries must ensure that CE-marked goods conform to standards. , CE marking was not required by countries of the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), but members Republic of Macedonia, Serbia, and Montenegro had applied for membership of the European Union, and were adopting many of its standards within their legislation (as did most Central European former member countries of CEFTA that joined the EU, before joining)."
"on its membership of the European Union was held in 2016, with 51.9% of participants voting to leave. The UK formally notified the European Council of its decision to leave on 29 March 2017 initiating the formal withdrawal procedure for leaving the EU, committing the UK to leave the EU on 29 March 2019. The following timeline illustrates the integration that has led to the formation of the present union, in terms of structural development driven by international treaties: , the population of the European Union was about 510.1 million people (6.9% of the world population). In 2015, 5.1 million"
"only 22 of the EU members. However the majority of these are in the process of joining these blocs. A number of countries outside the EU are involved in certain EU activities such as the euro, Schengen, single market or defence. The primary institutions of the European Union are the European Commission, the European Council, the Council of the European Union (Council) and the European Parliament. The ordinary legislative procedure, applies to nearly all EU policy areas. Under the procedure, the Commission presents a proposal to Parliament and the Council. They then send amendments to the Council which can either"
"been accorded ""Partner for democracy"" status: Member states of the Council of Europe The Council of Europe was founded on 5 May 1949 by ten western and northern European states, with Greece and Turkey joining three months later, and Iceland and West Germany joining the next year. It now has 47 member states, with Montenegro being the latest to join. Article 4 of the Council of Europe Statute specifies that membership is open to any European country, provided they meet specific democratic and human rights standards. Nearly all European states have acceded to the Council of Europe, with the exception"
"even unilaterally adopting the euro; by taking part in Schengen, either as a signatory state, or ""de facto""; or by joining some common military forces. Thus, six non-EU countries have adopted the euro (four through an agreement with the EU and two unilaterally), four non-EU states have joined the Schengen agreement officially, and other countries have joined common military corps. The following table shows the status of each state membership to the different agreements promoted by the EU. It lists 45 countries, including the 28 EU member states, 5 candidate states, members of EEA (2 countries plus one EU candidate),"
"a total of 2,321 people (on 1 January 2010) are doing salaried work for the CoE. Most offices in foreign countries are expected to be closed as well. The Council of Europe was founded on 5 May 1949 by Belgium, Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Greece and Turkey joined three months later, and Iceland and West Germany the next year. It now has 47 member states, with Montenegro being the latest to join. Article 4 of the Council of Europe Statute specifies that membership is open to any ""European"" State. This has been"