European Union - Unión Europea

European Union.

Understand

It is a commercial bloc and an international organization at the European level dedicated to increasing economic and political integration among its member states, and strengthening cooperation between them.

The special political relations translate into the establishment of the same Legal System, and in the existence and functioning of its own community institutions. The primacy or precedence of Community law over national law applies where there has been a transfer of powers (and in those cases where national rules collide with Community rules). In reality, Community law is not superior to the internal law of the Member States of the Union, but is integrated into it coexisting in an interdependent manner (Community law is not supra-constitutional, but rather meta-constitutional or para-constitutional).

The EU was established by the members of the European Community (EC) on November 1, 1993, when the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) came into force, granting European citizenship to the citizens of each state. Customs and immigration agreements were also intensified, relaxing border controls in order to allow European citizens greater freedom to live, work or study in any of the member states.

The European Union has several capitals or headquarters. Thus, the Council of Europe and the European Commission are in Brussels; the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Brussels Y Luxembourg and the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.

The EU has a total area of ​​4,308,112 km². Has borders with Norway, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Turkey, Swiss, Croatia, Albania, Serbia, North macedonia, Andorra, San Marino, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Vatican City, Moldova Y Morocco.

Member States of the Union

Germany / Deutschland / DEU

Austria / Österreich / AUS

Bulgaria / България / BLG

Belgium België / Belgique / BEL

Cyprus / Κύπρος / CYP

Denmark / Danmark / DEN

Slovakia / Slovensko / SLQ

Slovenia / Slovenija / SLO

Spain / Spain / ESP

Estonia / Eesti / EST

Finland / Suomi / FIN

France / France / FRA

Greece / Ελλάδα / GRE

Hungary / Magyarország / HUN

Ireland / Éire / IRL

Italy / Italy / ITA

Latvia / Latvija / LET

Lithuania / Lietuva / LIT

Luxembourg / Letzebuerg / LUX

Malta / Malta / MAL

Netherlands / Nederland / HOL

Poland / Polska / POL

Portugal / Portugal / POR

United Kingdom / United Kingdom of Great Britain and North Ireland / UK

Czech Republic / Česka R. / CZE

Romania / România / ROU

Sweden / Sverige / SVE

Countries with the possibility of joining the EU

  • Norway, rejected membership on two occasions, in 1972 and later in 1994 by popular referendum, although it is a signatory of almost all the treaties of the EU.
  • Iceland, has never expressed its interest in joining for fear of losing its privileges on fishing and whaling, although like Norway it is a signatory of almost all the treaties EU.

The statute of Kosovo it is still without final determination. At the moment this territory is considered an autonomous province of Serbia by almost half of the members of the UN, and among these Spain.

Although they are part of Denmark, Greenland and the islands Faroe, they remained at EU and then they requested their departure, considering that it did not benefit their small population at all, more than anything it is because they have the benefit of hunting and fishing for whales and seals that are basic foods in the diet of its inhabitants.

To get

Arriving in the European Union from other continents is generally done by air, and from the Asian continent also by road or rail.The most important airports in the Union are the airports of London Heathrow, Paris Charles de Gaulle, Amsterdam Schipol, Frankfurt, Madrid Decks, Rome Fiumiccino, Milan Malpensa, although after the entry into the Union of the countries of central and eastern Europe, the airports of Prague in the Czech Republic, Bucharest Otopeni, and that of Athens in Greece

Travel

The EU-27 has adopted a border crossing system called Schengen Treaty, that is, a person who in their country of origin requests an entry visa in the EU-27 You can visit and enter any member state of the EU signatory of the said treaty during the time that stipulates the duration of the visa, as a general rule a visa Schengen has a maximum duration of 90 business days, although each member state of the EU reserves the right to be able to issue its own visas that will not have the right to apply the Schengen Treaty. The Schengen Treaty offers greater freedom of movement, when visiting certain countries or areas of the EU, and its application benefits nationals EU-27 when looking for a job or choosing a destination as a habitual residence.

Signatory states of the Schengen Treaty:

Currency

  • The currency of the EU (the Euro / ευρώ) was officially born in 1999 in January, being the successor of the ECU, European Currency Unit, initially trading fictitiously on the stock exchanges, among the first countries to adopt it in 2002 and the rest of the world, although as a real currency it began its journey in January 2002 . (€ symbol). The European Central Bank has more information on the single European currency.
  • Not all states belonging to the EU-27 they use the euro !.

Member states EU that have the Euro as their national currency, or the so-called Eurozone it is:

  • United Kingdom, Denmark Y Sweden They have for the moment expressed their rejection of entering the Eurozone, although it is thought that in the end they will adopt the single currency in the next decade.
  • Even if it does not belong to the EU nor to the Eurozone, Andorra, Monaco, San Marino (linked to the national monetary system of the Spanish, French and Italian bank respectively), Kosovo, Montenegro and the Vatican City they all use the Euro as their national currency!

Euro notes are identical for all countries and are presented in notes of 5,10,20,50,100,200 and 500 Euros, and the coins are called euro cents, the obverse is different and bears the identity of the countries that have it implemented as national currency, and the reverse is identical for all countries.The coins are presented in 1,2,5,10,20,50 euro cents

Exchange rates

  • The exchange rates are for informational purposes, you will have to check with your bank about the exchange rates on currencies!
  • 1€= 1,31 US $ US dollar (December 2010)
  • 1€= 0,84 GBP pound sterling
  • 1€= 1,31 CHF Swiss franc
  • 1€= 5,25 ARS Argentine peso
  • 1€= 639,40 CLP Chilean peso
  • 1€= 16,28 MXN Mexican / Mexican peso
  • 1€= 2,24 BRL Brazilian real
  • 1€= 8,03 NOK The Norwegian crown
  • 1€= 3,72 PEN peruvian new sun
  • 1€= 1,95 TRY Turkish Lira

Respect

Today's European society is a society created and based on mutual respect for its neighbors and its inhabitants, after centuries of quarrels and wars that struck the old continent, separating countries and inhabitants, the idea of ​​a United europeAn eternal dream but never fulfilled, it was born after the Second World War when almost the entire continent was submerged in total destruction and famine, creating massive waves of immigration, beginning with the great migration of Jews to the newly created state of Israel after the war, through Spanish migration to central and northern Europe through the Americas, Portuguese, Italian, English, Irish migration, and recent migration from countries that have never known migratory movements such as Romanian migratory movements, Bulgarians, Latvians, Poles after the fall of the Wall of Berlin. Europe has in mind his warlike past and his recent event of going blank with the war of the formerYugoslavia fact that left marked the EU.

Europeans' fear that the union is a resemblance to their eternal ally United States of AmericaThey put the member states in check and some treaties had to be modified so that the union does not resemble at all in the same constitution as its main ally and economic rival.

  • Try never to mention the Nazi past of Germany it is still an open wound and its inhabitants should not currently pay for the errors that occurred although German society is very aware of the issue!
  • In Spain, Portugal, or France try not to remove the past from the conquests or the looting of the conquerors in the Americas, the current Spanish, Portuguese or French society has nothing to do with what happened more than 500 years ago!
  • Never say that territories that currently countries like France, Netherlands, Spain or United Kingdom they have like colonies It is an insult, because the same countries consider them as part of the country and do not have the status of colonies, the citizens of these territories are considered nationals belonging to the corresponding country, in the case of France called overseas territories those of United Kingdom called Commonwelth, in the case of Spain called Autonomous cities or insular autonomous community, except France Y Netherlands that respect the territorial autonomy of their overseas departments, in relation to the EU these territories are considered outermost.

Keep in touch

If your mobile operator is based in the European Union, as of June 15, 2017 the default is for roaming to be no more expensive than home use. Called "roaming like home", this means that, in theory at least, any use of mobile services in the EU should first be charged to the national allocations of your package before the Eurotariff unitary .the charges below are effective. However, many exceptions apply, especially if your provider is based in an EU country where the norm is a) to offer unlimited mobile data at extremely cheap rates or b) price data based on the number of days one you want to use it for or the maximum speed (for example, Finland). Furthermore, to further prevent abuse of the scheme and discourage "full-time" or "permanent" roaming users, an increasing number of EU member states are passing laws requiring those who purchase a mobile plan to provide evidence of links with the country where the mobile is located. provider relies on (eg tax number, identification number) to at least activate roaming services. This means that non-EU residents will not be able to fully benefit from the "roaming like home" scheme, depending on the EU countries included in their itinerary. See this EU website for more information on roaming policy exceptions and restrictions.

The Eurotariff , which dictates the maximum roaming surcharge and the maximum cost included, applies anywhere in the EU, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein (since May 2016 and July 2014, it must also apply to exceptions to the 2017 rules; VAT not included):

GuyMaximum surchargeMaximum cost
Outgoing voice calls (every minute)0,05 €0,19 €
Incoming voice calls (every minute)0,0108 €0,05 €
Outgoing texts (all SMS messages)0,02 €0,06 €
Online (data download, every megabyte)0,05 €0,20 €

Be careful what network you connect to. At the EU border or in international waters (a GSM network inside the ship may have satellite connections), your phone may choose a network outside the EU, for which the maximums do not apply; prices can be outrageous. When likely, be sure to choose the network manually or verify the network used before each call.

While you are roaming in the EU, you will receive an SMS with the current rates every time you change networks.

If you want to use a provider from a non-EU country, these roaming savings are not applied automatically and although your provider may offer roaming packages, these do come with surcharges.

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