【明報專訊】◆Profile
The European Union
(EU, 歐洲聯盟)
Founded in 1993
Political centres︰
．Luxembourg, Luxembourg
．Strasbourg, France
．Brussels, Belgium
Current President of the European Council: Herman Van Rompuy (范龍佩)
Number of member states: 27
◆History and Mission
The European Union may be traced back to 1952, when the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), to which six European countries belonged, came into being. In 1957, the European Economic Community (EEC) was established under the Treaty of Rome. It subsequently became the European Community (EC). Not until 1993 did the ECSC, the EC and the EURATOM (the European Atomic Energy Community, 歐洲原子能共同體) merge into the EU. The body was then transformed into an economic and political partnership. Between 1952 and 2011, the number of EU member states grew from 6 to 27.
The EU aims at raising the living standard in its members states. It also helps build a single Europe with a single market where trade is free as if EU's member states were a single country. A major mission the EU has achieved is to have a single European currency - the euro. Now 17 of its 27 member belong to the eurozone (歐元區). The euro is used not only in daily transactions but also as a reserve currency. It is now the second most widely held international reserve currency after the US dollar.
◆Recent activities
Greece has been in a deep financial crisis since 2005. Employment has remained low in the country, and its real effective exchange rate (實質有效匯率) has been falling. To cope with the crisis, the Greek government adopted a plan to cut spending, which triggered a nation-wide strike in early 2010. As the crisis has worsened, the EU and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have stepped in. In July 2011, eurozone leaders decided on a plan to help Greece. The EU and the IMF would together allocate 109 billion euros to bail Greece out.
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