The EU

2. The European Union aims to be a fair and caring society, committed to promoting economic prosperity and creating jobs by making companies more competitive and giving workers new skills.
3. The European Union is set up with the aim of ending the frequent and bloody wars between neighbours, which culminated in the Second World War. As of 1950, the European Coal and Steel Community begins to unite European countries economically and politically in order to secure lasting peace.

4. 27 member countries

5. The six founders are Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.

6. The European Union has 495 million inhabitants

7. 9 May

8. United in diversity

9. flag. It is the symbol not only of the European Union but also of Europe's unity and identity in a wider sense. The circle of gold stars represents solidarity and harmony between the peoples of Europe.

10. complete achievement of the common market: technical norms, health and safety standards, national regulations on the right to practise certain professions and exchange controls all restricted the free movement of people, goods and capital.

11. The Schengen Agreement, which was signed by a first group of EU countries in 1985 and later extended to others (although Ireland, the United Kingdom, Cyprus, Bulgaria and Romania do not participate), governs police cooperation and a common asylum and immigration policy, so as to make it possible to completely abolish checks on persons at the EU’s internal borders (see Chapter 10: ‘Freedom, security and justice’).

12. European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which became reality with the Treaty of Paris of 18 April 1951. This put in place a common market in coal and steel between the six founding countries (Belgium, the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands). The aim, in the aftermath of World War Two, was to secure peace between Europe’s victorious and vanquished nations and bring them together as equals, cooperating within shared institutions.