THE HISTORY OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

After World War I, many people began to talk about a politically unified Europe.The first Pan-European Congress was held in 1926. In 1929, the French prime minister proposed a federation of European nations for economic and social co-operation.Many people supported this idea, but the satrt of Wrold war interruped the process.
In 1957, the European Economic Communiti (EEC) was founded. It began with six member: France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg, West Germany and Italy. Their objectives was to increase economic development and prevent another war.
In 1973, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Denmark joined the EEC, making nine member states i, n all. Greece joined in 1981 , and Spain and Portugal joined in 1986. The EEC now had twelve member countries an changed its name to the European Community (EC).

In 1992, the EC changed its name a third time and became the European Union (EU).

Austria, Finland an Sweden joined in 1995. In 2002 most of the countries in the Eu began using Europe's single currency the euro.

By the year 2004, Esti¡onia, Latvia, Lithuania,Poland, the Czech, Repubilc ,Hungary ,Slovakia, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus were also members of the EU,making a total of 25 members states. In the same year, Bulgaria and Romania completed their negotations to join the Union in January 2007.

Today, the responsibilities of the EU include agriculture, fishing, indrustial and social development, culture, environmental issues, external trade, human rights, public health, justice security.