1. Answer the questions:

1. When did the EC begin? 2. Which ones are waiting to join? 3. How do all the different parts (e.g. the commission, the Parliament and the Council of Ministers) actually work? 4. Where are the biggest decisions taken?

2. Fill in the prepositions, then make sentences using the completed phrases

for, by, of, to, at, on

1) common rules ….. trade, 2) let’s look ….. some of the organizations, 3) are responsible …. their national parliaments, 4) ideas are accepted …. a majority vote, 5) consists of, 6) for example.

3. Arrange the sentences from the text "European community" in their logical order.

1. This organization had six members — France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

2. The majority of MEP’s job consists of research, meetings and committee work. 

3. The Commission’s headquarters are in Brussels and it employs over 1,500 people.

4. Two new superpowers, America and the Soviet Union, now dominated international affairs.

5. This organization consists of government ministers from all member countries who meet regularly to talk about Community business. 

6. Today’s Community (it’s usually called the EC now, not the EEC) works hard to promote European business, industry and free trade.

7. It’s during summits that the EC’s biggest decisions are taken.

8. Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) are directly elected every five years by voters in their own countries. 

4. Read the text again and take notes under these headings. Then, look at your notes and talk about the European Community.

• Goals of EC

• Members

• The European Commission

• The European Parliament

• The Council of Ministers

• Euro-Summits

Text 3

Lead-in

1. Check the transcription in the dictionary and read the words listed below.

2. Answer the questions:

1) What have you heard about the EU?

2) What member states of the EU do you know?

3. Read the text and say what the words in bold mean:

European Union

The European Union or the EU is an intergovernmental and supranational union of 25 European countries, known as member states. The European Union was established under that name in 1992 by the Treaty on European Union, the Maastricht Treaty. However, many aspects of the Union existed before that date through a series of predecessor relationships, dating back to 1951.

The European Union's activities cover all areas of public policy, from health and economic policy to foreign affairs and defense. However, the extent of its powers differs greatly between areas. Depending on the area, the EU may therefore resemble a federation, for example, on monetary affairs, agricultural, trade and environmental policy or a confederation, for example, on social and economic policy, consumer protection, home affairs, or even an international organization, for example, in foreign affairs.

A key activity of the EU is the establishment and administration of a common single market, consisting of a customs union, a single currency adopted by 12 of the 25 member states, a Common Agricultural Policy, a common trade policy, and a Common Fisheries Policy.

The most important EU institutions are the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Court of Justice.

As to the enlargement of the EU there were five successive enlargements, with the largest occurring on May 1,2004, when 10 new member states joined.

Notwithstanding Greenland doesn't enter the EU because it was granted home rule by Denmark in 1979 and left the European Community in 1985, following a referendum.

Romania and Bulgaria will join the EU on 1 January 2007, so European Union will have 27 member states but if Croatia enter the EU by the year 2008 it will have 28 member-states. In time the European Union may grow to 30 member states. The process of enlargement is sometimes referred to as European integration.

In order to join the European Union, a state needs to fulfill the economic and political conditions generally known as the Copenhagen criteria, after the Copenhagen summit in June 1993. Also, according to the EU Treaty, each current member state and the European Parliament have to agree.

The European Union has 25 member states, an area of 3,892,685 km2 and approximately 460 million EU citizens as of December 2004. If it were a country, it would be the seventh largest in the world by area and the third largest by population after China and India.

The European Union has land borders with 20 nations and sea borders with 31.

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