EU Fun Facts - Revision history

WikiSysop at 06:39, 31 March 2016

2016-03-31T06:39:18Z

WikiSysop at 06:08, 31 March 2016

2016-03-31T06:08:21Z

WikiSysop at 06:06, 31 March 2016

2016-03-31T06:06:40Z

WikiSysop: Created page with " =EU Fun Facts= The European Union has grown from the original 6 nations of the EEC to the 28 states of the EU: ===1950's Founder Members=== Belgium France Italy Luxembourg..."

2016-03-30T21:39:31Z

Created page with " =EU Fun Facts= The European Union has grown from the original 6 nations of the EEC to the 28 states of the EU: ===1950's Founder Members=== Belgium France Italy Luxembourg..."

New page

=EU Fun Facts=

The European Union has grown from the original 6 nations of the EEC to the 28 states of the EU:

===1950's Founder Members===
Belgium
France
Italy
Luxembourg
Netherlands
(West) Germany

===1970's===
Denmark
Ireland
United Kingdom

===1980's===
Greece
Portugal
Spain

===1990's===
Austria
Finland
Sweden

===2000's===
Bulgaria
Cyprus
Czech Republic
Estonia
Hungary
Latvia
Lithuania
Malta
Poland
Romania
Slovakia
Slovenia

===2010's===
Croatia

===Has Anyone Left the EU?===

The list above shows that many countries (including the UK) have joined the EU, but have any countries left? The EU can claim "no" - but only on a technicality.

The real answer is yes - Greenland. Greenland had been a part of the EEC (the forerunner of the EU) as part of Denmark, but after Greenland became independent of Denmark, a referendum was held in 1982 and they left the EEC in 1985.

Unfortunately, this does not give us much idea about what would happen if the UK leaves - there have been many treaties since 1985 and Greenland has a population of less than 60,000 and a GDP around 1.5 billion. That is about half the size of Morrisons Supermarkets.

===What is the Process of Leaving?===

The EU referendum is on Thursday, 23rd June 2016. The result of this vote could be to stay in or to leave the EU.

If the vote is to leave, the UK government would then need to formally state to the EU that it intends to leave. This may be postponed by the UK government for further negotiations. There may also be some bureaucratic hurdles built as a delaying tactic by both sides.

Once the formal notice is served, the leaving process and subsequent trade agreements, border arrangements and terms of engagement are negotiated. At the end of 2 years from the formal notice, the UK can unilaterally leave the EU and dissolve any EU legislation.

However, the negotiations may yield many different possibilities:

Virtually immediate Brexit
Brexit within 2-3 years similar to Greenland
A slower phased Brexit over (say) 10 years
A reduced membership status for UK
The negotiations pass the 2 year deadline and the UK is no longer part of the EU

Which of these possibilities is most likely I leave to the reader to decide.

All this means that after a "leave" result on June 23rd, it could still be a very long time before the UK has completely broken its ties with the EU.

===The European Economic Area===

The remnants of the old EEC still exist in the form of the EEA. There are a few countries that did not transition from EEC to EU.

Most countries that join the EU, also join the EEA. The 30 countries in the EEA are:

===EU and EEA===
Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom

===EEA Only===
Malta

===EEA and EFTA===
Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway

===EFTA Only===
Switzerland

===In the Process of Joining===
Croatia

===The Schengen Agreement===

This is a passport-less area with lower border restrictions. Not all countries in the Schengen Area are a part of the EU. The countries included are:

Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Leichtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland.

The UK and Ireland have opted out of this agreement.

Some countries have reimposed some border controls recently.

← Older revision		Revision as of 06:39, 31 March 2016
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	Some countries have reimposed some border controls recently.		Some countries have reimposed some border controls recently.
		+
		+	==Further Reading==
		+
		+	Read our views on the effects that the UK EU referendum are having within Human Resources and some of the mitigations that can be made:
		+
		+	[[HR and the UK EU Referendum]]

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 ===1950's Founder Members===
-Belgium
+* Belgium
-France
+* France
-Italy
+* Italy
-Luxembourg
+* Luxembourg
-Netherlands
+* Netherlands
-(West) Germany
+* (West) Germany
 ===1970's===
-Denmark
+* Denmark
-Ireland
+* Ireland
-United Kingdom
+* United Kingdom
 ===1980's===
-Greece
+* Greece
-Portugal
+* Portugal
-Spain
+* Spain
 ===1990's===
-Austria
+* Austria
-Finland
+* Finland
-Sweden
+* Sweden
 ===2000's===
-Bulgaria
+* Bulgaria
-Cyprus
+* Cyprus
-Czech Republic
+* Czech Republic
-Estonia
+* Estonia
-Hungary
+* Hungary
-Latvia
+* Latvia
-Lithuania
+* Lithuania
-Malta
+* Malta
-Poland
+* Poland
-Romania
+* Romania
-Slovakia
+* Slovakia
-Slovenia
+* Slovenia
 ===2010's===
-Croatia
+* Croatia

@@ Line 69: / Line 69: @@
 However, the negotiations may yield many different possibilities:
-Virtually immediate Brexit
+* Virtually immediate Brexit
-Brexit within 2-3 years similar to Greenland
+* Brexit within 2-3 years similar to Greenland
-A slower phased Brexit over (say) 10 years
+* A slower phased Brexit over (say) 10 years
-A reduced membership status for UK
+* A reduced membership status for UK
-The negotiations pass the 2 year deadline and the UK is no longer part of the EU
+* The negotiations pass the 2 year deadline and the UK is no longer part of the EU
 Which of these possibilities is most likely I leave to the reader to decide.