ON May 1, nearly 450 million people of this planet were having a great big party. No it wasn’t on great grand MTV Grind (though that would have been fun). Rather it were the people of Europe who were celebrating the enlargement of their Union. For on that day, the Union that had previously housed fifteen member countries, formally welcomed ten more members, increasing its size to twenty-five overall members.
For centuries, Europe had been the scene of a great power struggle. In the last 150 years alone, bloody wars, especially between the continent’s three leading member countries, France, the UK and Germany, had drained the resources of this land. So, it was finally after the last great war, the Second World War in 1945, that the leaders of the continent became convinced that the only way to secure a lasting peace between their countries was to unite them economically and politically.
Their efforts finally bore fruit in 1951 when the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) was set up. Initially six members: Belgium, West Germany, Luxembourg, France, Italy and the Netherlands, signed on. They agreed to surrender their individual authority about their coal and steel industry and place it in the hands of an independent body called the “High Authority”. It was the success of this experiment that finally led to the conviction, that a united Europe is possible.
Finally, in 1993, following the Maastricht Treaty in 1991, the European Union (EU) was established. Initially it was made up of 12 nations that were later joined by Austria, Finland and Sweden. All fifteen of them worked towards better political and economic integration and cooperation between member nations. It was their success that led to the aspirations of the other non-EU European countries to join this league of economically stable countries. And if you want to know more about them then log on to the official web site of the European Union (EU) http://europa.eu.int/.
This is the ultimate link on the web that leads to all the information that you need to know about the European Union. However, the official link of the EU, though full of information does at times becomes complicated. Still, when you end up finding the right information that you wanted, then the site just seems to glide along. Heavy on the graphics, if your slow dial-up connection makes life difficult for you to view this page, then there’s the Text Version as well. One click and all the unnecessary graphical details are all taken care of. There’s is the Europa Newsletter; subscribe it or read it on the site and know all about Europe’s efforts to stay in touch with the world as one. A search option, a quiz link and details about the world of European politics, are all in a day’s work on this link. Knowing more about Europe gets easier when you delve into the Discover EU links. Languages, assets and a Europe for the young are some of the things that you discover here.
But if it is about the new countries that have joined this prosperous club, then the EU Enlargement Home Page at http://europa.eu.int/comm/enlargement/index_en.html is your ticket to the future of Europe. Interactive links deal with the people and the policy makers who are working hard to ensure a peaceful Europe.
Today this powerful economic block has three world economic powers (France, the UK and Germany). There are twenty official languages and there are also two permanent members of the United Nations Security Council (France and the UK) in it and millions who aspire for a globally secure and peaceful world.
If it is an impartial view of all that is happening in Europe, news and briefs, then one of the best news sources on the web is the BBC’s Inside Europe http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/europe/2003/inside_europe/default.stm. A guide to the changing face of European Union, links include a map, a Q&A section of what does this enlargement of the European Union mean to the people involved. A timeline, a EU Milestones link takes you on the journey that goes all the way back to 1948 and Europe’s quest for a united, war-free continent.
There are drop-down menus with Country Profiles of the 25 members, Useful links and Background briefings. And if you want to have a little fun, say test your knowledge of the new member states, then there’s always the drop down quiz section. Videos and sound filed of the important and the not so important complete the BBC’s European experience. But that’s one perspective.
Yahoo! Full Coverage European Union http://news.yahoo.com/fc?tmpl=fc&cid=34&in=world&cat=european_union has a more comprehensive coverage of the events in Europe. The usual Yahoo! stuff of providing links of news sources from around the world, is here. News from the European and the non-European sources and views from around the world abound on this link. Other related web links include the information related to the European currency, the European parliament and so on.
After centuries of bloodshed and instability, Europe is finally learning to live peacefully with itself. Maybe it’s time that we did the same in South Asia, and in the rest of the world.
ON May 1, nearly 450 million people of this planet were having a great big party. No it wasn’t on great grand MTV Grind (though that would have been fun). Rather it were the people of Europe who were celebrating the enlargement of their Union. For on that day, the Union that had previously housed fifteen member countries, formally welcomed ten more members, increasing its size to twenty-five overall members.
