1.
Euro
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Outside of Europe, a number of overseas territories of EU members also use the euro as their currency. Additionally,210 million people worldwide as of 2013 use currencies pegged to the euro, the euro is the second largest reserve currency as well as the second most traded currency in the world after the United States dollar. The name euro was adopted on 16 December 1995 in Madrid. The euro was introduced to world markets as an accounting currency on 1 January 1999. While the euro dropped subsequently to US$0.8252 within two years, it has traded above the U. S. dollar since the end of 2002, peaking at US$1.6038 on 18 July 2008. In July 2012, the euro fell below US$1.21 for the first time in two years, following concerns raised over Greek debt and Spains troubled banking sector, as of 26 March 2017, the euro–dollar exchange rate stands at ~ US$1.07. The euro is managed and administered by the Frankfurt-based European Central Bank, as an independent central bank, the ECB has sole authority to set monetary policy. The Eurosystem participates in the printing, minting and distribution of notes and coins in all states. The 1992 Maastricht Treaty obliges most EU member states to adopt the euro upon meeting certain monetary and budgetary convergence criteria, all nations that have joined the EU since 1993 have pledged to adopt the euro in due course. Since 5 January 2002, the central banks and the ECB have issued euro banknotes on a joint basis. Euro banknotes do not show which central bank issued them, Eurosystem NCBs are required to accept euro banknotes put into circulation by other Eurosystem members and these banknotes are not repatriated. The ECB issues 8% of the value of banknotes issued by the Eurosystem. In practice, the ECBs banknotes are put into circulation by the NCBs and these liabilities carry interest at the main refinancing rate of the ECB. The euro is divided into 100 cents, in Community legislative acts the plural forms of euro and cent are spelled without the s, notwithstanding normal English usage. Otherwise, normal English plurals are used, with many local variations such as centime in France. All circulating coins have a side showing the denomination or value. Due to the plurality in the European Union, the Latin alphabet version of euro is used. For the denominations except the 1-, 2- and 5-cent coins, beginning in 2007 or 2008 the old map is being replaced by a map of Europe also showing countries outside the Union like Norway
2.
Eurozone
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The eurozone, officially called the euro area, is a monetary union of 19 of the 28 European Union member states which have adopted the euro as their common currency and sole legal tender. The monetary authority of the eurozone is the Eurosystem, the other nine members of the European Union continue to use their own national currencies, although most of them are obliged to adopt the euro in future. Other EU states are obliged to join once they meet the criteria to do so, no state has left, and there are no provisions to do so or to be expelled. Andorra, Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City have formal agreements with the EU to use the euro as their official currency and issue their own coins. The ECB, which is governed by a president and a board of the heads of central banks. The principal task of the ECB is to keep inflation under control, the Eurogroup is composed of the finance ministers of eurozone states, but in emergencies, national leaders also form the Eurogroup. Since the financial crisis of 2007–08, the eurozone has established and used provisions for granting loans to member states in return for the enactment of economic reforms. The eurozone has also enacted some limited fiscal integration, for example in peer review of each others national budgets, the issue is political and in a state of flux in terms of what further provisions will be agreed for eurozone change. In 1998 eleven member states of the European Union had met the euro convergence criteria, Greece qualified in 2000 and was admitted on 1 January 2001 before physical notes and coins were introduced on 1 January 2002 replacing all national currencies. Between 2007 and 2015, seven new states acceded, the 2012 data above of eurozone states were published by World Bank in May 2014. Latvia and Lithuania were not in the eurozone in 2012, the euro replaced the ECU1,1 at the exchange rate markets, on 1 January 1999. During 1979-1999, the D-Mark functioned as a de facto anchor for the ECU, the first enlargement of the eurozone, to Greece, took place on 1 January 2001, one year before the euro had physically entered into circulation. The next enlargements were to states which joined the EU in 2004, and then joined the eurozone on 1 January in the noted, Slovenia, Cyprus, Malta, Slovakia, Estonia, Latvia. All new EU members joining the bloc after the signing of the Maastricht treaty in 1992 are obliged to adopt the euro under the terms of their accession treaties, nine countries are EU members but do not use the euro. Before joining the eurozone, a state must spend two years in the European Exchange Rate Mechanism, as of January 2017, only the National Central Bank of Denmark participates in ERM II. Denmark and the United Kingdom obtained special opt-outs in the original Maastricht Treaty, both countries are legally exempt from joining the eurozone unless their governments decide otherwise, either by parliamentary vote or referendum. The other seven countries are obliged to adopt the euro in future and they should join as soon as they fulfil the convergence criteria, which include being part of ERM II for two years. Sweden, which joined the EU in 1995 after the Maastricht Treaty was signed, is required to join the eurozone, Interest in joining the eurozone increased in Denmark, and initially in Poland, as a result of the 2008 financial crisis
3.
Institutions of the European Union
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The institutions of the European Union are the seven principal decision making bodies of the European Union. Institutions are different from agencies of the European Union, most EU institutions were created with the establishment of the European Community in 1958. Much change since then has been in the context the shifting of the balance away from the Council. The role of the Commission has often been to mediate between the two or tip the balance, however the Commission is becoming more accountable to the Parliament, in 1999 it forced the resignation of the Santer Commission and forced a reshuffle of the proposed Barroso Commission in 2004. The development of the institutions, with changes from treaties. Some such as Tom Reid of the Washington Post said of the institutions that nobody would have designed a government as complex. The first institutions were created at the start of the 1950s with the creation of the ECSC, based on the Schuman declaration, at its core was an independent executive called the High Authority with supranational powers over the Community. The laws made by the Authority would be observed by a Court of Justice in order to ensure they were upheld, during the negotiations, two supervisory institutions were put forward to counterbalance the power of the High Authority. The Common Assembly proposed by Jean Monnet to act as a monitor, counterweight, the second was the Council of Ministers, pushed by the smaller states also to add an intergovernmental element and harmonise national policies with those of the authority. In 1957 the Treaties of Rome established two, similar, communities creating a market and promoting atomic energy co-operation. The three institutions shared the Court of Justice and the Parliament, however they had a separate Council and High Authority, the reason for this is the different relationship between the Commission and Council. The three communities were merged in 1967, by the Merger Treaty, into the European Communities. The institutions were carried over from the European Economic Community, under the Treaties of Rome, the Common Assembly was supposed to become elected. However this was delayed by the Council until 1979, since then it gained more powers via successive treaties. The Maastricht Treaty also gave powers to the Council by giving it a key role in the two new pillars of the EU which were based on intergovernmental principles. The 2009 Lisbon Treaty brought nearly all areas under the codecision procedure. The rules for the distribution of seats in the parliament were also changed to a formula system, the High Representative merged with the European Commissioner for External Relations and joined the Commission. The appointment of the Commission President became dependent upon the last EU elections, the Council of Ministers adopted more qualified majority voting and the European Council was made a distinct institution with a permanent president
4.
Security hologram
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Security holograms are labels with a hologram printed onto it for sale security reasons. Security holograms are very difficult to forge because they are replicated from a hologram which requires expensive, specialized. They are used widely in several banknotes around the world, in particular those that are of high denominations and they are also used in passports, credit and bank cards as well as quality products. Holograms are classified into different types with reference to the degree of level of optical security incorporated in them during the process of master origination. The different classifications are described below, These are by far the most common type of hologram -, the term hologram has taken on a secondary meaning due to the widespread use of a multilayer image on credit cards and driver licenses. This type of hologram consists of two or more images stacked in such a way that each is alternately visible depending upon the angle of perspective of the viewer. The technology here is similar to the used for the past 50 years to make red safety night reflectors for bicycles, trucks. These holograms may be of two layers or three layers, in the case of the two-layer holograms, the matter of the middle ground is usually superimposed over the matter of the background of the hologram. These holograms display a unique multilevel, multi-colour effect and these images have one or two levels of flat graphics “floating” above or at the surface of the hologram. The matter in the background appears to be under or behind the hologram and these holograms have a maximum resolution of 10 micrometres per optical element and are produced on specialized machines making forgery difficult and expensive. To design optical elements, several algorithms are used to shape scattered radiation patterns, flip Flop Hologram Masters Origination is a technique used to produce holograms that display flip flop effect. They are produced used 2D/3D master shooting system and this two channel effect of 2D/3D holograms displays two different images from different angles. These holograms are often fabricated using supreme quality material, the final master obtained from this flip flop mastering technique are used to manufacture holograms which gives flip-flop effects. Having an excellent blend of 2D/3D and flipping images offers holographic images an excellent depth and these types of hologram are created using highly sophisticated and very expensive electron-beam lithography systems. This kind of technology allows the creation of surface holograms with a resolution of up to 0.1 micrometres and this technique requires development of various algorithms for designing optical elements that shapes scattered radiation patterns. This type of hologram offers features like the viewing of four lasers at a point, 2D/3D raster text, switch effects, 3D effects, concealed images, laser readable text. The various kinds of features possible in security holograms are mentioned below, These usually take the form of thin lines. Concealed images can be seen at large angle light diffraction, and these are sets of thin lines of a complicated geometry drawn with high resolution
5.
Perforation
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A perforation is a small hole in a thin material or web. There is usually more than one perforation in an organized fashion, the process of creating perforations is called perforating, which involves puncturing the workpiece with a tool. Perforations are usually used to allow separation of two sections of the material, such as allowing paper to be torn easily along the line. Packaging with perforations in paperboard or plastic film is easy for consumers to open, other purposes include filtrating fluids, sound deadening, allowing light or fluids to pass through, and to create an aesthetic design. Various applications include plastic films to allow the packages to breathe, medical films, micro perforated plate and sound, perforation can be created by pins, needles, die and punch or laser. Rotary pinned perforation rollers are precision tools that can be used to perforate a wide variety of materials, the pins or needles can be used cold or heated. Cold perforation tools include needle punches, there are a handful of manufacturers that specialize in hot and cold needle perforation tooling and equipment. In materials that have elasticity this can result in a hole that is preferred in many applications. Pinned rollers can be made from a variety of materials, including plastic, steel, in more brittle films, cold perforation can cause slitting rather than creating a round hole, which can jeopardize the materials integrity under pressure. The solution to this is often heating the pin, i. e. hot pin perforation, hot perforation melts a hole in the material, causing a reinforced ring around the hole. Hot needle perforation also assists when high density pin patterns are utilized, die and punch sets can be used for thicker materials or materials that require large holes, this process is the most common for metalworking. The workpiece is sheared by pressing the punch through the workpiece, the middle section of the workpiece is scrap, commonly known as the chad in paper and similar materials. The punch and die are shaped to produce the desired shaped hole, the clearance must be properly maintained to ensure a clean cut. Burrs are produced on the side of the workpiece that is against the die, common applications are fruit and vegetable bags, hole punching and ticket punching. Laser cutting can place many precise holes in a web, laser perforations look similar in many respects to hot needle perforations. The big advantage of laser perforation is the consistency of the hole size and this is very important in modified atmosphere packaging for fresh produce. The laser perforation is often carried out on roll slitting machines as the material is slit down to the finished roll size. Perforation frequently refers to the practice of creating a series of holes or slits so that paper or plastics can be torn more easily along a given line
6.
EURion constellation
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The EURion constellation is a pattern of symbols incorporated into a number of banknote designs worldwide since about 1996. It is added to help imaging software detect the presence of a banknote in a digital image, such software can then block the user from reproducing banknotes to prevent counterfeiting using colour photocopiers. Research shows that the EURion constellation is used for colour photocopiers, the name EURion constellation was coined by Markus Kuhn, who uncovered the pattern in early 2002 while experimenting with a Xerox colour photocopier that refused to reproduce banknotes. The word is a combination of EUR, the euros ISO4217 designation, and Orion, the EURion constellation first described by Kuhn consists of a pattern of five small yellow, green or orange circles, which is repeated across areas of the banknote at different orientations. The mere presence of five of these circles on a page is sufficient for some colour photocopiers to refuse processing, the EURion constellation is most prominent, and was therefore first recognised, on the 200210 Euro banknote. Some banks integrate the constellation tightly with the design of the note. On 50 DM German banknotes, the EURion circles formed the innermost circles in a pattern of fine concentric circles. On the front of former Bank of England Elgar £20 notes, they appear as green heads of musical notes, on some U. S. bills, they appear as the digit zero in small, yellow numbers matching the value of the note. On Japanese Yen, these circles sometimes appear as flowers, technical details regarding the EURion constellation are kept secret by its inventors and users. A patent application suggests that the pattern and detection algorithm were designed at Omron Corporation and it is also not clear whether the feature has any official name. The term Omron anti-photocopying feature appeared in an August 2005 press release by the Reserve Bank of India, in 2007 it was picked up in an award announcement by a banknote collectors society. The following table lists the banknotes on which the EURion constellation has been found so far, countries where all recent banknotes use the constellation are in bold. Since 2003, image editors such as Adobe Photoshop CS or Paint Shop Pro 8 refuse to print banknotes, however, experiments by Steven J. Murdoch and others showed that this banknote detection code does not rely on the EURion pattern. It instead detects a digital watermark embedded in the images, developed by Digimarc, the rules for currency image use Nieves, J. Ruiz-Agundez, I. Recognizing Banknote Patterns for Protecting Economic TransactionsDatabase and Expert Systems Applications,2010 Workshop on, IEEE, 247--249
7.
Watermark
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A watermark is an identifying image or pattern in paper that appears as various shades of lightness/darkness when viewed by transmitted light, caused by thickness or density variations in the paper. Watermarks have been used on stamps, currency, and other government documents to discourage counterfeiting. There are two ways of producing watermarks in paper, the dandy roll process, and the more complex cylinder mould process. Watermarks vary greatly in their visibility, while some are obvious on casual inspection, various aids have been developed, such as watermark fluid that wets the paper without damaging it. A watermark is very useful in the examination of paper because it can be used for dating, identifying sizes, mill trademarks and locations, the word is also used for digital practices that share similarities with physical watermarks. In one case, overprint on computer-printed output may be used to output from an unlicensed trial version of a program. In another instance, identifying codes can be encoded as a watermark for a music, video, picture. Watermarks were first introduced in Fabriano, Italy, in 1282, traditionally, a watermark was made by impressing a water-coated metal stamp or dandy roll onto the paper during manufacturing. The invention of the roll in 1826 by John Marshall revolutionised the watermark process. The dandy roll is a light roller covered by similar to window screen that is embossed with a pattern. Because the chain wires are located on the outside of the wires, they have a greater influence on the impression in the pulp. This embossing is transferred to the fibres, compressing and reducing their thickness in that area. Because the patterned portion of the page is thinner, it transmits light through. If these lines are distinct and parallel, and/or there is a watermark, if the lines appear as a mesh or are indiscernible, and/or there is no watermark, then it is called wove paper. This method is called line drawing watermarks, another type of watermark is called the cylinder mould watermark. A shaded watermark, first used in 1848, incorporates tonal depth, instead of using a wire covering for the dandy roll, the shaded watermark is created by areas of relief on the rolls own surface. Once dry, the paper may then be rolled again to produce a watermark of even thickness, in philately, the watermark is a key feature of a stamp, and often constitutes the difference between a common and a rare stamp. Collectors who encounter two otherwise identical stamps with different watermarks consider each stamp to be a separate identifiable issue, the classic stamp watermark is a small crown or other national symbol, appearing either once on each stamp or a continuous pattern
8.
Microprinting
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Microprinting is the production of recognizable patterns or characters in a printed medium at a scale that requires magnification to read with the naked eye. To the unaided eye, the text may appear as a solid line, Microprint is predominantly used as an anti-counterfeiting technique, due to its inability to be easily reproduced by digital methods. Over the following decade, Boni worked to develop microprint, a process in which pages were photographed using 35mm microfilm. This process proved to produce a 6 by 9 index card that stored 100 pages of text from the normal sized publications he was reproducing, Boni began the Readex Microprint company to produce and license this technology. He also published an article A Guide to the Literature of Photography and Related Subjects, currency commonly exhibits the highest quality of microprint because it demands the highest level of counterfeiting deterrence. For example, on the series 2004 United States $20 bill, bank cheques as well as various other items of value may also commonly leverage microprinting methods, but generally not of such extreme size. While microprinting on such medium may be readable to the eye without microscopy. The first US postage stamp to incorporate microprinting was the American Wildflower Series introduced by The United States Postal Service in 1992 and it was also the first commemorative stamp wholly produced by offset lithography. Microprint of the smallest scale is only producible by hand using engraved offset printing plates or some other method of Intaglio, digital microtext printers utilize specially designed fonts and ink for the purpose. The ink used is most commonly MICR toner particles but may also be polyester based toners, Microprint of the scale capable by other printing methods can not be produced by a digital printer regardless of the resolution of the device. Some digital fonts are designed specifically for the purpose of microprinting and these pseudo-microprint fonts are referred to as microtext. Xerox was acclaimed for developing a microtext font they claimed could produce characters 1/100th of an inch tall, 1/100th of an inch is equivalent to 0.7227 points. In April 2015, Videojet Technologies released their 1650 High Resolution and 1620 HR Continuous Inkjet printers, the printers use a 40-micron nozzle that outputs more than 100,000 drops per second of ink. While these printers make microprinting faster and easier to produce digitally, the smallest scale microtext a laser printer can produce is 0. 5pt. Using gold nanoparticle inks on a substrate, scientists concluded that it was possible for them to control the production of print patterns to a scale of 2 microns. After printing, the nano-particle ink suspension was heated using a laser, as it was heated. In further experiments, they were able to fuse the nano-particles together into a tighter formation a continuous conductive line, such experiments did not directly include font characters but could translate to such usage. Microdot Microfilmer Microform Microphotograph Point Preservation
9.
Invisible ink
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Invisible ink, also known as security ink, is a substance used for writing, which is invisible either on application or soon thereafter, and can later be made visible by some means. Invisible ink is one form of steganography, one of the earliest writers to mention an invisible ink is Aeneas Tacticus, in 4th century BCE. He mentions it in discussing how to survive under siege, philo of Byzantium may be the first writer known to describe an invisible ink using a reagent around 280-220 BC, with oak galls and vitriol. These ingredients were used to make oak gall ink, people soon discovered that they could write invisibly with one of the ingredients and then cause the writing to appear by adding the other. Pliny the Elder and the Roman poet Ovid gave advice on the use of plant juices, lemons were also used as organic inks by Arabs around 600 CE, and during the 16th century in Europe. Giovanni Battista della Porta is credited with the first recipe for an ink, derived from alum and vinegar, as well as the first book on secret writing and invisible inks. Since then, a variety of invisible inks have been used for all sorts of secretive purposes. Invisible ink can be applied to a surface with a specialty purpose stylus, stamp, fountain pen, toothpick, calligraphy pen. Once dry, the surface looks as if it were blank, with a similar texture. The ink can be made visible by different methods according to the type of invisible ink used. The ink may be revealed by heat or by application of an appropriate chemical, inks which are developed by a chemical reaction may depend on an acid-base reaction, reactions similar to the blueprint process, or any of hundreds of others. Developer fluids may be applied using a bottle, but some developers are in the form of vaporous. There are also toy invisible ink pens which have two tips—one tip for invisible ink writing, and another tip for developing the ink. Security marker pens or UV Markers with fluorescent ink that glows when illuminated with a UV light is used to invisibly mark valuable household items in case of burglary. There are especially security maker pens formulated for writing on non-porous surfaces such as glass, plastics, metals, the inks that have been applied and can then be identified by using a black light or other UV light source. Security marker pens can be obtained commercially and are used as a crime countermeasure. Some commercially available invisible inks glow very brightly, in a variety of colors and this makes them suitable for use in readmission such as hand stamping. There some invisible ink types that can only be invisible when applied to types of surfaces
10.
Barcode
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A barcode is an optical, machine-readable, representation of data, the data usually describes something about the object that carries the barcode. Originally barcodes systematically represented data by varying the widths and spacings of parallel lines, later two-dimensional codes were developed, using rectangles, dots, hexagons and other geometric patterns in two dimensions, usually called barcodes although they do not use bars as such. Barcodes originally were scanned by special optical scanners called barcode readers, later applications software became available for devices that could read images, such as smartphones with cameras. An early use of one type of barcode in a context was sponsored by the Association of American Railroads in the late 1960s. Two plates were used per car, one on side, with the arrangement of the colored stripes encoding information such as ownership, type of equipment. The plates were read by a scanner, located for instance, at the entrance to a classification yard. The project was abandoned after ten years because the system proved unreliable after long-term use. Barcodes became commercially successful when they were used to automate supermarket checkout systems and their use has spread to many other tasks that are generically referred to as automatic identification and data capture. The very first scanning of the now ubiquitous Universal Product Code barcode was on a pack of Wrigley Company chewing gum in June 1974, silver told his friend Norman Joseph Woodland about the request, and they started working on a variety of systems. Their first working system used ultraviolet ink, but the ink faded too easily and was expensive, convinced that the system was workable with further development, Woodland left Drexel, moved into his fathers apartment in Florida, and continued working on the system. His next inspiration came from Morse code, and he formed his first barcode from sand on the beach, I just extended the dots and dashes downwards and made narrow lines and wide lines out of them. To read them, he adapted technology from optical soundtracks in movies and he later decided that the system would work better if it were printed as a circle instead of a line, allowing it to be scanned in any direction. The patent was issued on 7 October 1952 as US Patent 2,612,994, in 1951, Woodland moved to IBM and continually tried to interest IBM in developing the system. IBM offered to buy the patent, but its offer was not high enough, philco purchased their patent in 1962 and then sold it to RCA sometime later. During his time as an undergraduate, David Collins worked at the Pennsylvania Railroad, immediately after receiving his masters degree from MIT in 1959, he started work at GTE Sylvania and began addressing the problem. He developed a system called KarTrak using blue and red reflective stripes attached to the side of the cars, encoding a six-digit company identifier, light reflected off the stripes was fed into one of two photomultipliers, filtered for blue or red. The Boston and Maine Railroad tested the KarTrak system on their cars in 1961. The tests continued until 1967, when the Association of American Railroads selected it as a standard, Automatic Car Identification, the installations began on 10 October 1967
11.
Serial code
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A serial code is a unique identifier assigned incrementally or sequentially to an item. It is also called a number, although it may be a character string that includes letters and other typographical symbols. Serial numbers identify otherwise identical individual units with many, obvious uses, Serial numbers are a deterrent against theft and counterfeit products, as they can be recorded, and stolen or otherwise irregular goods can be identified. Banknotes and other documents of value bear serial numbers to assist in preventing counterfeiting and tracing stolen ones. They are valuable in quality control, as once a defect is found in the production of a batch of product. Serial numbers may be used to identify individual physical or intangible objects, the purpose and application is different. A software serial number, otherwise called product key, is not embedded in the software. The software will function if a potential user enters a valid product code. The vast majority of codes are rejected by the software. If an unauthorised user is found to be using the software, the term serial number is sometimes used for codes which do not identify a single instance of something. It takes its name from the library use of the word serial to mean a periodical. Certificates and certificate authorities are necessary for use of cryptography. These depend on applying mathematically rigorous serial numbers and serial number arithmetic, the term serial number is also used in military formations as an alternative to the expression service number. Because of this, the number is sometimes called a tail number. LZ548/G—the prototype de Havilland Vampire jet fighter, or ML926/G—a de Havilland Mosquito XVI experimentally fitted with H2S radar, the serial number follows the aircraft throughout its period of service. In 2009 the U. S. FDA published draft guidance for the industry to use serial numbers on prescription drug packages. This measure will enhance the traceability of drugs and help to prevent counterfeiting, Serial numbers are often used in network protocols. However, most sequence numbers in computer protocols are limited to a number of bits
12.
Cotton
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Cotton is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus Gossypium in the family of Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure cellulose, under natural conditions, the cotton bolls will tend to increase the dispersal of the seeds. The plant is a native to tropical and subtropical regions around the world, including the Americas, Africa. The greatest diversity of wild species is found in Mexico, followed by Australia. Cotton was independently domesticated in the Old and New Worlds, the fiber is most often spun into yarn or thread and used to make a soft, breathable textile. Current estimates for world production are about 25 million tonnes or 110 million bales annually, China is the worlds largest producer of cotton, but most of this is used domestically. The United States has been the largest exporter for many years, in the United States, cotton is usually measured in bales, which measure approximately 0.48 cubic meters and weigh 226.8 kilograms. Cotton cultivation in the region is dated to the Indus Valley Civilization, the Indus cotton industry was well-developed and some methods used in cotton spinning and fabrication continued to be used until the industrialization of India. Between 2000 and 1000 BC cotton became widespread across much of India, for example, it has been found at the site of Hallus in Karnataka dating from around 1000 BC. Cotton fabrics discovered in a cave near Tehuacán, Mexico have been dated to around 5800 BC, the domestication of Gossypium hirsutum in Mexico is dated between 3400 and 2300 BC. Cotton was grown upriver, made into nets, and traded with fishing villages along the coast for supplies of fish. The Spanish who came to Mexico and Peru in the early 16th century found the people growing cotton and this may be a reference to tree cotton, Gossypium arboreum, which is a native of the Indian subcontinent. According to the Columbia Encyclopedia, Cotton has been spun, woven and it clothed the people of ancient India, Egypt, and China. Hundreds of years before the Christian era, cotton textiles were woven in India with matchless skill, in Iran, the history of cotton dates back to the Achaemenid era, however, there are few sources about the planting of cotton in pre-Islamic Iran. The planting of cotton was common in Merv, Ray and Pars of Iran, in Persian poets poems, especially Ferdowsis Shahname, there are references to cotton. Marco Polo refers to the products of Persia, including cotton. John Chardin, a French traveler of the 17th century who visited the Safavid Persia, during the Han dynasty, cotton was grown by Chinese peoples in the southern Chinese province of Yunnan. Mohamed Ali Pasha accepted the proposition and granted himself the monopoly on the sale and export of cotton in Egypt, and later dictated cotton should be grown in preference to other crops
13.
Fiber
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Fiber or fibre is a natural or synthetic substance that is significantly longer than it is wide. Fibers are often used in the manufacture of other materials, the strongest engineering materials often incorporate fibers, for example carbon fiber and ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene. Natural fibers develop or occur in the shape, and include those produced by plants, animals. Plant fibers are employed in the manufacture of paper and textile, wood fiber, distinguished from vegetable fiber, is from tree sources. Forms include groundwood, lacebark, thermomechanical pulp, and bleached or unbleached kraft or sulfite pulps, animal fibers consist largely of particular proteins. Instances are silkworm silk, spider silk, sinew, catgut, wool, sea silk and hair such as wool, mohair and angora, fur such as sheepskin, rabbit, mink, fox, beaver. Mineral fibers include the asbestos group, asbestos is the only naturally occurring long mineral fiber. Six minerals have been classified as asbestos including chrysotile of the serpentine class, short, fiber-like minerals include wollastonite and palygorskite. Instances are collagen family of proteins, tendon, muscle proteins like actin, cell proteins like microtubules and many others, spider silk, sinew, man-made or chemical fibers are fibers whose chemical composition, structure, and properties are significantly modified during the manufacturing process. Man-made fibers consist of regenerated fibers and synthetic fibers, the earliest semi-synthetic fiber is the cellulose regenerated fiber, rayon. Most semi-synthetic fibers are cellulose regenerated fibers, cellulose fibers are a subset of man-made fibers, regenerated from natural cellulose. The cellulose comes from sources, rayon from tree wood fiber, Modal from beech trees, bamboo fiber from bamboo, seacell from seaweed. In the production of fibers, the cellulose is reduced to a fairly pure form as a viscous mass. Therefore, the process leaves few characteristics distinctive of the natural source material in the finished products. Some examples are, rayon bamboo fiber Lyocell, a brand of rayon Modal, historically, cellulose diacetate and -triacetate were classified under the term rayon, but are now considered distinct materials. Synthetic come entirely from materials such as petrochemicals, unlike those man-made fibers derived from such natural substances as cellulose or protein. Metallic fibers can be drawn from ductile metals such as copper, gold or silver and extruded or deposited from more brittle ones, such as nickel, carbon fibers are often based on oxydized and via pyrolysis carbonized polymers like PAN, but the end product is almost pure carbon. Silicon carbide fibers, where the polymers are not hydrocarbons but polymers
14.
Romanesque architecture
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Romanesque Architecture is an architectural style of medieval Europe characterized by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the date of the Romanesque style, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the late 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style, marked by pointed arches, examples of Romanesque architecture can be found across the continent, making it the first pan-European architectural style since Imperial Roman Architecture. The Romanesque style in England is traditionally referred to as Norman architecture, each building has clearly defined forms, frequently of very regular, symmetrical plan, the overall appearance is one of simplicity when compared with the Gothic buildings that were to follow. The style can be identified right across Europe, despite regional characteristics, Many castles were built during this period, but they are greatly outnumbered by churches. The most significant are the great churches, many of which are still standing, more or less complete. The largest groups of Romanesque survivors are in areas that were less prosperous in subsequent periods, including parts of southern France, northern Spain and rural Italy. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word Romanesque means descended from Roman and was first used in English to designate what are now called Romance languages, Romance language is not degenerated Latin language. Latin language is degenerated Romance language, Romanesque architecture is not debased Roman architecture. Roman architecture is debased Romanesque architecture, the first use in a published work is in William Gunns An Inquiry into the Origin and Influence of Gothic Architecture. The term is now used for the more restricted period from the late 10th to 12th centuries, Many castles exist, the foundations of which date from the Romanesque period. Most have been altered, and many are in ruins. By far the greatest number of surviving Romanesque buildings are churches, the scope of Romanesque architecture Romanesque architecture was the first distinctive style to spread across Europe since the Roman Empire. In the more northern countries Roman building styles and techniques had never been adopted except for official buildings, although the round arch continued in use, the engineering skills required to vault large spaces and build large domes were lost. There was a loss of continuity, particularly apparent in the decline of the formal vocabulary of the Classical Orders. In Rome several great Constantinian basilicas continued in use as an inspiration to later builders, the largest building is the church, the plan of which is distinctly Germanic, having an apse at both ends, an arrangement not generally seen elsewhere. Another feature of the church is its regular proportion, the plan of the crossing tower providing a module for the rest of the plan. These features can both be seen at the Proto-Romanesque St. Michaels Church, Hildesheim, 1001–1030, the style, sometimes called First Romanesque or Lombard Romanesque, is characterised by thick walls, lack of sculpture and the presence of rhythmic ornamental arches known as a Lombard band
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Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
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Euro banknotes
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Banknotes of the euro, the currency of the Eurozone, have been in circulation since the first series was issued in 2002. They are issued by the central banks of the Eurosystem or the European Central Bank. In 1999 the euro was introduced virtually, and in 2002 notes, the euro rapidly took over from the former national currencies and slowly expanded around the European Union. Denominations of the range from €5 to €500 and, unlike euro coins. The euro banknotes are pure cotton fibre, which improves their durability as well as giving the banknotes a distinctive feel and they measure from 120 by 62 millimetres to 160 by 82 millimetres and have a variety of colour schemes. The euro notes contain many complex security features such as watermarks, invisible ink, holograms, while euro coins have a national side indicating the country of issue, euro notes lack this. Instead, this information is shown by the first character of each notes serial number, according to European Central Bank estimates, in August 2016, there were approximately 19,417,000,000 banknotes in circulation around the Eurozone, worth approximately €1.1 trillion. On 8 November 2012, the European Central Bank announced that the first series of notes would be replaced, Europa will feature in the new series. The euro came into existence on 1 January 1999, the euros creation had been a goal of the European Union and its predecessors since the 1960s. The Maastricht Treaty entered into force in 1993 with the goal of creating economic and monetary union by 1999 for all EU states except the UK, in 1999 the currency was born virtually, and in 2002 notes and coins began to circulate. It rapidly took over from the national currencies and slowly expanded around the rest of the EU. In 2009 the Lisbon Treaty formalised the Euros political authority, the Euro Group, Slovenia joined the Eurozone in 2007, Cyprus and Malta in 2008, Slovakia in 2009, Estonia in 2011, Latvia in 2014 and Lithuania in 2015. There are seven different denominations of the euro banknotes — €5, €10, €20, €50, €100, €200 and €500 — each having a distinctive colour, the designs for each of them have a common theme of European architecture in various artistic eras. The obverse of the banknote features windows or gateways while the reverse bears different types of bridges, the architectural examples are stylised illustrations, not representations of existing monuments. The 12 stars from the EU Flag are also incorporated into every note, the euro banknote initial designs were chosen from 44 proposals in a design competition, launched by the Council of the European Monetary Institute on 12 February 1996. The winning entry, created by Robert Kalina from the Oesterreichische Nationalbank, was selected on 3 December 1996, the euro banknotes are pure cotton fibre, which improves their durability as well as giving the banknotes a distinctive feel. However, both Cyprus and Malta are depicted on the 2013 series note, on May 4,2016, the European Central Bank decided not to issue a 500 euro banknote for the Europa series. The banknote also has the euro, but in three scripts, in Latin, Greek and Cyrillic script
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History of the euro
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The euro came into existence on 1 January 1999, although it had been a goal of the European Union and its predecessors since the 1960s. In 1999 the currency was born virtually and in 2002 notes and it rapidly took over from the former national currencies and slowly expanded behind the rest of the EU. In 2009 the Lisbon Treaty finalised its political authority, the Eurogroup, first ideas of an economic and monetary union in Europe were raised well before establishing the European Communities. This was followed up at a meeting of the European Council at The Hague in December 1969, the European Council tasked Pierre Werner, Prime Minister of Luxembourg, with finding a way to reduce currency exchange rate volatility. But he did not propose a single currency or central bank, an attempt to limit the fluctuations of European currencies, using a snake in the tunnel, failed. In 1971, US President Richard Nixon removed the gold backing from the US dollar, the widespread currency floats and devaluations set back aspirations for European monetary union. However, in March 1979 the European Monetary System was created, fixing exchange rates onto the European Currency Unit and it also created the European Monetary Cooperation Fund. In February 1986 the Single European Act formalised political co-operation within the Community including competency in monetary policy, European Council summit in Hannover on 14 June 1988 began to outline monetary co-operation. France, Italy and European Commission backed a fully monetary union with a central bank and this way of working was derived from the Spaak method. France and the UK were opposed to German reunification, and attempted to influence the Soviet Union to stop it, however, in late 1989 France extracted German commitment to the Monetary Union in return for support for German reunification. It laid out monetary union being accomplished in three steps, beginning the first of these steps, on 1 July 1990, exchange controls were abolished, thus capital movements were completely liberalised in the European Economic Community. Leaders reached agreement on currency union with the Maastricht Treaty, signed on 7 February 1992 and it agreed to create a single currency, although without the participation of the United Kingdom, by January 1999. Gaining approval for the treaty was a challenge, Germany was cautious about giving up its stable currency, i. e. On 16 September 1992, known in the UK as Black Wednesday, delors second stage began in 1994 with creation of the European Monetary Institute, succeeding the EMCF, under Maastricht. It was created as the forerunner to the European Central Bank and it met for the first time on 12 January under its first president, Alexandre Lamfalussy. After much disagreement, in December 1995 the name euro was adopted for the new currency and they also agreed on the date 1 January 1999 for its launch. Then, on 3 May 1998, at the European Council in Brussels, Greece failed to meet the criteria and was excluded from participating on 1 January 1999. On 1 June 1998 the European Central Bank succeeded the European Monetary Institute, however it wouldnt take on its full powers until the euro was created on 1 January 1999
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Italian lira
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The lira was the currency of Italy between 1861 and 2002 and of the Albanian Kingdom between 1941 and 1943. Between 1999 and 2002, the Italian lira was officially a national subunit of the euro, however, cash payments could be made in lira only, as euro coins or notes were not yet available. The lira was also the currency of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Italy between 1807 and 1814, L, sometimes in a double-crossed script form, was the symbol most often used. Until the Second World War, it was subdivided into 100 centesimi, the lira was established at 4.5 grams of silver or 290.322 milligrams of gold. This was a continuation of the Sardinian lira. Other currencies replaced by the Italian lira included the Lombardy-Venetia pound, the Two Sicilies piastra, the Tuscan fiorino, the Papal States scudo and this practice has obviously ended with the introduction of the euro in 2002. World War I broke the Latin Monetary Union and resulted in prices rising severalfold in Italy, in 1927, the lira was pegged to the U. S. dollar at a rate of 1 dollar =19 lire. This rate lasted until 1934, with a separate tourist rate of US$1 =24.89 lire being established in 1936, in 1939, the official rate was 19.8 lire. After the Allied invasion of Italy, a rate was set at US$1 =120 lire in June 1943. In German occupied areas, the rate was set at 1 Reichsmark =10 lire. After the war, the value of the lira fluctuated, before Italy set a peg of US$1 =575 lire within the Bretton Woods System in November 1947, following the devaluation of the pound, Italy devalued to US$1 =625 lire on 21 September 1949. This rate was maintained until the end of the Bretton Woods System in the early 1970s, several episodes of high inflation followed until the lira was replaced by the euro. The lira was the unit of currency in Italy until January 1,1999. Old lira denominated currency ceased to be legal tender on February 28,2002, the conversion rate is 1,936.27 lire to the euro. All lira banknotes in use immediately before the introduction of the euro, originally Italys central bank pledged to redeem Italian coins and banknotes until 29 February 2012, but this was brought forward to 6 December 2011. Italys Constitutional Court has now declared the law that shortening the period of Italian Lira unlawful. Currently, studies are being conducted by the Banca dItalia and the Ministry of Economy, in 1863, silver coins below 5 lire were debased from 90% to 83. 5% and silver 20 centesimi coins were introduced. Minting switched to Rome in the 1870s, apart from the introduction in 1894 of cupro-nickel 20 centesimi coins and of nickel 25 centesimi pieces in 1902, the coinage remained essentially unaltered until the First World War
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Deutsche Mark
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The Deutsche Mark, abbreviated DM or D-Mark, was the official currency of West Germany and unified Germany until the adoption of the euro in 2002. In English, but not in German, it is called the Deutschmark. Mark coins and banknotes continued to be accepted as valid forms of payment in Germany until 28 February 2002. However, in 2012, it was estimated that as many as 13.2 billion marks were in circulation, with polls showing a narrow majority of Germans favouring the currencys restoration. The Deutsche Bundesbank has guaranteed that all German marks in form may be changed into euros indefinitely. Banknotes and coins can even be sent to the Bundesbank by mail, on 31 December 1998, the Council of the European Union fixed the irrevocable exchange rate, effective 1 January 1999, for German mark to euros as DM1.95583 = €1. One Deutsche Mark was divided into 100 Pfennig, a mark had been the currency of Germany since its original unification in 1871. Before that time, the different German states issued a variety of different currencies, though most were linked to the Vereinsthaler, a silver coin containing 16 2⁄3 grams of pure silver. Although the mark was based on rather than silver, a fixed exchange rate between the Vereinsthaler and the mark of 3 marks =1 Vereinsthaler was used for the conversion. The first mark, known as the Goldmark, was introduced in 1873, with the outbreak of World War I, the mark was taken off the gold standard. The currency thus became known as the Papiermark, especially as inflation, then hyperinflation occurred. The Papiermark was replaced by the Rentenmark from November 15,1923, due to the strains between the Allies each zone was governed independently as regards monetary matters. The US occupation policy was governed by the directive JCS1067, as a consequence a separate monetary reform in the U. S. zone was not possible. Each of the Allies printed its own occupation currency, the Deutsche Mark was officially introduced on Sunday, June 20,1948 by Ludwig Erhard. Large amounts were exchanged for RM10 to 65 Pfennig, in addition, each person received a per capita allowance of DM60 in two parts, the first being DM40 and the second DM20. A few weeks later Erhard, acting against orders, issued an edict abolishing many economic controls which had been implemented by the Nazis. He did this, as he confessed, on Sunday because the offices of the American, British. He was sure if he had done it when they were open
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Slovenia
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Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a nation state in southern Central Europe, located at the crossroads of main European cultural and trade routes. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and it covers 20,273 square kilometers and has a population of 2.06 million. It is a republic and a member of the United Nations, European Union. The capital and largest city is Ljubljana, additionally, the Dinaric Alps and the Pannonian Plain meet on the territory of Slovenia. The country, marked by a significant biological diversity, is one of the most water-rich in Europe, with a river network, a rich aquifer system. Over half of the territory is covered by forest, the human settlement of Slovenia is dispersed and uneven. Slovenia has historically been the crossroads of South Slavic, Germanic, Romance, although the population is not homogeneous, the majority is Slovene. South Slavic language Slovene is the language throughout the country. Slovenia is a largely secularized country, but its culture and identity have been influenced by Catholicism as well as Lutheranism. The economy of Slovenia is small, open, and export-oriented and has strongly influenced by international conditions. It has been hurt by the Eurozone crisis, started in the late 2000s. The main economic field is services, followed by industry and construction, Historically, the current territory of Slovenia was part of many different state formations, including the Roman Empire and the Holy Roman Empire, followed by the Habsburg Monarchy. In October 1918, the Slovenes exercised self-determination for the first time by co-founding the State of Slovenes, Croats, in December 1918, they merged with the Kingdom of Serbia into the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. During World War II, Slovenia was occupied and annexed by Germany, Italy, and Hungary, with a tiny area transferred to the Independent State of Croatia, in June 1991, after the introduction of multi-party representative democracy, Slovenia split from Yugoslavia and became an independent country. Present-day Slovenia has been inhabited since prehistoric times, and there is evidence of habitation from around 250,000 years ago. A pierced cave bear bone, dating from 43100 ±700 BP, in the 1920s and 1930s, artifacts belonging to the Cro-Magnon such as pierced bones, bone points, and needle were found by archaeologist Srečko Brodar in Potok Cave. It shows that wooden wheels appeared almost simultaneously in Mesopotamia and Europe, in the transition period between the Bronze age to the Iron age, the Urnfield culture flourished. Archaeological remains dating from the Hallstatt period have been found, particularly in southeastern Slovenia, among them a number of situlas in Novo Mesto, in the Iron Age, present-day Slovenia was inhabited by Illyrian and Celtic tribes until the 1st century BC
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Cyprus
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Cyprus, officially the Republic of Cyprus, is an island country in the Eastern Mediterranean and the third largest and third most populous island in the Mediterranean. It is located south of Turkey, west of Syria and Lebanon, northwest of Israel and Palestine, north of Egypt, the earliest known human activity on the island dates to around the 10th millennium BC. Archaeological remains from this include the well-preserved Neolithic village of Khirokitia. Cyprus was settled by Mycenaean Greeks in two waves in the 2nd millennium BC, Cyprus was placed under British administration based on Cyprus Convention in 1878 and formally annexed by Britain in 1914. While Turkish Cypriots made up 18% of the population, the partition of Cyprus and creation of a Turkish state in the north became a policy of Turkish Cypriot leaders, following nationalist violence in the 1950s, Cyprus was granted independence in 1960. On 15 July 1974, a coup détat was staged by Greek Cypriot nationalists and elements of the Greek military junta in an attempt at enosis and these events and the resulting political situation are matters of a continuing dispute. The Cyprus Republic has de jure sovereignty over the island of Cyprus, as well as its territorial sea and exclusive economic area, another nearly 4% of the islands area is covered by the UN buffer zone. The international community considers the part of the island as territory of the Republic of Cyprus occupied by Turkish forces. The occupation is viewed as illegal under law, amounting to illegal occupation of EU territory since Cyprus became a member of the European Union. Cyprus is a major tourist destination in the Mediterranean, on 1 January 2008, the Republic of Cyprus joined the eurozone. The earliest attested reference to Cyprus is the 15th century BC Mycenaean Greek
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Malta
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Malta, officially known as the Republic of Malta, is a Southern European island country consisting of an archipelago in the Mediterranean Sea. It lies 80 km south of Italy,284 km east of Tunisia, the country covers just over 316 km2, with a population of just under 450,000, making it one of the worlds smallest and most densely populated countries. The capital of Malta is Valletta, which at 0.8 km2, is the smallest national capital in the European Union, Malta has one national language, which is Maltese, and English as an official language. John, French and British, have ruled the islands, King George VI of the United Kingdom awarded the George Cross to Malta in 1942 for the countrys bravery in the Second World War. The George Cross continues to appear on Maltas national flag, the country became a republic in 1974, and although no longer a Commonwealth realm, remains a member state of the Commonwealth of Nations. Malta was admitted to the United Nations in 1964 and to the European Union in 2004, in 2008, Catholicism is the official religion in Malta. The origin of the term Malta is uncertain, and the modern-day variation derives from the Maltese language, the most common etymology is that the word Malta derives from the Greek word μέλι, meli, honey. The ancient Greeks called the island Μελίτη meaning honey-sweet, possibly due to Maltas unique production of honey, an endemic species of bee lives on the island. The Romans went on to call the island Melita, which can be considered either as a latinisation of the Greek Μελίτη or the adaptation of the Doric Greek pronunciation of the same word Μελίτα. Another conjecture suggests that the word Malta comes from the Phoenician word Maleth a haven or port in reference to Maltas many bays, few other etymological mentions appear in classical literature, with the term Malta appearing in its present form in the Antonine Itinerary. The extinction of the hippos and dwarf elephants has been linked to the earliest arrival of humans on Malta. Prehistoric farming settlements dating to the Early Neolithic period were discovered in areas and also in caves. The Sicani were the tribe known to have inhabited the island at this time and are generally regarded as being closely related to the Iberians. Pottery from the Għar Dalam phase is similar to found in Agrigento. A culture of megalithis temple builders then either supplanted or arose from this early period, the temples have distinctive architecture, typically a complex trefoil design, and were used from 4000 to 2500 BCE. Animal bones and a knife found behind an altar stone suggest that temple rituals included animal sacrifice. Tentative information suggests that the sacrifices were made to the goddess of fertility, the culture apparently disappeared from the Maltese Islands around 2500 BC. Archaeologists speculate that the builders fell victim to famine or disease
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Slovakia
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Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Austria to the west, Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Slovakias territory spans about 49,000 square kilometres and is mostly mountainous. The population is over 5 million and comprises mostly ethnic Slovaks, the capital and largest city is Bratislava. The Slavs arrived in the territory of present-day Slovakia in the 5th and 6th centuries, in the 7th century, they played a significant role in the creation of Samos Empire and in the 9th century established the Principality of Nitra. In the 10th century, the territory was integrated into the Kingdom of Hungary, which became part of the Habsburg Empire. After World War I and the dissolution of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, a separate Slovak Republic existed in World War II as a client state of Nazi Germany. In 1945, Czechoslovakia was reëstablished under Communist rule as a Soviet satellite, in 1989 the Velvet Revolution ended authoritarian Communist rule in Czechoslovakia. Slovakia became an independent state on 1 January 1993 after the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. The country maintains a combination of economy with universal health care. The country joined the European Union in 2004 and the Eurozone on 1 January 2009, Slovakia is also a member of the Schengen Area, NATO, the United Nations, the OECD, the WTO, CERN, the OSCE, the Council of Europe and the Visegrád Group. The Slovak economy is one of the fastest growing economies in Europe and its legal tender, the Euro, is the worlds 2nd most traded currency. Although regional income inequality is high, 90% of citizens own their homes, in 2016, Slovak citizens had visa-free or visa-on-arrival access to 165 countries and territories, ranking the Slovak passport 11th in the world. Slovakia is the world’s biggest per-capita car producer with a total of 1,040,000 cars manufactured in the country in 2016 alone, the car industry represents 43 percent of Slovakia’s industrial output, and a quarter of its exports. Radiocarbon datingputs the oldest surviving archaeological artefacts from Slovakia – found near Nové Mesto nad Váhom – at 270,000 BC and these ancient tools, made by the Clactonian technique, bear witness to the ancient habitation of Slovakia. Other stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic era come from the Prévôt cave near Bojnice, the most important discovery from that era is a Neanderthal cranium, discovered near Gánovce, a village in northern Slovakia. The most well-known finds include the oldest female statue made of mammoth-bone, the statue was found in the 1940s in Moravany nad Váhom near Piešťany. Numerous necklaces made of shells from Cypraca thermophile gastropods of the Tertiary period have come from the sites of Zákovská, Podkovice, Hubina and these findings provide the most ancient evidence of commercial exchanges carried out between the Mediterranean and Central Europe. The Bronze Age in the territory of modern-day Slovakia went through three stages of development, stretching from 2000 to 800 BC
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Estonia
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Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia, across the Baltic Sea lies Sweden in the west and Finland in the north. The territory of Estonia consists of a mainland and 2,222 islands and islets in the Baltic Sea, covering 45,339 km2 of land and water, and is influenced by a humid continental climate. The territory of Estonia has been inhabited since at least 6500 BC, in 1988, during the Singing Revolution, the Estonian Supreme Soviet issued the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration in defiance of Soviet rule, and independence was restored on 20 August 1991. Estonia is a parliamentary republic divided into fifteen counties. Its capital and largest city is Tallinn, with a population of 1.3 million, it is one of the least-populous member states of the European Union, Eurozone, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, OECD and Schengen Area. Estonia is a country with an advanced, high-income economy that is among the fastest growing in the EU. Its Human Development Index ranks very highly, and it performs favourably in measurements of economic freedom, civil liberties, the 2015 PISA test places Estonian high school students 3rd in the world, behind Singapore and Japan. Citizens of Estonia are provided with health care, free education. Since independence the country has developed its IT sector, becoming one of the worlds most digitally advanced societies. In 2005 Estonia became the first nation to hold elections over the Internet, in the Estonian language, the oldest known endonym of the Estonians was maarahvas, meaning country people or people of the land. The land inhabited by Estonians was called Maavald meaning Country Parish or Land Parish, one hypothesis regarding the modern name of Estonia is that it originated from the Aesti, a people described by the Roman historian Tacitus in his Germania. The historic Aesti were allegedly Baltic people, whereas the modern Estonians are Finno-Ugric, the geographical areas between Aesti and Estonia do not match, with Aesti being further down south. Ancient Scandinavian sagas refer to a land called Eistland, as the country is called in Icelandic. Early Latin and other ancient versions of the name are Estia and Hestia, esthonia was a common alternative English spelling prior to 1921. Human settlement in Estonia became possible 13,000 to 11,000 years ago, the oldest known settlement in Estonia is the Pulli settlement, which was on the banks of the river Pärnu, near the town of Sindi, in south-western Estonia. According to radiocarbon dating it was settled around 11,000 years ago, the earliest human inhabitation during the Mesolithic period is connected to Kunda culture, which is named after the town of Kunda in northern Estonia. At that time the country was covered with forests, and people lived in communities near bodies of water
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Latvia
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Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe, one of the three Baltic states. It is bordered by Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, Russia to the east, Latvia has 1,957,200 inhabitants and a territory of 64,589 km2. The country has a seasonal climate. Latvia is a parliamentary republic established in 1918. The capital city is Riga, the European Capital of Culture 2014, Latvia is a unitary state, divided into 119 administrative divisions, of which 110 are municipalities and 9 are cities. Latvians and Livs are the people of Latvia. Latvian and Lithuanian are the two surviving Baltic languages. Despite foreign rule from the 13th to 20th centuries, the Latvian nation maintained its identity throughout the generations via the language, Latvia and Estonia share a long common history. Until World War II, Latvia also had significant minorities of ethnic Germans, Latvia is historically predominantly Protestant Lutheran, except for the Latgale region in the southeast, which has historically been predominantly Roman Catholic. The Russian population has brought a significant portion of Eastern Orthodox Christians. The Republic of Latvia was founded on 18 November 1918, however, its de facto independence was interrupted at the outset of World War II. The peaceful Singing Revolution, starting in 1987, called for Baltic emancipation of Soviet rule and it ended with the Declaration on the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia on 4 May 1990, and restoring de facto independence on 21 August 1991. Latvia is a democratic and developed country and member of the European Union, NATO, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, CBSS, the IMF, NB8, NIB, OECD, OSCE, and WTO. For 2014, Latvia was listed 46th on the Human Development Index and it used the Latvian lats as its currency until it was replaced by the euro on 1 January 2014. The name Latvija is derived from the name of the ancient Latgalians, one of four Indo-European Baltic tribes, henry of Latvia coined the Latinisations of the countrys name, Lettigallia and Lethia, both derived from the Latgalians. The terms inspired the variations on the name in Romance languages from Letonia. Around 3000 BC, the ancestors of the Latvian people settled on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. The Balts established trade routes to Rome and Byzantium, trading local amber for precious metals, by 900 AD, four distinct Baltic tribes inhabited Latvia, Curonians, Latgalians, Selonians, Semigallians, as well as the Livonians speaking a Finnic language
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Lithuania
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Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in Northern Europe. One of the three Baltic states, it is situated along the shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.9 million people as of 2015, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. The official language, Lithuanian, along with Latvian, is one of two living languages in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. For centuries, the shores of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s, the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, the King of Lithuania, and the first unified Lithuanian state, with the Lublin Union of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772–95, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuanias territory. As World War I neared its end, Lithuanias Act of Independence was signed on 16 February 1918, in the midst of the Second World War, Lithuania was first occupied by the Soviet Union and then by Nazi Germany. As World War II neared its end and the Germans retreated, Lithuania is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, a full member of the Eurozone, Schengen Agreement and NATO. It is also a member of the Nordic Investment Bank, the United Nations Human Development Index lists Lithuania as a very high human development country. Lithuania has been among the fastest growing economies in the European Union and is ranked 21st in the world in the Ease of Doing Business Index, the first people settled in the territory of Lithuania after the last glacial period in the 10th millennium BC. Over a millennium, the Indo-Europeans, who arrived in the 3rd – 2nd millennium BC, mixed with the local population, the first written mention of Lithuania is found in a medieval German manuscript, the Annals of Quedlinburg, in an entry dated 9 March 1009. Initially inhabited by fragmented Baltic tribes, in the 1230s the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, after his assassination in 1263, pagan Lithuania was a target of the Christian crusades of the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order. Despite the devastating century-long struggle with the Orders, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania expanded rapidly, by the end of the 14th century, Lithuania was one of the largest countries in Europe and included present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia. The geopolitical situation between the west and the east determined the multicultural and multi-confessional character of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the ruling elite practised religious tolerance and Chancery Slavonic language was used as an auxiliary language to the Latin for official documents. In 1385, the Grand Duke Jogaila accepted Polands offer to become its king, Jogaila embarked on gradual Christianization of Lithuania and established a personal union between Poland and Lithuania. It implied that Lithuania, the fiercely independent land, was one of the last pagan areas of Europe to adopt Christianity, after two civil wars, Vytautas the Great became the Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1392. During his reign, Lithuania reached the peak of its expansion, centralization of the state began
27.
President of the European Central Bank
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The President heads the executive board, governing council and general council of the ECB. He is not elected by popular vote and he also represents the bank abroad, for example at the G20. The President is appointed by majority in the European Council, de facto by those who have adopted the euro, Duisenberg then became the first President of the ECB. Duisenberg always strongly denied such an agreement was made and stated in February 2002 that he would stay in office until his 68th birthday on 9 July 2003. In the meanwhile Jean-Claude Trichet was not cleared of legal accusations before 1 June 2002, even on 9 July 2003 Trichet was not cleared, and therefore Duisenberg remained in office until 1 November 2003. Duisenberg died on 31 July 2005, Jean-Claude Trichet became President in 2003 and served during the European sovereign debt crisis. Trichets strengths lay in keeping consensus and visible calm in the ECB, during his tenure, Trichet has had to fend off criticism from French President Nicolas Sarkozy who demanded a more growth-orientated policy at the ECB. Germany supported Trichet in demanding the banks independence be respected, however, he was also criticised from straying from his mandate during the crisis by buying the government bonds of eurozone member states. ECB board members Axel A. Weber and Jürgen Stark resigned in protest at this policy, while straying from his mandate, he has however still kept interest rates under control and maintained greater price stability than the Deutsche Bundesbank did before the euro. He also asserted that the ECBs role in maintaining price stability throughout the financial crisis, mario Draghi was chosen to become the next President of the ECB on 24 June 2011. He is President as of 1 November 2011, pascal Canfin, Member of the European Parliament, asserted that Draghi had been involved in swaps for European governments, namely Greece, trying to disguise their countries economic status. Draghi responded that the deals were undertaken before my joining Goldman Sachs I had nothing to do with them, list of presidents since the establishment of the bank on 1 June 1998. Vice President Christian Noyer was only appointed for four years so that his resignation would coincide with the resignation of Duisenberg. His successors, starting with Lucas Papademos, are granted eight-year terms, organisation of the ECB Presidents CV EU Treaties, Section 6 Article 282 on ECB
28.
European Central Bank
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The European Central Bank is the central bank for the euro and administers monetary policy of the eurozone, which consists of 19 EU member states and is one of the largest currency areas in the world. It is one of the worlds most important central banks and is one of the seven institutions of the European Union listed in the Treaty on European Union, the capital stock of the bank is owned by the central banks of all 28 EU member states. The Treaty of Amsterdam established the bank in 1998, and it is headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany. As of 2015 the President of the ECB is Mario Draghi, former governor of the Bank of Italy, former member of the World Bank, the bank primarily occupied the Eurotower prior to, and during, the construction of the new headquarters. The primary objective of the ECB, mandated in Article 2 of the Statute of the ECB, is to price stability within the Eurozone. The ECB has, under Article 16 of its Statute, the right to authorise the issuance of euro banknotes. Member states can issue euro coins, but the amount must be authorised by the ECB beforehand, the ECB is governed by European law directly, but its set-up resembles that of a corporation in the sense that the ECB has shareholders and stock capital. Its capital is €11 billion held by the central banks of the member states as shareholders. The initial capital allocation key was determined in 1998 on the basis of the population and GDP. Shares in the ECB are not transferable and cannot be used as collateral, the European Central Bank is the de facto successor of the European Monetary Institute. The EMI itself took over from the earlier European Monetary Co-operation Fund, the bank was the final institution needed for EMU, as outlined by the EMU reports of Pierre Werner and President Jacques Delors. It was established on 1 June 1998, the first President of the Bank was Wim Duisenberg, the former president of the Dutch central bank and the European Monetary Institute. The French argued that since the ECB was to be located in Germany and this was opposed by the German, Dutch and Belgian governments who saw Duisenberg as a guarantor of a strong euro. Tensions were abated by an agreement in which Duisenberg would stand down before the end of his mandate. Trichet replaced Duisenberg as President in November 2003, there had also been tension over the ECBs Executive Board, with the United Kingdom demanding a seat even though it had not joined the Single Currency. Under pressure from France, three seats were assigned to the largest members, France, Germany, and Italy, Spain also demanded and obtained a seat. Despite such a system of appointment the board asserted its independence early on in resisting calls for interest rates, when the ECB was created, it covered a Eurozone of eleven members. On 1 December 2009, the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force, ECB according to the article 13 of TEU, on 1 November 2011, Mario Draghi replaced Jean-Claude Trichet as President of the ECB
29.
Wim Duisenberg
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Willem Frederik Wim Duisenberg was a Dutch politician of the Labour Party. Duisenberg, an economist by occupation, worked for the International Monetary Fund, Duisenberg became a professor of Macroeconomics at the University of Amsterdam in 1970. After the Dutch general election of 1972 Duisenberg was asked by the Labour Party to become Minister of Finance in the Cabinet Den Uyl under Prime Minister Joop den Uyl, Duisenberg accepted and resigned as a professor the day the Cabinet Den Uyl was installed on 11 May 1973. Duisenberg remained Minister of Finance until the Cabinet Van Agt I was installed on 19 December 1977. He was elected as a Member of the House of Representatives after Dutch general election of 1977, serving from 8 June 1977 until 8 September 1977, Duisenberg served as the first President of the European Central Bank from 1 July 1998 until 1 November 2003. He was instrumental in the introduction of the euro in the European Union in 2002, Duisenberg retired from active politics at the age of sixty-eight. Following the end of his political career, Duisenberg occupied numerous seats on supervisory boards in the business and industry world. Duisenberg was known for his distinct Frisian accent and his abilities as an acclaimed financier, willem Frederik Duisenberg was born on 9 July 1935 in the Frisian city of Heerenveen in the Netherlands. He was the son Lammert Duisenberg, who was a waterworks supervisor and he went to a public primary school in his hometown. He went to school, first one year of hogere burgerschool and then gymnasium with natural sciences. In 1954, Duisenberg moved to Haren and he studied at the University of Groningen in Groningen from 1954 to 1961, where he received his doctorandus degree cum laude in economics, majoring in international relations. He was a member of Groninger Studentencorps Vindicat atque Polit, in 1959, he became a member of the Labour Party. In 1960, he married Tine Stelling, in 1965, he obtained his doctor degree with his thesis De economische gevolgen van de ontwapening under the supervision of professor F. J. de Jong. He was then appointed a professor at the University of Amsterdam where he taught macroeconomics, two years later, he was appointed director of the Nederlandsche Bank, serving as its president from 1982 to 1997. His tenure at the Dutch central bank was marked by caution, under his direction, the Dutch guilder was linked to the German Deutsche Mark, and this benefited the Dutch economy, owing to the strength of the German currency. A compromise was agreed upon whereby Duisenberg would serve for at least four years, upon which the Frenchman Jean-Claude Trichet, director of the Banque de France, in 1999, Duisenberg received the Vision for Europe Award in recognition of his efforts toward the unification of Europe. During his tenure at the bank, Dr. Duisenberg was known for his cautious monetary policy and he sometimes frustrated investors and politicians by sticking to the banks inflation-fighting stance, keeping rates higher than some would have liked. I hear, but I dont listen to pleas, was one of his typically blunt responses
30.
Jean-Claude Trichet
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Jean-Claude Trichet is a French civil servant, who was the president of the European Central Bank from 2003 to 2011. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Bank for International Settlements, in 2008, Trichet ranked fifth on Newsweek’s list of the worlds most powerful along with economic triumvirs Ben Bernanke and Masaaki Shirakawa. Born in Lyon, Trichet was educated at the École des Mines de Nancy, in 1987 Trichet became a member of Washington-based financial advisory body, the Group of Thirty. Later, in 1993 he was appointed governor of Banque de France, on 1 November 2003 he replaced Wim Duisenberg as president of the European Central Bank. In April 2012, Trichet was also appointed Bruegels new chairman for a period of three years and he will chair an 11-member Board, appointed by Bruegel’s members, whose main task is to make decisions on the think-tank’s strategy. Trichet succeeded Mario Monti as chairman of the European branch of the Trilateral Commission in 2012 and he is a member of the Steering Committee of the Bilderberg Group. In January 2003, Trichet was put on trial with eight others charged with irregularities at Crédit Lyonnais, Trichet was in charge of the French treasury at that time. He was cleared in June 2003, which left the way clear for him to move to the ECB, within the European Central Bank, Trichet strongly resisted any contemplation of Greece defaulting on its debt. It was only in October 2011, with the end of his term imminent, former Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan had a loaded gun pointed in his ear when it came to the ECB letter sent to the Irish Government in 2010, a leading economist has said. Chief Economist of the world’s largest bond trading firm Pimco, Paul McCulley said the late Minister for Finance had very little choice when it came to the ECB’s letter to the Irish Government. The secret letter, sent on 19 November 2010, threatened to cut off all funding, the letter was sent by then ECB President Jean Claude Trichet to the former Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan. He said the former Minister for Finance had no options when it came to the ECB threats in the letter and you do whatever you do when you have a gun in your ear – you hand over your wallet. You are not suppose to feel good about it, but it is the logical and rational thing to do at that moment. After that moment passes, you had redress from the standpoint of I really don’t like the idea of having a firearm stuck in my ear, six years later, we are now seeing a picture of the firearm emerging. I assume there is an amount of indignation in this country. Speaking on Morning Ireland, Mr McCully said he couldn’t guess if the ECB was bluffing, “It is hard to know if they were bluffing because they no choice. Again my analogy of having a firearm in the ear is a fair one, the gun may have an empty gun but do you want to bet on it. ”He said that Ireland’s debt should be “extended, modified and rolled so as to soften the blow of it”. It is understood there are three letters in the correspondence between Jean Claude Trichet and Brian Lenihan in October 2010 and November 2010
31.
Mario Draghi
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Mario Draghi OMRI is an Italian economist who has served as President of the European Central Bank since November 2011. He has served as Chairman of the Financial Stability Board from 2009 to 2011, Draghi previously worked at Goldman Sachs from 2002 until 2005 before becoming the governor of the Bank of Italy in December 2005, where he served until October 2011. In 2014 Draghi was listed as the 8th most powerful person in the world by Forbes, in 2015 Fortune magazine ranked him as the worlds second greatest leader. His father Carlo joined Banca dItalia in 1922, later IRI and his mother, Gilda Mancini was a pharmacist. Mario is the first of three children, Andreina, art historian, and Marcello, entrepreneur, from 1984 to 1990 he was the Italian Executive Director at the World Bank. In 1991, at the initiative of the then Minister Guido Carli, he became director of the Italian Treasury. During his time at the Treasury, he chaired the committee that revised Italian corporate and financial legislation and he is also a former board member of several banks and corporations. Draghi was then chairman and managing director of Goldman Sachs International. He worked on the firms European strategy and development with major European corporations, after the revelation of off-market swaps used by Greece with the help of Goldman Sachs, he said he knew nothing about this deal and had nothing to do with it. He added that “the deals between the Greek government and Goldman Sachs had been undertaken before joining of. ”Draghi is a trustee at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey and also at the Brookings Institution, in Washington, D. C. He is also governor for Italy on the Boards of Governors of the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development and it aims to promote international financial stability, improve the functioning of markets and reduce systemic risk through information exchange and international cooperation between supervisors. Draghi was frequently mentioned as a successor to Jean-Claude Trichet. On 13 February 2011 Wolfgang Münchau, associate editor of the Financial Times, a few days later The Economist wrote that the next president of the world’s second-most-important central bank should be Mario Draghi. On 20 April 2011 The Wall Street Journal reported that Wolfgang Schäuble, a few days later the German newspaper Bild endorsed Draghi by defining him the most German of all remaining candidates. Contrary to previous reports about Frances position, on 25 April it was reported that President Nicolas Sarkozy saw Draghi as a full-fledged and an adequate candidate for the job. On 17 May 2011 the Council of the European Union – sitting as Ecofin – adopted a recommendation on the nomination of Draghi as President of the ECB. He was approved by the European Parliament and the ECB itself, Draghi began leading the Frankfurt-based institution when Trichets non-renewable eight-year term expired on 31 October 2011. Draghis term runs from 1 November 2011 to 31 October 2019, concerns were also expressed during the candidacy about Draghis past employment at Goldman Sachs
32.
Flag of Europe
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The Flag of Europe, or European Flag is an official symbol of two separate organizations—the Council of Europe and the European Union. When representing the latter, it is known as the Flag of the European Union. It consists of a circle of twelve five-pointed yellow stars on a blue field, the flag was designed in 1955, and officially launched later that year by the Council of Europe as a symbol for the whole of Europe. The Council of Europe urged it to be adopted by other European organisations, the EU has inherited the flags use when it was formed in 1993, being the successor organisation to the EC. It has been in wide official by the EU since the 1990s and its adoption as an official symbol of the EU was planned as part of the proposed European Constitution, which failed to be ratified in 2005. Since its adoption by the European Union, it has become associated with the supranational organisation due to its high profile. It has also used by pro-EU protestors in the colour revolutions of the 2000s. There are also a number of designs used as logos or flags of other European organisations. The flag is rectangular with 2,3 proportions, its fly is one, twelve gold stars are centred in a circle upon a blue background. All the stars are upright, have five points and are spaced according to the hour positions on the face of a clock. The diameter of each star is equal to one-ninth of the height of the hoist, the graphical specifications given by the EU describe the design as, On an azure field a circle of twelve golden mullets, their points not touching. Their number shall be set at twelve, the symbol of completeness. The base colour of the flag is a blue, while the golden stars are portrayed in Yellow. The colours are regulated according to the Pantone colouring system, a large number of designs were proposed for the flag before the current flag was agreed. The rejected proposals are preserved in the Council of Europe Archives, one of these consists of a design of white stars on a light blue field, as a gesture to the peace and internationalism of the United Nations. The number of stars on the flag is fixed at 12 and this is because it originally was the flag of the Council of Europe. In 1953, the Council of Europe had 15 members, it was proposed that the flag should have one star for each member. West Germany objected to this as one of the members was the area of Saarland
33.
Languages of the European Union
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The languages of the European Union are languages used by people within the member states of the European Union. The EU has 24 official languages, of three have the higher status of procedural languages of the European Commission. The three procedural languages are used in the day-to-day workings of the institutions of the EU. The EU asserts that it is in favour of linguistic diversity and this principle is enshrined in the EU Charter and in the Treaty on European Union. The EU encourages all its citizens to be multilingual, specifically, the most widely spoken language in the EU is English, which is understood by 51% of all adults, while German is the most widely used mother tongue, spoken by 18%. All 24 official languages of the EU are accepted as working languages, French is an official language in all three of the cities that are political centres of the Union, Brussels, Strasbourg and Luxembourg City. Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, and Swedish are all official languages at the level in multiple countries. In addition, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Slovak, furthermore, not all national languages have been accorded the status of official EU languages. These include Luxembourgish, a language of Luxembourg since 1984, and Turkish. All languages of the EU are also working languages, the reply is drafted in the same language. Regulations and other documents of general application are drafted in the official languages. The Official Journal of the European Union is published in the official languages. Legislation and documents of major importance or interest are produced in all official languages. Communications with the authorities, decisions addressed to particular individuals or entities. For internal purposes the EU institutions are allowed by law to choose their own language arrangements, the European Parliament, on the other hand, has members who need working documents in their own languages, so its document flow is fully multilingual from the outset. Non-institutional EU bodies are not legally obliged to make language arrangement for all the 24 languages, according to the EUs English-language website, the cost of maintaining the institutions’ policy of multilingualism—i. e. The cost of translation and interpretation—was €1,123 million in 2005, the EU Parliament has made clear that its member states have autonomy for language education, which by treaty the European Community must respect. The majority of EU languages belong to the Indo-European family, the three dominant subfamilies being the Germanic, Romance, and Slavic, Germanic languages are spoken in central and northern Europe and include Danish, Dutch, English, German, and Swedish
34.
Holography
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Holography is the science and practice of making holograms. The hologram itself is not an image and it is usually unintelligible when viewed under diffuse ambient light and it is an encoding of the light field as an interference pattern of seemingly random variations in the opacity, density, or surface profile of the photographic medium. In its pure form, holography requires the use of light for illuminating the subject. A microscopic level of detail throughout the volume of space can be reproduced. Holograms can now also be entirely computer-generated and show objects or scenes that never existed, stage illusions such as Peppers Ghost and other unusual, baffling, or seemingly magical images are also often incorrectly called holograms. The Hungarian-British physicist Dennis Gabor, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1971 for his invention and development of the holographic method. His work, done in the late 1940s, was built on pioneering work in the field of X-ray microscopy by other scientists including Mieczysław Wolfke in 1920 and William Lawrence Bragg in 1939. The discovery was a result of research into improving electron microscopes at the British Thomson-Houston Company in Rugby, England. The word holography comes from the Greek words ὅλος and γραφή, early holograms used silver halide photographic emulsions as the recording medium. They were not very efficient as the produced grating absorbed much of the incident light, various methods of converting the variation in transmission to a variation in refractive index were developed which enabled much more efficient holograms to be produced. Several types of holograms can be made, a later refinement, the rainbow transmission hologram, allows more convenient illumination by white light rather than by lasers. Rainbow holograms are used for security and authentication, for example, on credit cards. They are also capable of multicolour-image reproduction, specular holography is a related technique for making three-dimensional images by controlling the motion of specularities on a two-dimensional surface. It works by reflectively or refractively manipulating bundles of light rays, most holograms produced are of static objects but systems for displaying changing scenes on a holographic volumetric display are now being developed. Holograms can also be used to store, retrieve, and process information optically and it was thought that it would be possible to use X-rays to make holograms of very small objects and view them using visible light. Today, holograms with x-rays are generated by using synchrotrons or x-ray free-electron lasers as radiation sources, the reconstruction is then retrieved via computation. Due to the wavelength of x-rays compared to visible light. As free-electron lasers can provide ultrashort and x-ray pulses in the range of femtoseconds which are intense and coherent, in laser holography, the hologram is recorded using a source of laser light, which is very pure in its color and orderly in its composition
35.
EuroBillTracker
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EuroBillTracker is a website designed for tracking euro banknotes. It was inspired by the US currency tracking website Wheres George, EuroBillTracker has registered over 117 million notes as of May 2013, worth more than €2.235 billion. EuroBillTracker is an international non-profit volunteer team dedicated to tracking euro notes around the world, the site is made up of people who simply enter the information from the notes in their possession. Each user enters the numbers and location information for each note they obtain into EuroBillTracker. A user can see any comments from other people who have had that note. See the Diffusion section for more information, tracking information, When a note is re-entered, the users who previously entered it are notified via email. These hits can be seen in the statistics section, statistics and rankings, Who enters the most notes, which are the top countries. Where are the notes currently situated, euro banknotes and coins were put into circulation on 1 January 2002 and EBT has been tracking notes since then. The site was created by Philippe Girolami. Anssi Johansson has been assisting with running the site since mid-2003, site translation and various other tasks are handled by a group of active EBT users. EuroBillTracker is not affiliated with the European Union, European Central Bank, EuroBillTracker requires users to register an account before they can enter details of banknotes. From February 2008 onwards, the website is supposed to be run by an organization based in France. This organisation, operating generally similar to Wikimedia, will be in charge of protecting the EuroBillTracker database, the two sites reunited in early 2008. And after the 2008 meeting in Ljubljana the EBT users decided to also a winter pan-European meeting. The visit was repeated in April 2012, during an international meeting, ^ There was no Winter Meeting in 2017 because the only host that applied to organize the event did it outside of the deadline date
36.
Wayback Machine
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The Internet Archive launched the Wayback Machine in October 2001. It was set up by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat, and is maintained with content from Alexa Internet, the service enables users to see archived versions of web pages across time, which the archive calls a three dimensional index. Since 1996, the Wayback Machine has been archiving cached pages of websites onto its large cluster of Linux nodes and it revisits sites every few weeks or months and archives a new version. Sites can also be captured on the fly by visitors who enter the sites URL into a search box, the intent is to capture and archive content that otherwise would be lost whenever a site is changed or closed down. The overall vision of the machines creators is to archive the entire Internet, the name Wayback Machine was chosen as a reference to the WABAC machine, a time-traveling device used by the characters Mr. Peabody and Sherman in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, an animated cartoon. These crawlers also respect the robots exclusion standard for websites whose owners opt for them not to appear in search results or be cached, to overcome inconsistencies in partially cached websites, Archive-It. Information had been kept on digital tape for five years, with Kahle occasionally allowing researchers, when the archive reached its fifth anniversary, it was unveiled and opened to the public in a ceremony at the University of California, Berkeley. Snapshots usually become more than six months after they are archived or, in some cases, even later. The frequency of snapshots is variable, so not all tracked website updates are recorded, Sometimes there are intervals of several weeks or years between snapshots. After August 2008 sites had to be listed on the Open Directory in order to be included. As of 2009, the Wayback Machine contained approximately three petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of 100 terabytes each month, the growth rate reported in 2003 was 12 terabytes/month, the data is stored on PetaBox rack systems manufactured by Capricorn Technologies. In 2009, the Internet Archive migrated its customized storage architecture to Sun Open Storage, in 2011 a new, improved version of the Wayback Machine, with an updated interface and fresher index of archived content, was made available for public testing. The index driving the classic Wayback Machine only has a bit of material past 2008. In January 2013, the company announced a ground-breaking milestone of 240 billion URLs, in October 2013, the company announced the Save a Page feature which allows any Internet user to archive the contents of a URL. This became a threat of abuse by the service for hosting malicious binaries, as of December 2014, the Wayback Machine contained almost nine petabytes of data and was growing at a rate of about 20 terabytes each week. Between October 2013 and March 2015 the websites global Alexa rank changed from 162 to 208, in a 2009 case, Netbula, LLC v. Chordiant Software Inc. defendant Chordiant filed a motion to compel Netbula to disable the robots. Netbula objected to the motion on the ground that defendants were asking to alter Netbulas website, in an October 2004 case, Telewizja Polska USA, Inc. v. Echostar Satellite, No.02 C3293,65 Fed. 673, a litigant attempted to use the Wayback Machine archives as a source of admissible evidence, Telewizja Polska is the provider of TVP Polonia and EchoStar operates the Dish Network
37.
De Nederlandsche Bank
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De Nederlandsche Bank is the central bank of the Netherlands. It is part of the European System of Central Banks, De Nederlandsche Bank is a public limited company whose every day policy is overseen by the Governing Board. Being an NV, DNB has a Supervisory Board, in addition, there is an advisory body called the Bank Council. As a public entity the DNB has a function as part of the European System of Central Banks and an independent public body. As a part of the ESCB, DNB is co-responsible for the determination and implementation of the policy for the Euro area. As an independent public body, DNB exercises prudential supervision of financial institutions, as from 1 June 1998, the Dutch central bank, De Nederlandsche Bank N. V. forms part of the European System of Central Banks. On the same day, the new Bank Act came into force, nearly 185 years into its existence, the Nederlandsche Bank has entered a new phase. The Bank has the objective to maintain price stability, without prejudice to this objective, the Bank shall support the general economic policy in the EC. The Bank shall hold and manage the foreign reserves. The Bank shall collect statistical data and produce statistics, the Bank shall promote the smooth operation of payment systems, it shall take care of the banknote circulation. The Bank shall supervise banks, investment institutions and exchange offices, the Bank may, subject to permission by Royal Decree, perform other tasks in the public interest. The European Central Bank may also ask the Bank to perform extra tasks, the first two tasks – also known as the ESCB tasks – ensue entirely from the Maastricht Treaty. Decisions in these areas are taken at the European level by the ECB Governing Council, promoting the smooth operation of payment systems has both a European and a national dimension. The statistical task is also partly ESCB-related and partly a national concern, the DNB is responsible for international macro-economic statistical analysis for countries outside the EU. These two tasks will not be transferred to ESCB level at the start of EMU, here the Nederlandsche Bank remains fully in control. However, in a Europe where economies are becoming increasingly interlocked, DNB serves as the bankers bank to general Dutch banks. One of the government appointed members of the Social-Economic Council is always a representative of DNB
38.
Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union
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The Economic and Monetary Union is an umbrella term for the group of policies aimed at converging the economies of member states of the European Union at three stages. The policies cover the 19 eurozone states, as well as non-euro European Union states, each stage of the EMU consists of progressively closer economic integration. Only once a state participates in the stage it is permitted to adopt the euro as its official currency. As such, the stage is largely synonymous with the eurozone. The euro convergence criteria are the set of requirements that needs to be fulfilled in order for a country to join the eurozone, nineteen EU member states, including most recently Lithuania, have entered the third stage and have adopted the euro as their currency. All new EU member states must commit to participate in the stage in their treaties of accession. Only Denmark and the United Kingdom, whose EU membership predates the introduction of the euro, have legal opt outs from the EU Treaties granting them an exemption from this obligation. The remaining seven non-euro member states are obliged to enter the stage once they comply with all convergence criteria. The idea of an economic and monetary union in Europe was first raised well before establishing the European Communities, for example, the Latin Monetary Union existed from 1865-1927. The project experienced serious setbacks from the crises arising from the non-convertibility of the US dollar into gold in August 1971, an attempt to limit the fluctations of European currencies, using a snake in the tunnel, failed. This way of working was derived from the Spaak method, the treaty enters into force on the 1 November 1993. On 16 December 1995, details such as the name of the new currency as well as the duration of the periods are decided. On 3 May 1998, at the European Council in Brussels, on 1 June 1998, the European Central Bank is created, and on 31 December 1998, the conversion rates between the 11 participating national currencies and the euro are established. From the start of 1999, the euro is now a real currency, a three-year transition period begins before the introduction of actual euro notes and coins, but legally the national currencies have already ceased to exist. On 1 January 2001, Greece joins the stage of the EMU. On 1 January 2002, the notes and coins are introduced. On 1 January 2007, Slovenia joins the stage of the EMU. On 1 January 2008, Cyprus and Malta join the stage of the EMU
39.
Euro sign
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The euro sign is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the Eurozone in the European Union. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996, the international three-letter code for the euro is EUR. In Unicode it is encoded at U+20AC € euro sign, in English, the sign precedes the value. In some styleguides, but not others, the sign is unspaced. The euro currency sign was designed to be similar in structure to the old sign for the European Currency Unit, there were originally thirty-two proposals, these were reduced to ten candidates. These ten were put to a public survey, after the survey had narrowed the original ten proposals down to two, it was up to the European Commission to choose the final design. The other designs that were considered are not available for the public to view, the European Commission considers the process of designing to have been internal and keeps these records secret. The eventual winner was a created by a team of four experts whose identities have not been revealed. It is assumed that the Belgian graphic designer Alain Billiet was the winner, the European Commission specified a euro logo with exact proportions and colours, for use in public-relations material related to the euro introduction. While the Commission intended the logo to be a prescribed glyph shape, generating the euro sign using a computer depends on the operating system and national conventions. Some mobile phone companies issued a software update for their special SMS character set. Later mobile phones have both currency signs, the euro is represented in the Unicode character set with the character name EURO SIGN and the code position U+20AC as well as in updated versions of the traditional Latin character set encodings. In HTML, the &euro, entity can also be used, while displaying the euro sign is no problem as long as only one system is used, mixed setups often produced errors. One example is a content management system where articles are stored in a database using a different character set than the editors computer, another is legacy software which could only handle older encodings such as ISO 8859-1 that contained no euro sign at all. In such situations, character set conversions had to be made, care has been taken to avoid replacing an existing obsolete currency sign with the euro sign. That could create different currency signs for sender and receiver in e-mails or web sites, placement of the sign also varies. Partly since there are no standards on placement, countries have generated varying conventions or sustained those of their former currencies. For example, in Ireland and the Netherlands, where previous currency signs were placed before the figure, the euro sign is universally placed in the same position
40.
Linguistic issues concerning the euro
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In official documents, the name euro must be used for the nominative singular in all languages, though different alphabets are taken into account and plural forms and declensions are accepted. In documents other than EU legal texts, including national legislation,1 The language is an official language in a eurozone member state, meaning there are official spellings in EU documents. Most languages use a plural or immutable singular with numbers, but Estonian,4 Welsh follows numerals with the singular form of the noun. In Asturian, there has been a controversy about the spelling of the word, the official academic dictionary uses the spelling euru, respecting the Asturian tendency to write nouns with a final -u. The current design of banknotes, except for the new €5, €10 and upcoming €20 banknotes, has the word euro written in Latin. The 2013 design of the €5 banknote introduced Cyrillic, adopting the spelling ЕВРО, when Bulgaria will issue Euro coins, if the Greek model is followed, the alternative spelling will go on the national side. The word for euro, though, has a form with the postpositive definite article – еврото. The word for eurocent is евроцент and most probably that, or only цент, in contrast to euro, the word for cent has a full inflection both in the definite and the plural form, евроцент, евроцентът, евроцентове,2 евроцента. Stotinki is used widely in the Bulgarian diaspora in Europe to refer to subunits of currencies other than the Bulgarian lev, Bulgaria on the other hand stated that it wants to take into account the different alphabet and the principle of phonetic orthography in the Bulgarian language. The issue was resolved in favour of Bulgaria at the 2007 EU Summit in Lisbon. As of 13 December 2007, all EU institutions – including the ECB – use ЕВРО as the official Bulgarian transliteration of the single European currency, of other national Slavic languages using the Cyrillic alphabet, Macedonian, Russian and Serbian also use the spelling евро. Ukrainian uses євро and Belarusian uses еўра/эўра, in Catalan the official plural is the same as its regular plural euros. In Eastern Catalan, the pronunciation of euro is, while in Western Catalan is. For the cent, the word cèntim is used, since historically this term has been used as the part of a currency unit. The fraction of the peseta was also called cèntim, but it was withdrawn from circulation decades ago, in the Cornish language, euro is written ewro, a masculine noun with its plural ewros. For cent, cent is used, a noun with the plural centys. In Croatian the euro and cent are called euro and cent, plural forms are, like in many Slavic languages, somewhat complex. The general plural form of euro is euri, but the paucal or identically written genitive plural eura is used with all numbers, the numbers ending in 1 take the nominative singular, the exception being numbers ending in 11
41.
Eurosystem
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The Eurosystem is the monetary authority of the eurozone, the collective of European Union member states that have adopted the euro as their sole official currency. The ECB has, under Article 16 of its Statute, the right to authorise the issuance of euro banknotes. Member states can issue euro coins, but the amount must be authorised by the ECB beforehand, the Eurosystem consists of the European Central Bank and the national central banks of the 19 member states that are part of the eurozone. The national central banks apply the policy of the ECB. The primary objective of the Eurosystem is price stability, secondary objectives are financial stability and financial integration. The mission statement of the Eurosystem says that the ECB and the central banks jointly contribute to achieving the objectives. When performing Eurosystem-related tasks, neither the ECB, nor an NCB, without prejudice to this objective, the Eurosystem supports the general economic policies in the Community and acts in accordance with the principles of an open market economy. The ECB has an advisory role vis-à-vis the Community and national authorities on matters which fall within its field of competence, ECB – Eurosystem – Governing Council ECB – Eurosystem – Executive Board List of Eurosystem central banks websites The Payment System
42.
Eurogroup
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It exercises political control over the currency and related aspects of the EUs monetary union such as the Stability and Growth Pact. Its current president is former Dutch finance minister Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the ministers meet in camera a day before a meeting of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council of the Council of the European Union. They communicate their decisions via press and document releases and this group is related to the Council of the European Union and was formalised under the Lisbon Treaty. The December 1997 European Council endorsed its creation and the first meeting was held on 4 June 1998 at Senningen Castle in Luxembourg. In 2004 the ministers decided to elect a president and in 2008 and this became known as the Euro summit and has held meetings irregularly during the financial crisis. Since the beginning of the union, its role has grown in regards to the euros economic governance. The fact the group meets just before the Ecofin council means it can pre-approve all Ecofins decisions on eurozone affairs, in 2009 the Lisbon Treaty formalised the group and its president. The current president of the group, dubbed Mr Euro or the president of the eurozone, is Jeroen Dijsselbloem, in September 2004, the Eurogroup decided it should have a semi-permanent president who would be appointed for a term of two years. Under the Lisbon Treaty, this system was formalised and Juncker was confirmed for another term, the Presidency has helped strengthen the group, since before Junckers appointment the Eurogroup was only accidentally present at meetings in the European Parliament. Since the position of President was created, the president has attended Parliaments committee on Economic, after his reappointment as Eurogroup president in January 2010, Juncker emphasised the need to broaden the scope of the Eurogroups business. In particular in terms of co-ordinating economic policies and representation, Juncker proposed creating a small secretariat consisting of four to five civil servants to prepare the groups meetings. However, although France and Spain support such plans, Germany fears that strengthening the group might undermine the independence of the European Central Bank, in June 2012, the Estonian minister Jürgen Ligi was being considered as a possible successor for Mr. Juncker. However, in January 2013, Juncker hinted that his successor would be Jeroen Dijsselbloem. On 13 July 2015, Dijsselbloem was re-elected, the ECB President, Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner and Chairman of the Eurogroup Working Group also attend the meetings. It is worthwhile to note that the members of the EU who choose not to participate in the Euro have been excluded from observer status, for example, IMF personnel such as Christine Lagarde are sometimes allowed to be present at meetings—see Lagarde statement 20130316. What remains unknown about this group is whether they allow observers to speak or speech by the observers is forbidden, a formal legal basis was granted for the first time under the Lisbon Treaty when it came into force on 1 December 2009. Protocol 14 of the treaty lays out just two articles to govern the group, Article 1, The Ministers of the Member States whose currency is the euro shall meet informally. Such meetings shall take place, when necessary, to questions related to the specific responsibilities they share with regard to the single currency
43.
Euro summit
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The Euro summit is the meeting of the heads of state or government of the member states of the eurozone. It is distinct from the EU summit held regularly by the European Council, the Euro summit began as an offshoot of the Euro Group, which is the meeting of the eurozone members finance ministers. The eurozone economic government would discuss issues with the European Central Bank, sarkozy stated that only heads of state and government have the necessary democratic legitimacy for the role. This idea was based on the meeting of leaders in 2008 who met to agree a co-ordinated eurozone response to the banking crisis. They first met in the format in October 2008, in response to the debt crisis. Subsequent meetings took place in March 2010, May 2010, March 2011, July 2011, in the October 2011 meeting, it was agreed to formalise the Euro summit, as at least twice yearly meeting, via a possible new treaty change. A Euro summit President, separate from the Euro Group President, would be elected at the time as the President of the European Council. Until such an election takes place, the European Council President fulfils that role, in October 2011, the Eurozone head of states agreed to meet at least twice per year, as part of measures to improve governance of the Eurozone. Meetings were chaired by president Herman Van Rompuy from March 2010 to November 2014, Donald Tusk has been the Euro Summit president since December 1,2014, and ends his term on May 31,2017. The table below lists the date and summary reports of all previous Euro Summits, however, for unknown reasons, only one Euro Summit meeting per year took place in 2013 and 2014. In its informal capacity, the de facto summit President has been the European Council President, the proposals for formalisation of the summit include electing a President along the same lines as the European Council President, and until then Van Rompuy continues to chair the summit. On 1 March 2012, he was elected as President of the Euro Summit for the term 1 June 2012 to 30 November 2014. New president for the term 1 December 2014 until 31 May 2017, is the former Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, notes Presidents of other EU institutions, such as the President of the European Commission and the European Central Bank President also attend. Heads of state or government of non-eurozone signatories to the European Fiscal Compact treaty participate, at least once a year, in some summits, other leaders might attend discussions, for example the British Prime Minister attending the 2008 summit. European Fiscal Compact European sovereign debt crisis Euro Group
44.
Stability and Growth Pact
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The Stability and Growth Pact is an agreement, among the 28 Member states of the European Union, to facilitate and maintain the stability of the Economic and Monetary Union. The pact was outlined by a resolution and two council regulations in July 1997, the second regulation on speeding up and clarifying the implementation of the excessive deficit procedure, known as the dissuasive arm, entered into force 1 January 1999. The purpose of the pact was to ensure fiscal discipline would be maintained and enforced in the EMU. All EU member states are members of both the EMU and the SGP, as this is defined by paragraphs in the EU Treaty itself. This procedure is outlined by the dissuasive arm regulation, the SGP was initially proposed by German finance minister Theo Waigel in the mid-1990s. Germany had long maintained a policy, which had been an important part of the German economys strong performance since the 1950s. The Pact has been criticised by some as being insufficiently flexible and they fear that by limiting governments abilities to spend during economic slumps it may hamper growth. Also, the Stability Pact has been watered down at the request of Germany, in 2002 the European Commission President Romano Prodi described it as stupid, but was still required by the Treaty to seek to apply its provisions. The Pact has proved to be unenforceable against big countries such as France and Germany and these countries have run excessive deficits under the Pact definition for some years. The Pact was further weakened in 2005 to waive Frances and Germanys violations, the Ecofin agreed on a reform of the SGP. The pact is part of a set of Council Regulations, decided upon the European Council Summit 22–23 March 2005, in addition it was enforced by the EU regulation, that the upper MTO limit for eurozone states or ERM II Member States should be, Max. In regards of windfall revenues, a rule was also agreed, early-warning system, The existing early-warning mechanism is expanded. g. By adopting a procedure for imposing of penalties in case of breaches of either the deficit or the debt rules. The new Euro Plus Pact is designed as a more stringent successor to the Stability and Growth Pact, the measures are controversial not only because of the closed way in which it was developed but also for the goals that it postulates. The four broad strategic goals are, fostering competitiveness fostering employment contributing to the sustainability of public finances reinforcing financial stability and this reform package, the so-called Two-Pack, entered into force on 30 May 2013 in all Euro area Member States. It was specifically meant to better an ex ante coordination of economic and budget policies of member states – integrating the specifications on the implementation of the Stability, the latteer governs fiscal discipline in the EU, with the purpose of ensuring fiscal discipline in the Union within Europe2020. Although the Pact applies to all EU members, it has stricter enforcement mechanisms for Euro area members, in particular – every year in April, Euro area member states submit Stability Programmes, while member states outside the euro area submit Convergence Programmes. These documents outline the main elements of the member states’ budgetary plans and are assessed by the Commission, an important part of the assessment addresses compliance with the minimum annual benchmark figure set for each individual country’s structural budget balance
45.
European Financial Stability Facility
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The European Financial Stability Facility is a special purpose vehicle financed by members of the eurozone to address the European sovereign-debt crisis. The Facilitys headquarters are in Luxembourg City, as are those of the European Stability Mechanism, treasury management services and administrative support are provided to the Facility by the European Investment Bank through a service level contract. Since the establishment of the European Stability Mechanism, the activities of the EFSF are carried out by the ESM, the EFSF is authorised to borrow up to €440 billion, of which €250 billion remained available after the Irish and Portuguese bailout. The mandate of the EFSF is to financial stability in Europe by providing financial assistance to eurozone states. Emissions of bonds would be backed by guarantees given by the euro area member states in proportion to their share in the capital of the European Central Bank. Had there been no financial operations undertaken, the EFSF would have closed down three years, on 30 June 2013. However, since the EFSF was activated in 2011 to lend money to Ireland and Portugal and this would only occur when the country is unable to borrow on markets at acceptable rates. Once the Euro Group have approved the programme, the EFSF would need several working days to raise the necessary funds. The table below shows the current maximum level of joint and several guarantees for capital given by the Eurozone countries, the amounts are based on the European Central Bank capital key weightings. The EU requested the eurozone countries to approve an increase of the amounts to €780 billion. The majority of the risk of the increase from original €440 billion falls on the AAA rated countries and ultimately their taxpayers, the guarantee increases were approved by all Eurozone countries by 13 October 2011. The €110 billion bailout to Greece of 2010 is not part of the EFSF guarantees and not managed by EFSF and these additional guarantee amounts increase if the coupon payments of the issued EFSF bonds are high. On 29 November 2011, European finance ministers decided that EFSF can guarantee 20 to 30% of the bonds of struggling peripheral economies, Greece, Ireland and Portugal are stepping out guarantors, except where they have liabilities before getting that status. Estonia is a stepping out guarantor with respect to liabilities before it joined the eurozone, the European Commission and the European Central Bank can each appoint an observer to the EFSF Board. Its chairman is Thomas Wieser, who is chairman of the EUs Economic. Although there is no statutory requirement for accountability to the European Parliament. The Facility became fully operational on 4 August 2010, on 29 September 2011, the German Bundestag voted 523 to 85 to approve the increase in the EFSFs available funds to €440 billion. How can it be that the clause of the Lisbon treaty has been ripped up
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