1.
Europa (mythology)
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In Greek mythology Europa was the mother of King Minos of Crete, a woman with Phoenician origin of high lineage, and for whom the continent Europe was named. This can especially be said of the story of Europa, Europas earliest literary reference is in the Iliad, which is commonly dated to the 8th century BC. Another early reference to her is in a fragment of the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women, the earliest vase-painting securely identifiable as Europa dates from mid-7th century BC. Greek Εὐρώπη Eurṓpē contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ/ὠπ-/ὀπτ- eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion. It is common in ancient Greek mythology and geography to identify lands or rivers with female figures, thus, Europa is first used in a geographic context in the Homeric Hymn to Delian Apollo, in reference to the western shore of the Aegean Sea. As a name for a part of the world, it is first used in the 6th century BC by Anaximander. Barry adduces the word Ereb on an Assyrian stele with the meaning of night, sunset, in opposition to Asu sunrise and this proposal is mostly considered unlikely or untenable. They call it the temple of Astarte, I hold this Astarte to be no other than the moon-goddess. But according to the story of one of the priests this temple is sacred to Europa and this legend I heard from other Phœnicians as well, and the coinage current among the Sidonians bears upon it the effigy of Europa sitting upon a bull, none other than Zeus. Thus they do not agree that the temple in question is sacred to Europa, the paradox, as it seemed to Lucian, would be solved if Europa is Astarte in her guise as the full, broad-faced moon. Sources differ in details regarding Europas family, but agree that she is Phoenician, and from a lineage that descended from Io, the mythical nymph beloved of Zeus, who was transformed into a heifer. She is generally said to be the daughter of Agenor, the Phoenician King of Tyre, other sources, such as the Iliad, claim that she is the daughter of Agenors son, the sun-red Phoenix. So some interpret this as her brother Phoenix gave his siblings name to his three children and this Europa is also loved by Zeus, but because of the same name, gave some confusions to others. After arriving in Crete, Europa had three sons fathered by Zeus, Minos, Rhadamanthus, and Sarpedon, the three of whom became the three judges of the Underworld when they died, in Crete she married Asterion also rendered Asterius and became mother of his daughter Crete. There were two competing myths relating how Europa came into the Hellenic world, but they agreed that she came to Crete, the mythical Europa cannot be separated from the mythology of the sacred bull, which had been worshipped in the Levant. There is also a sanctuary of Demeter Europa, the mythographers tell that Zeus was enamored of Europa and decided to seduce or ravish her, the two being near-equivalent in Greek myth. He transformed himself into a white bull and mixed in with her fathers herds. While Europa and her helpers were gathering flowers, she saw the bull, caressed his flanks, Zeus took that opportunity and ran to the sea and swam, with her on his back, to the island of Crete
2.
European Union
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The European Union is a political and economic union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It has an area of 4,475,757 km2, the EU has developed an internal single market through a standardised system of laws that apply in all member states. Within the Schengen Area, passport controls have been abolished, a monetary union was established in 1999 and came into full force in 2002, and is composed of 19 EU member states which use the euro currency. The EU operates through a system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community, the community and its successors have grown in size by the accession of new member states and in power by the addition of policy areas to its remit. While no member state has left the EU or its antecedent organisations, the Maastricht Treaty established the European Union in 1993 and introduced European citizenship. The latest major amendment to the basis of the EU. The EU as a whole is the largest economy in the world, additionally,27 out of 28 EU countries have a very high Human Development Index, according to the United Nations Development Programme. In 2012, the EU was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, through the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the EU has developed a role in external relations and defence. The union maintains permanent diplomatic missions throughout the world and represents itself at the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the G7, because of its global influence, the European Union has been described as an emerging superpower. After World War II, European integration was seen as an antidote to the nationalism which had devastated the continent. 1952 saw the creation of the European Coal and Steel Community, the supporters of the Community included Alcide De Gasperi, Jean Monnet, Robert Schuman, and Paul-Henri Spaak. These men and others are credited as the Founding fathers of the European Union. In 1957, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany signed the Treaty of Rome and they also signed another pact creating the European Atomic Energy Community for co-operation in developing nuclear energy. Both treaties came into force in 1958, the EEC and Euratom were created separately from the ECSC, although they shared the same courts and the Common Assembly. The EEC was headed by Walter Hallstein and Euratom was headed by Louis Armand, Euratom was to integrate sectors in nuclear energy while the EEC would develop a customs union among members. During the 1960s, tensions began to show, with France seeking to limit supranational power, Jean Rey presided over the first merged Commission. In 1973, the Communities enlarged to include Denmark, Ireland, Norway had negotiated to join at the same time, but Norwegian voters rejected membership in a referendum
3.
Member state of the European Union
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The European Union comprises 28 member states. Each member state is party to the treaties of the union and thereby subject to the privileges. Unlike members of most international organisations, the states of the EU are subjected to binding laws in exchange for representation within the common legislative. Member states must agree unanimously for the EU to adopt policies concerning defence, subsidiarity is a founding principle of the EU. In 1957, six core states founded the EUs predecessor, the European Economic Community, the remaining states have acceded in subsequent enlargements. On 1 July 2013, Croatia became the newest member state of the EU, Enlargement of the Union is also contingent upon the consent of all existing members and the candidates adoption of the existing body of EU law, known as the acquis communautaire. There is disparity in the size, wealth and political system of member states, while in some areas majority voting takes place where larger states have more votes than smaller ones, smaller states have disproportional representation compared to their population. No member state has withdrawn or been suspended from the EU, in June 2016, the UK held a referendum on membership of the EU, resulting in 51. 89% of votes cast in favour to leaving. Prime Minister Theresa May invoked Article 50 on 29 March 2017 to formally initiate the withdrawal process, notes Enlargement is, and has been, a principal feature of the Unions political landscape. The EUs predecessors were founded by the Inner Six, those willing to forge ahead with the Community while others remained skeptical. It was only a decade before the first countries changed their policy and attempted to join the Union, French President Charles de Gaulle feared British membership would be an American Trojan horse and vetoed its application. Applying in 1969 were the United Kingdom, Ireland, Denmark, Norway, however, declined to accept the invitation to become a member when the electorate voted against it, leaving just the UK, Ireland and Denmark to join. But despite the setbacks, and the withdrawal of Greenland from Denmarks membership in 1985, in 1987, the geographical extent of the project was tested when Morocco applied, and was rejected as it was not considered a European country. The year 1990 saw the Cold War drawing to a close, meanwhile, the members of the former Eastern Bloc and Yugoslavia were all starting to move towards EU membership. Ten of these joined in an enlargement on 1 May 2004 symbolising the unification of East. Bulgaria and Romania joined in 2007, the year 2013 saw the latest member, Croatia, accede to the Union, and the EU has prioritised membership for the rest of the Balkans – namely Western Balkans. Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey are all formal, turkish membership, pending since the 1980s, is a more contentious issue but it entered negotiations in 2005. According to the Copenhagen criteria, membership of the European Union is open to any European country that is a stable, free market liberal democracy that respects the rule of law and human rights
4.
European Single Market
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It is also intended to drive economic integration whereby the once separate economies of the member states become integrated within a single EU-wide economy. Half of the trade in goods within the EU is covered by legislation harmonised by the EU, the creation of the internal market as a seamless, single market is an ongoing process, with the integration of the service industry still containing gaps. It also has an international element, with the market represented as one in international trade negotiations. One of the core objectives of the European Economic Community was the development of a common market offering free movement of goods, service, people. Free movement of goods was established in principle through the union between its then-six member states. However the EEC struggled to enforce a single due to the absence of strong decision making structures. It was difficult to remove intangible barriers with mutual recognition of standards, in the end, it was launched on 1 January 1993. The new approach, pioneered at the Delors Commission, combined positive and negative integration, negative integration consists of prohibitions imposed on member states of discriminatory behaviour and other restrictive practices. Positive integration consists in approximation of laws and standards, especially important in this respect is the adoption of harmonising legislation under Article 114 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Thus harmonisation was largely used to basic health and safety standards were met. By 1992 about 90% of the issues had been resolved and in the year the Maastricht Treaty set about to create an Economic. Work on freedom for services did take longer, and was the last freedom to be implemented, mainly through the Posting of Workers Directive, in 1997 the Amsterdam Treaty abolished physical barriers across the internal market by incorporating the Schengen Area within the competences of the EU. The Schengen Agreement implements the abolition of border controls between most member states, common rules on visas, and police and judicial cooperation, even as the Lisbon Treaty came into force in 2009 however, some areas pertaining parts of the four freedoms had not yet been completely opened. Those, along with work on the economic and monetary union. The European Union is also a customs union and this means that member states have removed customs barriers between themselves and introduced a common customs policy towards other countries. By agreement between the Union and the states concerned Andorra, Monaco, San Marino and Turkey also participate in the EU Customs Union, Article 30 TFEU prohibits member states from levying any duties on goods crossing a border, both goods produced within the EU and those produced outside. Neither the purpose of the charge, nor its name in domestic law, is relevant, since the Single European Act, there can be no systematic customs controls at the borders of member states. The emphasis is on post-import audit controls and risk analysis, physical controls of imports and exports now occur at traders premises, rather than at the territorial borders
5.
European Union law
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European Union law is a system of rules operating within the member states of the European Union. Since the founding of the Coal and Steel Community after World War II, the EU has political institutions, social and economic policies, which transcend nation-states for the purpose of cooperation and human development. According to its Court of Justice the EU represents a new order of international law. The EUs legal foundations are the Treaty on European Union and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, New members may join, if they agree to play by the rules of the organisation, and old members may leave according to their own constitutional requirements. People are entitled to participate through the Parliament, and their governments in shaping the legislation the EU makes. Democratic ideals of integration for international and European nations are as old as the modern nation-state, in the Renaissance, medieval trade flourished in organisations like the Hanseatic League, stretching from English towns like Boston and London, to Frankfurt, Stockholm and Riga. These traders developed the lex mercatoria, spreading basic norms of good faith, in 1517, the Protestant Reformation triggered a hundred years of crisis and instability. This unstable settlement unravelled in the Thirty Years War, killing around a quarter of the population in central Europe. The Treaty of Westphalia 1648, which brought peace according to a system of law inspired by Hugo Grotius, is generally acknowledged as the beginning of the nation-state system. In 1693 William Penn, a Quaker from London who founded Pennsylvania in North America, argued that to prevent ongoing wars in Europe a European dyet, to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice. Brought untold sorrow to mankind, the United Nations Charter was passed in 1945, also, the Council of Europe, formed by the Treaty of London 1949, adopted a European Convention on Human Rights, overseen by a new transnational court in Strasbourg in 1950. The Treaty of Paris 1951 created the first European Coal and Steel Community, signed by France, West Germany, Belgium and its theory was simply that war would be impossibly costly if ownership and production of every countrys economy was mixed together. It established an Assembly to represent the people, a Council of Ministers for the states, a Commission as the executive. In the East, the Soviet Union had installed dictatorial governments, controlling East Germany, in the West, the decision was made through Treaty of Rome 1957 to launch the first European Economic Community. It shared the Assembly and Court with the Coal and Steel Community, a separate treaty was signed for a European Atomic Energy Community to manage nuclear production. In 1961 the United Kingdom, Denmark, Ireland and Norway applied for only to be vetoed in 1963 by Frances Charles de Gaulle. Spain also applied and was rejected as it was led by the Franco dictatorship. The same year, the Court of Justice proclaimed that the Community constituted a new order of international law
6.
Single market
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The goal is that the movement of capital, labour, goods, and services between the members is as easy as within them. The physical, technical and fiscal barriers among the states are removed to the maximum extent possible. These barriers obstruct the freedom of movement of the four factors of production, a common market is usually referred to as the first stage towards the creation of a single market. It usually is built upon a trade area with relatively free movement of capital and of services. A unified market is the last stage and ultimate goal of a single market and it requires the total free movement of goods, services, capital and people without regard to national boundaries. A common market allows for the movement of capital and services. It eliminates all quotas and “tariffs” – duties on imported goods – from trade in goods within it, however “non-tariff barriers” remain such as differences between the Member States’ safety, packaging requirements and national administrative procedures. They prevent for example manufacturers from marketing the same goods in all member states, the objective of a common market is most often economic convergence and the creation of an integrated single market. It is sometimes considered as the first stage of a single market, the European Economic Community was the first example of a common market. Citizens can study, live, shop, work and retire in any member state, consumers enjoy a vast array of products from all member states and businesses have unrestricted access to more consumers. A single market is commonly described as frontier-free, however, several barriers remain such as differences in national tax systems, differences in parts of the services sector and different requirements for e-commerce. In addition separate national markets still exist for financial services, energy, laws concerning the recognition of professional qualifications also may not be fully harmonized. The European Union is the economic union whose objective is completing the single market. A completed, unified market usually refers to the removal of barriers. Complete economic integration can be seen many countries, whether in a single unitary state with a single set of economic rules. Movement of people and goods among the states is unrestricted and without tariffs, a single market has many benefits. With full freedom of movement for all the factors of production between the countries, the factors of production become more efficiently allocated, further increasing productivity. For both business within the market and consumers, a market is a very competitive environment
7.
Common Agricultural Policy
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The Common Agricultural Policy is the agricultural policy of the European Union. It implements a system of subsidies and other programmes. It was introduced in 1962 and has several changes since then to reduce the cost. It has been criticised on the grounds of its cost, and its environmental, the circumstance that led to the development of the CAP occurred in the late 1950s to late 1960s. At the time, there was no example of a successful agricultural integration in Europe, however, two main factors contributed to its creation of this policy. ”Thus, leading to the creation of article 39 in a set of five social and economic objectives.9. As part of building a market, tariffs on agricultural products would have to be removed. However, the clout of farmers and the sensitivity of the issue made it take many years before the CAP was fully implemented. The Treaty of Rome, signed in 1957, established the Common Market and it also defined the general objectives of a CAP. The principles of the CAP were set out at the Stresa Conference in July 1958, the creation of a common agricultural policy was proposed in 1960 by the European Commission, and the CAP mechanisms were adopted by the six founding Member States. In 1962, the CAP came into force, the six member states individually strongly intervened in their agricultural sectors, in particular with regard to what was produced, maintaining prices for goods and how farming was organised. The intervention posed an obstacle to trade in goods while the rules continued to differ from state to state since freedom of trade would interfere with the intervention policies. Some members, particularly France, and all farming professional organisations wanted to maintain strong state intervention in agriculture and that could not only be achieved unless policies were harmonised and transferred to the European Community level. By 1962, three major principles had been established to guide the CAP, market unity, community preference, since then, the CAP has been a central element in the European institutional system. Germany is still the largest net contributor into the EU budget, however, as of 2005, France is also a net contributor while the more agriculture-focused Spain, Greece, and Portugal are the biggest beneficiaries. Transitional rules apply to the newly admitted states, which limit the subsidies that they currently receive. The CAP has always been an area of EU policy to reform, it is a problem that began in the 1960s and one that has continued to the present. Changes to the CAP are proposed by the European Commission, after a public consultation, both the Council and the European Parliament have to agree to any changes. The Parliament was involved in the process of change for the first time in 2013, the involvement of the Parliament, which represents the citizens, increases the democratic legitimacy of the CAP
8.
Common Fisheries Policy
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The Common Fisheries Policy is the fisheries policy of the European Union. It sets quotas for which states are allowed to catch each type of fish. In 2004 it had a budget of €931 million, approximately 0. 75% of the EU budget, the common fisheries policy has been criticised by fishermen who say it is threatening their livelihoods. However, general fisheries policy remains a competence of the Union. Thus decisions will still be primarily by the Council of the European Union. The common fisheries policy was created to manage fish stock for the European Union as a whole, article 38 of the 1957 Treaty of Rome, which created the European Communities, stated that there should be a common policy for fisheries. Fishing is a relatively unimportant economic activity within the EU and it contributes generally less than 1% to gross national product. In 2007 the fisheries sector employed 141,110 fishermen, in 2007,6.4 million tonnes of fish were caught by EU countries. The EU fleet has 97,000 vessels of varying sizes, fish farming produced a further 1 million tonnes of fish and shellfish and employed another 85,000 people. The shortfall between fish catches and demand varies, but there is an EU trade deficit in processed fish products of €3 billion, in Fraserburgh, Scotland, the fishing industry creates 40% of employment and a similar figure in Peterhead. They are the EUs largest fishing ports and home to the vessel fleet. It is often in areas where employment opportunities are limited. For this reason, community funds have been available to fishing as a means of encouraging regional development. The market for fish and fish products has changed in recent years, supermarkets are now the main buyers of fish and expect steady supplies. Fresh fish sales have fallen, but demand for processed fish, despite this, employment in fish processing has been falling, with 60% of fish consumed in the EU coming from elsewhere. This is partly due to improvements in the ability to transport fresh fish internationally, competitiveness of the EU fishing industry has been affected by overcapacity and shortages of fish to catch. Fish farming is the fastest growing area of food production. In 1995 it produced 1/3 in value of production of fish and shellfish
9.
Regional policy of the European Union
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In doing so, EU regional policy is geared towards making regions more competitive, fostering economic growth and creating new jobs. The policy also has a role to play in wider challenges for the future, including climate change, energy supply, the EUs regional policy covers all European regions, although regions across the EU fall in different categories, depending mostly on their economic situation. By far the largest amount of regional policy funding is dedicated to the designated as less developed. This covers Europes poorest regions whose per capita gross domestic product is less than 75% of the EU average and this includes nearly all the regions of the new member states, most of Southern Italy, Greece and Portugal, and some parts of the United Kingdom and Spain. With the addition of the newest member countries in 2004 and 2007, as a result, some regions in the EUs old member states, which used to be eligible for funding under the Convergence objective, became above the 75% threshold. These regions received transitional, phasing out support during the funding period of 2007–13. Regional policy projects in less developed regions are supported by three European funds, the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund, as such, they receive less funding than the less developed regions but more funding than the more developed regions. The main aim of funding for these regions is to create jobs by promoting competitiveness and making the regions concerned more attractive to businesses, possible projects include developing clean transport, supporting research centres, universities, small businesses and start-ups, providing training, and creating jobs. Funding is managed through either the ERDF or the ESF and it allows for three different types of cooperation, cross-border, transnational and interregional cooperation. The objective is currently by far the least important in financial terms. It is funded exclusively through the ERDF, luxembourg, Office for Official Publications of the European Communities
10.
Schengen Area
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The Schengen Area is an area comprising 26 European states that have officially abolished passport and any other type of border control at their mutual borders. The area mostly functions as a country for international travel purposes. The area is named after the Schengen Agreement, States in the Schengen Area have eliminated border controls with other Schengen members and strengthened border controls with non-Schengen countries. Twenty-two of the twenty-eight European Union member states participate in the Schengen Area, three European microstates – Monaco, San Marino, and Vatican City – can be considered de facto participants. The Schengen Area has a population of over 400 million people, as a result of the migration crisis ongoing as of early 2017, Austria, Denmark, Germany, Norway and Sweden temporarily imposed controls on some or all of their borders with other Schengen states. Following the November 2015 Paris attacks and subsequent attacks in France, France declared a state of emergency, the Schengen Agreement was signed on 14 June 1985 by five of the ten EEC member states in the town of Schengen, Luxembourg. The Schengen Area was established separately from the European Economic Community, in 1990 the Agreement was supplemented by the Schengen Convention, which proposed the abolition of internal border controls and a common visa policy. The Agreements and the rules adopted under them were separate from the EC structures. As more EU member states signed the Schengen Agreement, consensus was reached on absorbing it into the procedures of the EU, the Agreement and its related conventions were incorporated into the mainstream of European Union law by the Amsterdam Treaty in 1997, which came into effect in 1999. A consequence of the Agreement being part of European law is that any amendment and regulation is made within its processes, in which the non-EU members are not participants. The UK and Ireland have maintained a Common Travel Area since 1923, but beyond this the UK could not accept abolishing border controls, and were given a full opt-out from the area. While not signing the Schengen Treaty, Ireland has always looked more favourably on joining but has not done so to maintain the CTA, the Nordic members required Norway and Iceland to be included, which was accepted, and so a consensus could be reached. The Schengen Area consists of 26 states, including four which are not members of the European Union, two of the non-EU members, Iceland and Norway, are part of the Nordic Passport Union and are officially classified as states associated with the Schengen activities of the EU. Switzerland was subsequently allowed to participate in the manner in 2008. Liechtenstein joined the Schengen Area on 19 December 2011, de facto, the Schengen Area also includes three European micro-states – Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican City – that maintain open or semi-open borders with other Schengen member countries. Two EU members – Ireland and the United Kingdom – negotiated opt-outs from Schengen, the remaining four EU member states – Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus and Romania – are obliged to eventually join the Schengen Area. However, before implementing the Schengen rules, each state must have its preparedness assessed in four areas, air borders, visas, police cooperation. This evaluation process involves a questionnaire and visits by EU experts to selected institutions, the only land borders with border controls between EU/EEA members, are those of Bulgaria, Croatia and Romania, and the one at Gibraltar and those at the Channel Tunnel
11.
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
12.
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
13.
Citizenship of the European Union
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Citizenship of the European Union was introduced by the Maastricht Treaty, which was signed in 1992, and has been in force since 1993. European Union citizenship is additional to national citizenship, the EU citizenship affords rights, freedoms and legal protections to its citizens. EU citizens also have the right to address the European Parliament, European Ombudsman, and EU agencies directly, EU citizens freedoms include the right to free movement, settlement and employment across the EU. EU citizens are free to trade and transport goods, services and capital through EU borders, as in national market. EU citizens also enjoy legal protections of the EU law, specifically the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and acts, the EU also has an office of European Ombudsman whom EU citizens can approach directly. EU citizenship was first introduced by the Maastricht Treaty, and was extended by the Treaty of Amsterdam, prior to the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, the European Communities treaties provided guarantees for the free movement of economically active persons, but not, generally, for others. However, the treaty provisions were interpreted by the European Court of Justice not as having an economic purpose. In the case of Martinez Sala, the European Court of Justice held that the provisions provided substantive free movement rights in addition to those already granted by union law. Historically, the benefit of being a citizen of an EU country has been that of free movement. The free movement also applies to the citizens of European Economic Area countries, however, with the creation of EU citizenship, certain political rights came into being. The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union provides for citizens to be represented at Union level in the European Parliament. Member States can distinguish between nationals and Union citizens but only if the provisions satisfy the test of proportionality, migrant EU citizens have a legitimate expectation of a limited degree of financial solidarity. Having regard to their degree of integration into the host society Length of time is an important factor when considering the degree of integration. The ECJs case law on citizenship has been criticised for subjecting an increasing number of rules to the proportionality assessment. Article 45 Freedom of movement to work Article 45 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union states that 1, Freedom of movement for workers shall be secured within the Union. State employment reserved exclusively for nationals varies between member states, however, it is broadly limited to those roles that exercise a significant degree of public authority, such as judges, police, the military, diplomats, senior civil servants or politicians. Note that not all Member States choose to all of these posts to nationals. Much of the existing legislation and case law was consolidated in the Citizens Rights Directive 2004/38/EC on the right to move
14.
Maastricht Treaty
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The Maastricht Treaty undertaken to integrate Europe was signed on 7 February 1992 by the members of the European Community in Maastricht, Netherlands. On 9–10 December 1991, the city hosted the European Council which drafted the treaty. The Maastricht Treaty and all pre-existing treaties, has subsequently been amended by the treaties of Amsterdam, Nice. The treaty led to the creation of the euro, one of the obligations of the treaty for the members was to keep sound fiscal policies, with debt limited to 60% of GDP and annual deficits no greater than 3% of GDP. The treaty also created what was referred to as the pillar structure of the European Union. The first pillar was where the EUs supra-national institutions—the Commission, the European Parliament, the other two pillars were essentially more intergovernmental in nature with decisions being made by committees composed of member states politicians and officials. All three pillars were the extensions of existing policy structures, the European Community pillar was the continuation of the European Economic Community with the Economic being dropped from the name to represent the wider policy base given by the Maastricht Treaty. In addition, the treaty established the European Committee of the Regions, coR is the European Unions assembly of local and regional representatives that provides sub-national authorities with a direct voice within the EUs institutional framework. The Maastricht criteria are the criteria for European Union member states to enter the stage of European Economic and Monetary Union. The four criteria are defined in article 121 of the treaty establishing the European Community and they impose control over inflation, public debt and the public deficit, exchange rate stability and the convergence of interest rates. Inflation rates, No more than 1.5 percentage points higher than the average of the three best performing member states of the EU.2. Government finance, Annual government deficit, The ratio of the government deficit to gross domestic product must not exceed 3% at the end of the preceding fiscal year. If not, it is at least required to reach a level close to 3%, only exceptional and temporary excesses would be granted for exceptional cases. Government debt, The ratio of government debt to GDP must not exceed 60% at the end of the preceding fiscal year. Even if the target cannot be achieved due to the specific conditions, as of the end of 2014, of the countries in the Eurozone, only Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Luxembourg, and Finland still met this target. Long-term interest rates, The nominal long-term interest rate must not be more than 2 percentage points higher than in the three lowest inflation member states, the purpose of setting the criteria is to maintain price stability within the Eurozone even with the inclusion of new member states. The signing of the Treaty of Maastricht took place in Maastricht, Netherlands, representatives from the twelve member states of the European Communities were present, and signed the treaty as plenipotentiaries, marking the conclusion of the period of negotiations. The process of ratifying the treaty was fraught with difficulties in three states, in Denmark, the first Danish Maastricht Treaty referendum was held on 2 June 1992 and ratification of the treaty was rejected by a margin of 50. 7% to 49. 3%
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European Coal and Steel Community
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The European Coal and Steel Community was an organisation of 6 European countries set up after World War II to regulate their industrial production under a centralised authority. It was formally established in 1951 by the Treaty of Paris, signed by Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Luxembourg. The ECSC was the first international organisation to be based on the principles of supranationalism, the ECSC was first proposed by French foreign minister Robert Schuman on 9 May 1950 as a way to prevent further war between France and Germany. He declared his aim was to make war not only unthinkable but materially impossible which was to be achieved by regional integration, of which the ECSC was the first step. The Treaty would create a market for coal and steel among its member states which served to neutralise competition between European nations over natural resources, particularly in the Ruhr. These would ultimately form the blueprint for todays European Commission, European Parliament, the Council of the European Union, the 1967 Merger Treaty led to all of ECSCs institutions to merge into that of the European Economic Community, but the ECSC retained its own independent legal personality. In 2002, the Treaty of Paris expired and the ECSC ceased to exist in any form, its activities fully absorbed by the European Community under the framework of Amsterdam and Nice treaties. Despite stiff ultra-nationalist, Gaullist and communist opposition, the French Assembly voted a number of resolutions in favour of his new policy of integrating Germany into a community, the International Authority for the Ruhr changed in consequence. Schumans guiding principles were moral, based on the equality of states, the Schuman Declaration of 9 May 1950 occurred after two Cabinet meetings, when the proposal became French government policy. France was thus the first government to agree to surrender sovereignty in a supranational Community and it laid out a plan for a European Community to pool the coal and steel of its members in a common market. Such an act was intended to help economic growth and cement peace between France and Germany, who were historic enemies, Coal and steel were vital resources needed for a country to wage war, so pooling those resources between two such enemies was seen as more than symbolic. Schuman saw the decision of the French government on his proposal as the first example of a democratic and supranational Community, a new development in world history. The plan was seen by some, like Monnet, who crossed out Reuters mention of supranational in the draft and inserted federation. The Schuman Declaration that created the ECSC had several distinct aims and it would make war between member states impossible. It would transform Europe in a step by step process leading to the unification of Europe democratically and it would create the worlds first supranational institution. It would create the worlds first international anti-cartel agency and it would create a common market across the Community. It would, starting with the coal and steel sector, revitalise the whole European economy by similar community processes and it would improve the world economy and the developing countries, such as those in Africa. Firstly, it was intended to prevent further war between France and Germany and other states by tackling the cause of war
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European Economic Community
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The European Economic Community was a regional organisation which aimed to bring about economic integration among its member states. It was created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957, upon the formation of the European Union in 1993, the EEC was incorporated and renamed as the European Community. In 2009 the ECs institutions were absorbed into the EUs wider framework and it gained a common set of institutions along with the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Atomic Energy Community as one of the European Communities under the 1965 Merger Treaty. In 1993, a single market was achieved, known as the internal market, which allowed for the free movement of goods, capital, services. In 1994, the market was formalised by the EEA agreement. This agreement also extended the market to include most of the member states of the European Free Trade Association. Upon the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993 and this was also when the three European Communities, including the EC, were collectively made to constitute the first of the three pillars of the European Union, which the treaty also founded. The EEC was also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking countries and sometimes referred to as the European Community even before it was renamed as such in 1993. In 1951, the Treaty of Paris was signed, creating the European Coal and this was an international community based on supranationalism and international law, designed to help the economy of Europe and prevent future war by integrating its members. In the aim of creating a federal Europe two further communities were proposed, a European Defence Community and a European Political Community. While the treaty for the latter was being drawn up by the Common Assembly, the ECSC parliamentary chamber, after the Messina Conference in 1955, Paul Henri Spaak was given the task to prepare a report on the idea of a customs union. The so-called Spaak Report of the Spaak Committee formed the cornerstone of the negotiations at Val Duchesse castle in 1956. Together with the Ohlin Report the Spaak Report would provide the basis for the Treaty of Rome, in 1956, Paul Henri Spaak led the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom at the Val Duchesse castle, which prepared for the Treaty of Rome in 1957. The conference led to the signature, on 25 March 1957, the resulting communities were the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community. These were markedly less supranational than the communities, due to protests from some countries that their sovereignty was being infringed. The first formal meeting of the Hallstein Commission, was held on 16 January 1958 at the Chateau de Val-Duchesse, the EEC was to create a customs union while Euratom would promote co-operation in the nuclear power sphere. The EEC rapidly became the most important of these and expanded its activities, one of the first important accomplishments of the EEC was the establishment of common price levels for agricultural products. In 1968, internal tariffs were removed on certain products, another crisis was triggered in regard to proposals for the financing of the Common Agricultural Policy, which came into force in 1962
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Treaty of Paris (1951)
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The treaty came into force on 23 July 1952 and expired on 23 July 2002, exactly fifty years after it came into effect. The treaty was seen as producing diplomatic and economic stability in western Europe after the Second World War, some of the main enemies during the war were now sharing production of coal and steel, the key-resources which previously had been central to the war effort. The Europe Declaration was signed by all the leaders present and it declared that the Treaty had given birth to Europe. It emphasised that the principle was the foundation of the new democratic organisation of Europe. The supranational concept was opposed by Charles de Gaulle, Treaty establishing the European Coal and Steel Community on CVCE. eu The history of the European Union 1945-1957
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Treaty of Rome
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It was signed on 25 March 1957 by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany and came into force on 1 January 1958. It remains one of the two most important treaties in the modern-day European Union, the TEEC proposed the progressive reduction of customs duties and the establishment of a customs union. It proposed to create a market for goods, labour, services. It also proposed the creation of a Common Agriculture Policy, a Common Transport Policy and a European Social Fund, the treatys name has been retrospectively amended on several occasions since 1957. The Maastricht Treaty of 1992 removed the word economic from the Treaty of Romes official title and, in 2009, in 1951, the Treaty of Paris was signed, creating the European Coal and Steel Community. The Treaty of Paris was a treaty based on international law, designed to help reconstruct the economies of the European continent, prevent war in Europe. The original idea was conceived by Jean Monnet, a senior French civil servant and it was announced by Robert Schuman, the aim was to pool Franco-West German coal and steel production, because the two raw materials were the basis of the industry and power of the two countries. The underlying political objective of the European Coal and Steel Community was to strengthen Franco-German cooperation, France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands began negotiating the treaty. The Treaty Establishing the ECSC was signed in Paris on 18 April 1951, the Treaty expired on 23 July 2002, after fifty years, as was foreseen. The common market opened on 10 February 1953 for coal, iron ore and scrap, partly in the aim of creating a United States of Europe, two further Communities were proposed, again by the French. A European Defence Community and a European Political Community, while the treaty for the latter was being drawn up by the Common Assembly, the ECSC parliamentary chamber, the EDC was rejected by the French Parliament. As a result of the crises, the Common Assembly proposed extending the powers of the ECSC to cover other sources of energy. However, Monnet desired a separate Community to cover nuclear power, the report concluded that further nuclear development was needed, in order to fill the deficit left by the exhaustion of coal deposits and to reduce dependence on oil producers. In the end, Monnet proposed creating both as separate Communities to attempt to satisfy all interests, the report formed the cornerstone of the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom at Val Duchesse in 1956. The outcome of the conference was that the new Communities would share the Common Assembly with the ECSC, however, they would not share the ECSCs Council of High Authority. The two new High Authorities would be called Commissions, from a reduction in their powers, Euratom fostered co-operation in the nuclear field, at the time a very popular area, and the European Economic Community was to create a full customs union between members. The conference led to the signature, on 25 March 1957, of the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community, the Treaty of Rome, the original full name of which was the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community has been amended by successive treaties significantly changing its content. The 1992 Treaty of Maastricht established the European Union, the EEC becoming one of its three pillars, the European Community, hence, the treaty was renamed the Treaty establishing the European Community
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European Communities
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The European Communities, sometimes referred to as the European Community, were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of institutions. When the Communities were incorporated into the European Union in 1993, the European Coal and Steel Community ceased to exist in 2002 when its founding treaty expired. The European Community was dissolved into the European Union by the Treaty of Lisbon in 2009, euratom remained an entity distinct from the EU, but is governed by the same institutions. In 1957, the EAEC and EEC were created by the Treaties of Rome and they were to share some of the institutions of the ECSC but have separate executive structures. The ECSCs aim was to combine the coal and steel industries of its members to create a market in those resources. It was intended that this would increase prosperity and decrease the risk of these going to war through the process of European integration. The EAEC was working on nuclear energy co-operation between the members, the EEC was to create a customs union and general economic co-operation. It later led to the creation of a European single market, the ECSCs treaty had a 50-year limit and thus expired in 2002, all its activities are now absorbed into the European Community. The EAEC had no limit and thus continues to exist. As the EAEC has a low profile, and the profile of the European Community is dwarfed by that of the EU, the Commission and Council of the EEC were to take over the responsibilities of its counterparts in the other organisations. The Maastricht Treaty built upon the Single European Act and the Solemn Declaration on European Union in the creation of the European Union, the treaty was signed on 7 February 1992 and came into force on 1 November 1993. The Union superseded and absorbed the European Communities as one of its three pillars, the first Commission President following the creation of the EU was Jacques Delors, who briefly continued his previous EEC tenure before handing over to Jacques Santer in 1994. Only the first pillar followed the principles of supranationalism, the pillar structure of the EU allowed the areas of European co-operation to be increased without leaders handing a large amount of power to supranational institutions. The pillar system segregated the EU, what were formerly the competencies of the EEC fell within the European Community pillar. Justice and Home Affairs was introduced as a new pillar while European Political Cooperation became the second pillar, the Community institutions became the institutions of the EU but the roles of the institutions between the pillars are different. The Commission, Parliament and Court of Justice are largely cut out of activities in the second and third pillars, with the Council dominating proceedings. This is reflected in the names of the institutions, the Council is formally the Council of the European Union while the Commission is formally the Commission of the European Communities. This allowed the new areas to be based on rather than majority voting
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Inner Six
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The Inner Six, or simply the Six, were the six founding member states of the European Communities. They were in contrast to the seven who formed the European Free Trade Association rather than engage in supranational European integration. Five of the seven later joined the European Communities. The inner six are those who responded to the Schuman Declarations call for the pooling of coal, the six signed the Treaty of Paris creating the European Coal and Steel Community on 18 April 1951. However the plan was rejected by the Senate of France, which also scuppered the draft treaty for a European Political Community. President of the ECSC High Authority, and architect of the ECSC, Jean Monnet resigned in protest, dependency on overseas oil and the steady exhaustion of coal deposits led to the idea of an atomic energy community. However, the Benelux countries and Germany desired a common market, in order to reconcile the two ideas, both communities would be created. Thus, the six went on to sign the Treaties of Rome in 1957, establishing the European Economic Community, the institutions of these communities would later be merged in 1967, leading to them collectively being known as the European Communities. The six would continue in their co-operation until 1973 when they were joined by two of the seven and Ireland. The events of the Suez Crisis showed the United Kingdom that it could no longer alone, instead turning to the United States. Britain, along with Denmark, Ireland and Norway, applied for membership in 1960, however, then–French President Charles de Gaulle saw British membership of the Community as a Trojan horse for US interests, and hence stated he would veto British membership. The four countries resubmitted their applications on 11 May 1967 and with Georges Pompidou succeeding Charles de Gaulle as French President, negotiations began in 1970 and two years later the accession treaties were signed with all but Norway acceding to the Community. In 1981 Greece joined the European Community, bringing the number to ten, after its democratic revolution, Portugal would also leave EFTA to join the Communities in 1986, along with Spain. On the other hand, membership of the Communities, now the European Union, has reached 28, today, there are still some groups within the European Union integrating faster than others, for example, the eurozone and Schengen Area. Inner Six are today among the most integrated members of the E. U
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West Germany
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West Germany is the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany or FRG in the period between its creation on 23 May 1949 to German reunification on 3 October 1990. During this Cold War era, NATO-aligned West Germany and Warsaw Pact-aligned East Germany were divided by the Inner German border, after 1961 West Berlin was physically separated from East Berlin as well as from East Germany by the Berlin Wall. This situation ended when East Germany was dissolved and its five states joined the ten states of the Federal Republic of Germany along with the reunified city-state of Berlin. With the reunification of West and East Germany, the Federal Republic of Germany, enlarged now to sixteen states and this period is referred to as the Bonn Republic by historians, alluding to the interwar Weimar Republic and the post-reunification Berlin Republic. The Federal Republic of Germany was established from eleven states formed in the three Allied Zones of occupation held by the United States, the United Kingdom and France, US and British forces remained in the country throughout the Cold War. Its population grew from roughly 51 million in 1950 to more than 63 million in 1990, the city of Bonn was its de facto capital city. The fourth Allied occupation zone was held by the Soviet Union, as a result, West Germany had a territory about half the size of the interbellum democratic Weimar Republic. At the onset of the Cold War, Europe was divided among the Western and Eastern blocs, Germany was de facto divided into two countries and two special territories, the Saarland and divided Berlin. The Federal Republic of Germany claimed a mandate for all of Germany. It took the line that the GDR was an illegally constituted puppet state, though the GDR did hold regular elections, these were not free and fair. For all practical purposes the GDR was a Soviet puppet state, from the West German perspective the GDR was therefore illegitimate. Three southwestern states of West Germany merged to form Baden-Württemberg in 1952, in addition to the resulting ten states, West Berlin was considered an unofficial de facto 11th state. It recognised the GDR as a de facto government within a single German nation that in turn was represented de jure by the West German state alone. From 1973 onward, East Germany recognised the existence of two German countries de jure, and the West as both de facto and de jure foreign country, the Federal Republic and the GDR agreed that neither of them could speak in the name of the other. The first chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who remained in office until 1963, had worked for an alignment with NATO rather than neutrality. He not only secured a membership in NATO but was also a proponent of agreements that developed into the present-day European Union, when the G6 was established in 1975, there was no question whether the Federal Republic of Germany would be a member as well. With the collapse of communism in Central and Eastern Europe in 1989, symbolised by the opening of the Berlin Wall, East Germany voted to dissolve itself and accede to the Federal Republic in 1990. Its five post-war states were reconstituted along with the reunited Berlin and they formally joined the Federal Republic on 3 October 1990, raising the number of states from 10 to 16, ending the division of Germany
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Enlargement of the European Union
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Since then, the EUs membership has grown to twenty-eight, with the latest member state being Croatia, which joined in July 2013. The most recent territorial enlargement of the EU was the incorporation of Mayotte in 2014, the most notable territorial reductions of the EU, and its predecessors, were the exit of Algeria upon independence in 1962 and the exit of Greenland in 1985. On 23 June 2016, a referendum on whether the UK should remain in or leave the European Union was held. The formal withdrawal will not take place until negotiations on the terms of their withdrawal are finalized, currently, accession negotiations are under way with several states. The process of enlargement is referred to as European integration. This term is used to refer to the intensification of co-operation between EU member states as national governments allow for the gradual harmonisation of national laws. According to the Maastricht Treaty, each current member state and the European Parliament must agree to any enlargement. According to the EU treaties, membership of the European Union is open to any European State which respects the values referred to in Article 2 and is committed to promoting them. Those Article 2 values are respect for dignity, freedom, democracy, equality. Today the accession process follows a series of steps, from a pre-accession agreement to the ratification of the final accession treaty. These steps are primarily presided over by the European Commission, before a country applies for membership it typically signs an association agreement to help prepare the country for candidacy and eventual membership. Most countries do not meet the criteria to even begin negotiations before they apply, an association agreement helps prepare for this first step. In the case of the Western Balkans, a special process, when a country formally applies for membership, the Council asks the Commission to prepare an opinion on the countrys readiness to begin negotiations. The Council can then accept or reject the Commissions opinion. If the Council agrees to open negotiations the screening process then begins, the Commission and candidate country examine its laws and those of the EU and determine what differences exist. The Council then recommends opening negotiations on chapters of law that it there is sufficient common ground to have constructive negotiations. Often this will involve time-lines before the Acquis Communautaire has to be fully implemented, to assess progress achieved by countries in preparing for accession to the European Union, the European Commission submits regular reports to the European Council. These serve as a basis for the Council to make decisions on negotiations or their extension to other candidates, once this has been completed it will join the Union on the date specified in the treaty
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Treaty of Lisbon
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The Treaty of Lisbon is an international agreement which amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union. The Treaty of Lisbon was signed by the EU member states on 13 December 2007 and it also amends the attached treaty protocols as well as the Treaty establishing the European Atomic Energy Community. The Treaty also made the Unions bill of rights, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, the Treaty for the first time gave member states the explicit legal right to leave the EU and the procedure to do so. Supporters argue that it brings more checks and balances into the EU system, with powers for the European Parliament. Although ratified by a majority of states, this was abandoned after being rejected by 54. 67% of French voters on 29 May 2005. After a period of reflection, member states agreed instead to maintain the existing treaties, an amending reform treaty was drawn up and signed in Lisbon in 2007. It was originally intended to have been ratified by all states by the end of 2008. The need to review the EUs constitutional framework, particularly in light of the accession of ten new Member States in 2004, was highlighted in a declaration annexed to the Treaty of Nice in 2001. The agreements at Nice had paved the way for further enlargement of the Union by reforming voting procedures, the final text of the proposed Constitution was agreed upon at the summit meeting on 18–19 June 2004 under the presidency of Ireland. The Constitution, having been agreed by heads of government from the 25 Member States, was signed at a ceremony in Rome on 29 October 2004, before it could enter into force, however, it had to be ratified by each member state. Ratification took different forms in each country, depending on the traditions, constitutional arrangements, in 2005, referendums held in France and the Netherlands rejected the European Constitution. This led to a period of reflection and the end of the proposed European Constitution. In 2007, Germany took over the rotating EU Presidency and declared the period of reflection over, by March, the 50th anniversary of the Treaties of Rome, the Berlin Declaration was adopted by all Member States. This declaration outlined the intention of all Member States to agree on a new treaty in time for the 2009 Parliamentary elections, that is to have a ratified treaty before mid-2009. On 4 June 2007, the released their text in French – cut from 63,000 words in 448 articles in the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe to 12,800 words in 70 articles. The meeting took place under the German Presidency of the EU, after dealing with other issues, such as deciding on the accession of Cyprus and Malta to the Eurozone, negotiations on the Treaty took over and lasted until the morning of 23 June 2007. The hardest part of the negotiations was reported to be Polands insistence on square root voting in the Council of Ministers, but the implementation of the Agenda was less impressive than the declarations made at its adoption by the European Council in March 2000. In addition, it was agreed to recommend to the IGC that the provisions of the old European Constitution should be amended in certain key aspects
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Withdrawal from the European Union
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Withdrawal from the European Union is the legal and political process whereby a member state of the European Union ceases to be a member of the union. No member state has withdrawn from the EU, although constituent parts of two states have have withdrawn from its predecessor, the European Economic Community. Greenland, part of the Danish Realm, voted to leave the EEC in 1985, Algeria left upon independence in 1962, having been a part of France until then. The United Kingdom is the full member state which has voted to leave the EU. On 29 March 2017, the UK gave formal notice of its intent to withdraw, the Treaty of Lisbon introduced an exit clause for members who wish to withdraw from the Union. Under TEU Article 50, a Member State would notify the European Council of its intention to exit the Union, the two-year period of time in which the terms of the withdrawal agreement are negotiated is known as the sunset period. The agreement is to be approved by the Council, acting by qualified majority, should a former Member State seek to rejoin the European Union, it would be subject to the same conditions as any other applicant country. This system gives a negotiated withdrawal, due to the complexities of leaving the EU, however it does include in it a strong implication of a unilateral right to withdraw. The remaining members of the EU would also need to undertake negotiations on how to make the changes to the EUs budgets, voting allocations. Before the Treaty of Lisbon entered into force on 1 December 2009 no provision in the treaties or law of the EU outlined the ability of a state to withdraw from the EU. The absence of such a provision made withdrawal technically difficult but not impossible, legally there were two interpretations of whether a state could leave. TFEU Article 355, introduced by the Treaty of Lisbon allows the status of French, Dutch and Danish overseas territories to be changed more easily, by no longer requiring a full treaty revision. Instead, the European Council may, on the initiative of the state concerned. Some former territories of European Union members broke formal links with the EU when they gained independence from their country or were transferred to an EU non-member state. Most of these territories were not classed as part of the EU, the process also occurs in the opposite direction. The procedure for implementing such changes was made easier by the Treaty of Lisbon, French Algeria had joined the European Communities since it was not legally a colony, but a full-fledged part of France. Upon independence in 1962, Algeria left the European Communities, Greenland chose to leave the EU predecessor without also seceding from a member state. It initially voted against joining the EEC when Denmark joined in 1973, when home rule for Greenland began in 1979, it held a new referendum and voted to leave the EEC
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Chelsea F.C.
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Chelsea Football Club is an English professional football club based in Fulham, London, that competes in the Premier League. Founded in 1905, the home ground since then has been Stamford Bridge. Chelsea had their first major success in 1955, when they won the league championship and they then won various cup competitions between 1965 and 1996. The clubs greatest period of success has come during the last two decades, winning 21 trophies since 1997. Chelsea are the only London club to win the UEFA Champions League, and one of four clubs, Chelseas regular kit colours are royal blue shirts and shorts with white socks. The clubs crest has changed several times in attempts to re-brand the club. The current crest, featuring a lion rampant regardant holding a staff, is a modification of the one introduced in the early 1950s. The club have the sixth-highest average all-time attendance in English football and their average home gate for the 2015–16 season was 41,500, the seventh highest in the Premier League. Since 2003, Chelsea have been owned by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich, in 2016, they were ranked by Forbes magazine as the seventh most valuable football club in the world, at £1.15 billion. In 1904, Gus Mears acquired the Stamford Bridge athletics stadium with the aim of turning it into a football ground, an offer to lease it to nearby Fulham was turned down, so Mears opted to found his own club to use the stadium. Chelsea were founded on 10 March 1905 at The Rising Sun pub, opposite the main entrance to the ground on Fulham Road. The club won promotion to the First Division in their second season and they reached the 1915 FA Cup Final, where they lost to Sheffield United at Old Trafford, and finished third in the First Division in 1920, the clubs best league campaign to that point. Chelsea attracted large crowds and had a reputation for signing big-name players, former Arsenal and England centre-forward Ted Drake became manager in 1952 and proceeded to modernise the club. The following season saw UEFA create the European Champions Cup, but after objections from The Football League, Chelsea failed to build on this success, and spent the remainder of the 1950s in mid-table. Drake was dismissed in 1961 and replaced by player-coach Tommy Docherty, Docherty built a new team around the group of talented young players emerging from the clubs youth set-up and Chelsea challenged for honours throughout the 1960s, enduring several near-misses. They were on course for a treble of League, FA Cup and League Cup going into the stages of the 1964–65 season, winning the League Cup. In three seasons the side were beaten in three major semi-finals and were FA Cup runners-up, under Dochertys successor, Dave Sexton, Chelsea won the FA Cup in 1970, beating Leeds United 2–1 in a final replay. Chelsea took their first European honour, a UEFA Cup Winners Cup triumph, the year, with another replayed win
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England
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England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west, the Irish Sea lies northwest of England and the Celtic Sea lies to the southwest. England is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east, the country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain in its centre and south, and includes over 100 smaller islands such as the Isles of Scilly, and the Isle of Wight. England became a state in the 10th century, and since the Age of Discovery. The Industrial Revolution began in 18th-century England, transforming its society into the worlds first industrialised nation, Englands terrain mostly comprises low hills and plains, especially in central and southern England. However, there are uplands in the north and in the southwest, the capital is London, which is the largest metropolitan area in both the United Kingdom and the European Union. In 1801, Great Britain was united with the Kingdom of Ireland through another Act of Union to become the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. In 1922 the Irish Free State seceded from the United Kingdom, leading to the latter being renamed the United Kingdom of Great Britain, the name England is derived from the Old English name Englaland, which means land of the Angles. The Angles were one of the Germanic tribes that settled in Great Britain during the Early Middle Ages, the Angles came from the Angeln peninsula in the Bay of Kiel area of the Baltic Sea. The earliest recorded use of the term, as Engla londe, is in the ninth century translation into Old English of Bedes Ecclesiastical History of the English People. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, its spelling was first used in 1538. The earliest attested reference to the Angles occurs in the 1st-century work by Tacitus, Germania, the etymology of the tribal name itself is disputed by scholars, it has been suggested that it derives from the shape of the Angeln peninsula, an angular shape. An alternative name for England is Albion, the name Albion originally referred to the entire island of Great Britain. The nominally earliest record of the name appears in the Aristotelian Corpus, specifically the 4th century BC De Mundo, in it are two very large islands called Britannia, these are Albion and Ierne. But modern scholarly consensus ascribes De Mundo not to Aristotle but to Pseudo-Aristotle, the word Albion or insula Albionum has two possible origins. Albion is now applied to England in a poetic capacity. Another romantic name for England is Loegria, related to the Welsh word for England, Lloegr, the earliest known evidence of human presence in the area now known as England was that of Homo antecessor, dating to approximately 780,000 years ago. The oldest proto-human bones discovered in England date from 500,000 years ago, Modern humans are known to have inhabited the area during the Upper Paleolithic period, though permanent settlements were only established within the last 6,000 years
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Football (soccer)
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Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies making it the worlds most popular sport, the game is played on a rectangular field with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by getting the ball into the opposing goal, players are not allowed to touch the ball with their hands or arms while it is in play, unless they are goalkeepers. Other players mainly use their feet to strike or pass the ball, the team that scores the most goals by the end of the match wins. If the score is level at the end of the game, the Laws of the Game were originally codified in England by The Football Association in 1863. Association football is governed internationally by the International Federation of Association Football, the first written reference to the inflated ball used in the game was in the mid-14th century, Þe heued fro þe body went, Als it were a foteballe. The Online Etymology Dictionary states that the word soccer was split off in 1863, according to Partha Mazumdar, the term soccer originated in England, first appearing in the 1880s as an Oxford -er abbreviation of the word association. Within the English-speaking world, association football is now usually called football in the United Kingdom and mainly soccer in Canada and the United States. People in Australia, Ireland, South Africa and New Zealand use either or both terms, although national associations in Australia and New Zealand now primarily use football for the formal name. According to FIFA, the Chinese competitive game cuju is the earliest form of football for which there is scientific evidence, cuju players could use any part of the body apart from hands and the intent was kicking a ball through an opening into a net. It was remarkably similar to football, though similarities to rugby occurred. During the Han Dynasty, cuju games were standardised and rules were established, phaininda and episkyros were Greek ball games. An image of an episkyros player depicted in low relief on a vase at the National Archaeological Museum of Athens appears on the UEFA European Championship Cup, athenaeus, writing in 228 AD, referenced the Roman ball game harpastum. Phaininda, episkyros and harpastum were played involving hands and violence and they all appear to have resembled rugby football, wrestling and volleyball more than what is recognizable as modern football. As with pre-codified mob football, the antecedent of all football codes. Non-competitive games included kemari in Japan, chuk-guk in Korea and woggabaliri in Australia, Association football in itself does not have a classical history. Notwithstanding any similarities to other games played around the world FIFA have recognised that no historical connection exists with any game played in antiquity outside Europe. The modern rules of football are based on the mid-19th century efforts to standardise the widely varying forms of football played in the public schools of England
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Football team
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A football team is the collective name given to a group of players selected together in the various team sports known as football. There are several varieties of football, notably Association football, Gridiron football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby league, the number of players selected for each team within these varieties and their associated codes can vary substantially. Sometimes, the team is limited to those who play on the field in a match. Football squad may be used to be inclusive of these support, the oldest football clubs date back to the early 19th century. The words team and club are sometimes used interchangeably by supporters, although they typically refer to the team within the club playing in the highest division or competition
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London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
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Premier League
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The Premier League is an English professional league for mens association football clubs. At the top of the English football league system, it is the primary football competition. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football League, Welsh clubs that compete in the English football league system can also qualify. The Premier League is a corporation in which the 20 member clubs act as shareholders, seasons run from August to May. Teams play 38 matches each, totalling 380 matches in the season, most games are played on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, others during weekday evenings. It is colloquially known as the Premiership and outside the UK it is referred to as the English Premier League. The deal was worth £1 billion a year domestically as of 2013–14, with BSkyB, the league generates €2.2 billion per year in domestic and international television rights. In 2014/15, teams were apportioned revenues of £1.6 billion, the Premier League is the most-watched sports league in the world, broadcast in 212 territories to 643 million homes and a potential TV audience of 4.7 billion people. In the 2014–15 season, the average Premier League match attendance exceeded 36,000, most stadium occupancies are near capacity. The Premier League ranks third in the UEFA coefficients of leagues based on performances in European competitions over the past five seasons. While 47 clubs have competed since the inception of the Premier League in 1992, only six have won the title, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester City, Blackburn Rovers, the current champions are Leicester City, who won the title in 2015–16. Despite significant European success in the 1970s and early 1980s, the late 80s marked a low point for English football, the 1988 negotiations were the first signs of a breakaway league, ten clubs threatened to leave and form a super league, but were eventually persuaded to stay. As stadiums improved and match attendance and revenues rose, the top teams again considered leaving the Football League in order to capitalise on the influx of money into the sport. At the close of the 1991 season, a proposal was tabled for the establishment of a new league that would bring money into the game overall. The Founder Members Agreement, signed on 17 July 1991 by the games top-flight clubs, the argument given at the time was that the extra income would allow English clubs to compete with teams across Europe. The managing director of London Weekend Television, Greg Dyke, met with the representatives of the big five clubs in England in 1990. The meeting was to pave the way for an away from The Football League. The FA did not enjoy a relationship with the Football League at the time
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Football in England
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Today Englands top domestic league, the Premier League, is one of the most popular and richest sports leagues in the world, with six of the ten richest football clubs in the world. The England national football team is one of only 8 teams to win the World Cup, a total of five English club teams have won the UEFA Champions League. Football was played in England as far back as medieval times, kicking ball games are described in England from 1280. An account of an exclusively kicking game from Nottinghamshire in the fifteenth century bears similarity to association football. By the 16th centuries references to organised teams and goals had appeared, there is evidence for refereed, team football games being played in English schools since at least 1581. The eighteenth-century Gymnastic Society of London is, arguably, the worlds first football club, the Cambridge rules, first drawn up at Cambridge University in 1848, were particularly influential in the development of subsequent codes, including association football. The Cambridge Rules were written at Trinity College, Cambridge, at a meeting attended by representatives from Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester, during the 1850s, many clubs unconnected to schools or universities were formed throughout the English-speaking world, to play various forms of football. In 1862, John Charles Thring of Uppingham School also devised a set of rules. These ongoing efforts contributed to the formation of The Football Association in 1863, the Sheffield FA played by its own rules until the 1870s with the FA absorbing some of its rules until there was little difference between the games. A match between Sheffield and Hallam F. C. on 29 December 1862 was one of the first matches to be recorded in a newspaper, on 8 March 1873, the England national teams 4–2 win over Scotland at the Oval was the first ever victory in international football. The late nineteenth century was dominated by the split between the amateur and professional teams, which was roughly aligned along a North-South divide. Northern clubs were keen to adopt professionalism as workers could not afford to play on an amateur basis, preston North End were inaugural winners in 1888–89, and were also the first club to complete the double of both winning the league and the FA Cup. Aston Villa repeated the feat in 1896–97 and it remained at 40 until the league was suspended after the 1914–15 season with the outbreak of World War I. Other clubs to win titles in this period include Sheffield United, Manchester United. During the war, competitive football was suspended, however, an unofficial Wartime Football league was played from 1915–16 to 1918–19, although the FA Cup was suspended until after the war. The next season the league was expanded with the Third Division divided into North and South sections. In the 1923–24 season the Third Division North was expanded to 22 clubs, Bolton Wanderers defeated West Ham United to win this landmark game. Bolton Wanderers would win the FA Cup on three occasions during the 1920s, by the turn of the 1930s, the national side regularly played against other national teams from outside the British Isles
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FA Cup
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The FA Cup, known officially as The Football Association Challenge Cup, is an annual knockout association football competition in mens domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest association football competition in the world and it is organised by and named after The Football Association. For sponsorship reasons, from 2015 through to 2018 it is known as The Emirates FA Cup. A concurrent womens tournament is held, the FA Womens Cup. A record 763 clubs competed in 2011–12, the tournament consists of 12 randomly drawn rounds followed by the semi-finals and the final. The last entrants are the Premier League and Championship clubs, into the draw for the Third Round Proper, in the modern era, only one non-league team has ever reached the quarter finals, and teams below Level 2 have never reached the final. As a result, as well as who wins, significant focus is given to those minnows who progress furthest, especially if they achieve an unlikely giant-killing victory. Winners receive the FA Cup trophy, of which there have two designs and five actual cups, the latest is a 2014 replica of the second design. Winners also qualify for European football and a place in the FA Community Shield match, in 1863, the newly founded Football Association published the Laws of the Game of Association Football, unifying the various different rules in use before then. On 20 July 1871, in the offices of The Sportsman newspaper, the inaugural FA Cup tournament kicked off in November 1871. After thirteen games in all, Wanderers were crowned the winners in the final, Wanderers retained the trophy the following year. The modern cup was beginning to be established by the 1888–89 season, following the 1914–15 edition, the competition was suspended due to the First World War, and did not resume until 1919–20. The 1922–23 competition saw the first final to be played in the newly opened Wembley Stadium, due to the outbreak of World War II, the competition was not played between the 1938–39 and 1945–46 editions. Having previously featured replays, the modern day practice of ensuring the semi-final and final matches finish on the day, was introduced from 2000 onwards. Redevelopment of Wembley saw the final played outside of England for the first time, the final returned to Wembley in 2007, followed by the semi-finals from 2008. The competition is open to any club down to Level 10 of the English football league system which meets the eligibility criteria, all clubs in the top four levels are automatically eligible. Clubs in the six levels are also eligible provided they have played in either the FA Cup. Newly formed clubs, such as F. C. United of Manchester in 2005–06 and also 2006–07, all clubs entering the competition must also have a suitable stadium
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EFL Cup
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The EFL Cup, or simply the League Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in mens domestic English football. First held in 1960–61 as the Football League Cup, it is one of the three top domestic competitions in England, alongside the Premier League and FA Cup. It concludes in February, long before the two, which end in May. It was introduced by the league as a response to the popularity of European football. It also took advantage of the roll-out of floodlights, allowing the fixtures to be played as midweek evening games, with the renaming of the Football League as the English Football League in 2016, the tournament was rebranded as the EFL Cup from the 2016–17 season onwards. The tournament is played over seven rounds, with single leg ties throughout, the final is held at Wembley Stadium, it is the only tie in the competition played at a neutral venue and on a weekend. Entrants are seeded in the rounds, and a system of byes based on league level ensures higher ranked teams enter in later rounds. Winners receive the EFL Cup, of which there have been three designs, the current one also being the original, the current holders are Manchester United, who beat Southampton 3–2 in the 2017 final to win their fifth League Cup. Some clubs have fielded a weaker side in the competition. Many of the top English sides, Arsenal and Manchester United in particular, have used the competition to give young players valuable big-game experience. However, in 2010, in response to Arsène Wengers claim that a League Cup win would not end his trophy drought, Alex Ferguson described the trophy as a pot worth winning. The original idea for a League Cup came from Stanley Rous who saw the competition as a consolation for clubs who had already knocked out of the FA Cup. However it was not Rous who came to implement it, the re-organisation of the league was not immediately forthcoming, however, the cup competition was introduced regardless. The trophy was paid for personally by Football League President Joe Richards, Richards was proud of the competition, Richards described the competitions formation as an interim step on the way to the leagues re-organisation. I hope the Press will not immediately assume that the League is going to fall out with the F. A. or anybody else, the time has come for our voice to be heard in every problem which affects the professional game. The League Cup competition was established at a time when match day attendances were dwindling, the league had lost 1 million spectators compared to the previous season. It was established at a time when tensions between the Football League and the Football Association were high, the biggest disagreement was how revenue was shared between the clubs. During the late 1950s, the majority of senior English clubs equipped their grounds with floodlights and this opened up the opportunity to exploit weekday evenings throughout the winter
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UEFA Cup Winners' Cup
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The UEFA Cup Winners Cup was a football club competition contested annually by the most recent winners of all European domestic cup competitions. The cup is one of the many inter-European club competitions that have been organised by UEFA, the first competition was held in the 1960–61 season — but not recognised by the governing body of European football until two years later. The final tournament was held in 1998–99, after which it was absorbed into the UEFA Cup, in the 1985–86 season, English clubs were banned from European competition. Consequently, Manchester United, Everton, Coventry City, Wimbledon, from 1972 onwards, the winner of the tournament progressed to play the winner of the European Cup in the UEFA Super Cup. Since the abolition of the UEFA Cup Winners Cup, the UEFA Super Cup place previously reserved for the Cup Winners Cup winner has been taken by the winner of the UEFA Cup, now UEFA Europa League. The competitions official name was originally the European Cup Winners Cup, in common with other UEFA club tournaments, the away goal applied when aggregate scores was parity. Following the influx of new UEFA member nations during the 1990s, however, if this team also qualified for the European Champions Cup then they would default on their place in the Cup Winners Cup and no other team would replace them. In 1998–99, the final year, Heerenveen of the Netherlands entered the Cup Winners Cup despite only reaching the semi-final of the previous seasons Dutch Cup. This was due to both Dutch Cup finalists Ajax and PSV Eindhoven qualifying for the recently expanded Champions League. The European Cup had proven to be a success and the Fairs Cup had also proven popular – as a result. One proposal was for a tournament based upon the format of the European Cup, but with national cup winners rather than league champions taking part, the inaugural Cup Winners Cup was held in the 1960–61 season and was basically a semi-official pilot tournament. It was essentially only in England, Scotland and to a lesser extent Germany, for the tournaments second season in 1961–62, UEFA took over the running of all aspects of the competition and this time all the clubs eligible to enter accepted the opportunity. By 1968, all UEFA member nations had set up domestic cup competitions due to the success of the Cup Winners Cup, UEFA regarded it as the second most prestigious competition, behind the European Cup and ahead of the Fairs Cup. Nevertheless, many commentators and fans regarded the Cup Winners Cup as weaker than the UEFA Cup, no club managed to retain the Cup Winners Cup, although eight times a winning side followed up their victories with a losing appearance in the following seasons final. After the establishment of the UEFA Champions League in the early 1990s, with the expansion of the Champions League in 1997 to allow more than one team from the highest-ranked member associations to enter, the Cup Winners Cup began to look noticeably inferior. Since then, domestic cup winners who do not otherwise qualify for the Champions League are given a place in the Europa League, the Cup Winners Cup trophy itself is a property of UEFA and it is not assigned to any club. Sport. Soccer Statistics Foundation UEFA website
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Stamford Bridge (stadium)
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Stamford Bridge is a football stadium located in Fulham, London. It is the ground of Chelsea F. C. The stadium is located within the Moore Park Estate also known as Walham Green and is referred to as simply The Bridge. The capacity is 41,663, making it the eighth largest ground in the Premier League, the club has plans to expand the capacity to 60,000 by the 2021–2022 season. It has undergone major changes over the years, most recently in the 1990s when it was renovated into a modern. Stamford Bridge has been used as a venue for England international matches, FA Cup Finals, FA Cup semi-finals and it has also hosted numerous other sports, such as cricket, rugby union, speedway, greyhound racing, baseball and American football. The stadiums highest official attendance is 82,905, for a match between Chelsea and Arsenal on 12 October 1935. Stamford Bridge is considered to be a derivative of Samfordesbrigge meaning the bridge at the sandy ford, 18th century maps show a Stanford Creek running along the route of what is now a railway line at the back of the East Stand as a tributary of the Thames. The upper reaches of this tributary have been known as Billingswell Ditch, Pools Creek, in mediaeval times the Creek was known as Billingwell Dyche, derived from Billings spring or stream. It formed the boundary between the parishes of Kensington and Fulham, by the 18th century the creek had become known as Counters Creek which is the name it has retained since. However, previous to this, in 1898, Stamford Bridge played host to the World Championship of shinty between Beauly Shinty Club and London Camanachd. Stamford Bridge was built close to Lillie Bridge, a sports ground which had hosted the 1873 FA Cup Final. It was initially offered to Fulham Football Club, but they turned it down for financial reasons. After considering the sale of the land to the Great Western Railway Company, noted football ground architect Archibald Leitch, who had also designed Ibrox, Celtic Park, Craven Cottage and Hampden Park, was hired to construct the stadium. In its early days, Stamford Bridge stadium was served by a railway station, Chelsea and Fulham railway station. Stamford Bridge had a capacity of around 100,000. It was used as the FA Cup final venue, as originally constructed, Stamford Bridge was an athletics track and the pitch was initially located in the middle of the running track. The stadium had a stand for 5,000 spectators on the east side
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