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Free Trade Areas In Europe
At present, there are six multi-lateral free trade areas in Europe, and one former free trade area in recent history. Note that there are also a number of bilateral free trade agreements between states and between trade blocks; and that some states participate in more than one free trade area. EU The European Union (EU) has always operated as more than a free trade area with its predecessor, the European Economic Community (EEC) being founded as a customs union. The EU has free trade agreements to varying levels with most other European countries. ;EU Single Market The EU shares its single market with three EFTA members via the European Economic Area agreement, and the remaining EFTA member—Switzerland—via bilateral agreements. ;EU Customs Union The European Union Customs Union is a customs union which consists of all the member states of the European Union and Turkey, San Marino, Monaco, Andorra and the UK territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia which are outside of the E ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
EU EFTA CEFTA CISFTA
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated population of over 449million as of 2024. The EU is often described as a ''sui generis'' political entity combining characteristics of both a federation and a confederation. Containing 5.5% of the world population in 2023, EU member states generated a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of around €17.935 trillion in 2024, accounting for approximately one sixth of global economic output. Its cornerstone, the Customs Union, paved the way to establishing an internal single market based on standardised legal framework and legislation that applies in all member states in those matters, and only those matters, where the states have agreed to act as one. EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services and capital within the internal market; enact legislation in justice and home ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
European Communities
The European Communities (EC) were three international organizations that were governed by the same set of Institutions of the European Union, institutions. These were the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom), and the European Economic Community (EEC), the last of which was renamed the ''European Community'' (''EC'') in 1993 by the Maastricht Treaty establishing the European Union. The European Union was established at that time more as a concept rather than an entity, while the Communities remained the actual subjects of international law impersonating the rather abstract Union, becoming at the same time its Three pillars of the European Union, first pillar. In popular language, however, the singular ''European Community'' was sometimes used interchangeably with the plural phrase, in the sense of referring to all three entities. The European Coal and Steel Community ceased to exist in 2002 when its founding treaty exp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multi-speed Europe
Multi-speed Europe or two-speed Europe (called also variable geometry Europe or core Europe depending on the form it would take in practice) is the idea that different parts of the European Union should integrate at different levels and pace depending on the political situation in each individual country. Indeed, multi-speed Europe is currently a reality, with only a subset of EU countries being members of the eurozone and of the Schengen area. Like other forms of differentiated integration such as à la carte and variable geometry, "multi-speed Europe" arguably aims to salvage the "widening and deepening of the European Union" in the face of political opposition. Reasons and actuality of the concept The concept entered political discourse when, after the end of the Cold War, an eastward enlargement of the European Union began to materialise and the question arose how "widening" could be made compatible with "deepening", i.e., how the imminent enlargement process could be p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Differentiated Integration
Differentiated integration (DI) is a mechanism that gives countries the possibility to opt out of certain European Union policies while other countries can further engage and adopt them. This mechanism theoretically encourages the process of European integration. It prevents policies that may be in the interest of most states to get blocked or only get adopted in a weaker form. As a result, policies are not implemented uniformly in the EU. In some definitions of differentiated integration, it is legally codified in EU acts and treaties, through the enhanced cooperation procedure, but it can also be the result of treaties which have been agreed to externally to the EU's framework, for example in the case of the Schengen Agreement. Types of differentiated integration In an attempt to resolve confusion around the many kinds of differentiated integration, Alexander Stubb categorised the mechanism into three distinct concepts: multi-speed, variable geometry, and à la carte. Each ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Trade Organizations In Europe By GDP
Trade involves the transfer of goods and services from one person or entity to another, often in exchange for money. Economists refer to a system or network that allows trade as a market. Traders generally negotiate through a medium of credit or exchange, such as money. Though some economists characterize barter (i.e. trading things without the use of money) as an early form of trade, money was invented before written history began. Consequently, any story of how money first developed is mostly based on conjecture and logical inference. Letters of credit, paper money, and non-physical money have greatly simplified and promoted trade as buying can be separated from selling, or earning. Trade between two traders is called bilateral trade, while trade involving more than two traders is called multilateral trade. In one modern view, trade exists due to specialization and the division of labor, a predominant form of economic activity in which individuals and groups concentra ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Moldova
Moldova, officially the Republic of Moldova, is a Landlocked country, landlocked country in Eastern Europe, with an area of and population of 2.42 million. Moldova is bordered by Romania to the west and Ukraine to the north, east, and south. The List of states with limited recognition, unrecognised breakaway state of Transnistria lies across the Dniester river on the country's eastern border with Ukraine. Moldova is a Unitary state, unitary Parliamentary system, parliamentary Representative democracy, representative democratic republic with its capital in Chișinău, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Most of Moldovan territory was a part of the Principality of Moldavia from the 14th century until 1812, when it was Treaty of Bucharest (1812), ceded to the Russian Empire by the Ottoman Empire (to which Moldavia was a Vassal and tributary states of the Ottoman Empire, vassal state) and became known as Bessarabia. In 1856, southern Bessarabia was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Balkans
The Balkans ( , ), corresponding partially with the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the whole of Bulgaria. The Balkan Peninsula is bordered by the Adriatic Sea in the northwest, the Ionian Sea in the southwest, the Aegean Sea in the south, the Turkish straits in the east, and the Black Sea in the northeast. The northern border of the peninsula is variously defined. The highest point of the Balkans is Musala, , in the Rila mountain range, Bulgaria. The concept of the Balkan Peninsula was created by the German geographer August Zeune in 1808, who mistakenly considered the Balkan Mountains the dominant mountain system of southeastern Europe spanning from the Adriatic Sea to the Black Sea. In the 19th century the term ''Balkan Peninsula'' was a synonym for Rumelia, the parts of Europe that were provinces of the Ottom ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Treaty Of Accession 2003
The Treaty of Accession 2003 was the agreement between the member states of the European Union and ten countries (Czech Republic, Estonia, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary, Malta, Poland, Slovenia, Slovakia), concerning these countries' accession into the EU (see 2004 enlargement of the European Union). At the same time it changed a number of points which were originally laid down in the Treaty of Nice. The treaty was signed on 16 April 2003 in Athens, Greece and it entered into force on 1 May 2004, resulting in enlargement of the European Union with 10 states. Background The European Union comprises a large number of overlapping legal structures which is a result of it being defined by successive international treaties. As well as other acts which together form the current legal framework (acquis) of the EU, the Treaty of Accession 2003 modifies: *the Treaty of Rome (establishing the European Economic Community), *the Euratom Treaty (establishing the European Atomic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central European Free Trade Agreement
The Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) is an international trade agreement between countries mostly located in Southeastern Europe. Founded by representatives of Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia, CEFTA in 2006 expanded to Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and Republic of Kosovo, Kosovo. Members As of 2024, the parties of the CEFTA agreement are: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. Former parties are Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia. Their CEFTA memberships ended when they became Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union (EU). Kosovo was originally represented by United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, but began representing itself from October 2024 onwards. Membership criteria Former Poznań Declaration criteria: * World ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Europe
Central Europe is a geographical region of Europe between Eastern Europe, Eastern, Southern Europe, Southern, Western Europe, Western and Northern Europe, Northern Europe. Central Europe is known for its cultural diversity; however, countries in this region also share some historical and cultural similarities. The region is variously defined, but it’s minimum definition could be considered of consisting of Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the Czech Republic, eastern France, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland. But also the Baltic States, the Alsace in north-east France, and South Tyrol, northern Belluno , and Friuli-Venezia Giulia in north-east Italy are culturally usually considered to be part of Central Europe. From the early 16th century until the early 18th century, parts of Croatia and Hungary were ruled by the Ottoman Empire. During the 17th century, the empire also occupied southern parts of present-day Slovakia. During ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Revolutions Of 1989
The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Communist state, Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. This revolutionary wave is sometimes referred to as the Autumn of Nations, a play on the term Spring of Nations that is sometimes used to describe the revolutions of 1848 in Europe. The revolutions of 1989 were a key factor in the dissolution of the Soviet Union—one of the two global superpowers—and in the abandonment of communist regimes in many parts of the world, some of which were violently overthrown. These events drastically altered the world's Balance of power (international relations), balance of power, marking the end of the Cold War and the beginning of the post-Cold War era. The earliest recorded protests which led to the revolutions began in Polish People's Republic, Poland on 14 August 1980, the massive gener ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The UK includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland, and most of List of islands of the United Kingdom, the smaller islands within the British Isles, covering . Northern Ireland shares Republic of Ireland–United Kingdom border, a land border with the Republic of Ireland; otherwise, the UK is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, the North Sea, the English Channel, the Celtic Sea and the Irish Sea. It maintains sovereignty over the British Overseas Territories, which are located across various oceans and seas globally. The UK had an estimated population of over 68.2 million people in 2023. The capital and largest city of both England and the UK is London. The cities o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
