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Created with Hot Potatoes by Half-Baked Software, registered to isabel perez torres.

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Europe as seen by Americains....

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Formed in 1958 the European Union is an economic and political union between 28 member countries. It was created after World War II as a way to ensure peace between European nations. These countries share a common currency called the Euro. Those who reside in EU countries are also granted EU passports, which allow for easy travel between nations. In 2016, Brittain shocked the world by choosing to leave the EU. The referendum was known as Brexit.

The Treaty of Rome

The treaty of Rome is seen as the formation of what is now called the EU. Its official name was the Treaty Establishing the European Economic Community. It created a single market across the nations for goods, labor, services, and capital. It also proposed a reduction in customs duties. The treaty sought to strengthen the economies of the nations and to promote peace. After two World Wars, many Europeans were eager for peaceful alliances with their neighboring countries. In 2009 the Treaty of Lisbon would officially change the Treaty of Rome's name to The Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Countries in the European Union

Austria: Joined in 1995

Belgium: Joined in 1958

Bulgaria: Joined in 2007

Croatia: Joined in 2013

Cyprus: Joined in 2004

Czech Republic: Joined in 2004

Denmark: Joined in 1973

Estonia: Joined in 2004

Finland: Joined in 1995

France: Joined in 1958

Germany: Joined in 1958

Greece: Joined in 1981

Hungary: Joined in 2004

Ireland: Joined in 1973

Italy: Joined in 1958

Latvia: Joined in 2004

Lithuania: Joined in 2004

Luxembourg: Joined in 1958

Malta: Joined in 2004

Netherlands: Joined in 1958

Poland: Joined in 2004

Portugal: Joined in 1986

Romania: Joined in 2007

Slovakia: Joined in 2004

Slovenia: Joined in 2004

Spain: Joined in 1986

Sweden: Joined in 1995

United Kingdom: Joined in 1973. For the moment the UK remains a full member of the EU, however, it is in the process of withdrawing membership.

Countries Integrating into the EU

Several countries are in the process of integrating or transitioning into the European Union. Membership in the EU is a long and difficult process, it also requires a free-market economy and a stable democracy. Countries must also accept all the EU legislation, which can often take years to accomplish.

Albania

Montenegro

Serbia

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia

Turkey

Understanding Brexit

On June 23, 2016, the United Kingdom voted in a referendum to leave the EU. The popular term for the referendum was Brexit. The vote was very close, 52% of the country voted to leave. David Cameron, then Prime Minister, announced the results of the vote along with his resignation. Teresa May would take over as Prime Minister. She promoted the Great Repeal Bill, which would repeal the country's legislation and incorporation into the EU. A petition calling for a second referendum received almost four million signatures but it was rejected by the government. The United Kingdom is set to leave the European Union by April 2019. It will take nearly two years for the country to sever its legal ties to the EU.​

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The 28 Member Countries of the European Union

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Formed in 1958 the European Union is an economic and political union between 28 member countries. It was created after World War II as a way to ensure peace between European nations. These countries share a common currency called the Euro. Those who reside in EU countries are also granted EU passports, which allow for easy travel between nations.

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Created with Hot Potatoes by Half-Baked Software, registered to isabel perez torres.

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The life of David Cameron, personal and political life and two of the different English political parties

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The life of David Cameron, personal and political life and two of the different English political parties

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Join the pairs that prove to be true, they can be countries, graphics, drawings, or texts.

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What's the difference between a liberal and a democrat?

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What's the difference between a liberal and a democrat?

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What's the difference between a liberal and a democrat?

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Answer (1 of 14): A liberal is someone who believes in liberalism, which is political and ideological philosophy. Liberals have a wide array of viewpoints, but generally support freedoms and equality. These can range from freedom of speech to gender equality. Liberalism has been around since the...

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Some information and surveys on elections in England

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Labour was in power between 1997 and 2010, followed by the Conservatives (leading a coalition and then alone) from 2010 to 2017. The amount of money the government owes has mostly risen over those two decades, under administrations of both hues. In particular, the financial crisis and ensuing recession led to a considerable increase in debt from about 2008 onward.

We don't examine here how much debt, if any, particular governments' policies have caused. The facts on debt here shouldn't be taken as proving that one party is more profligate than the other.

Public sector net debt, the measure we're using here, is what the government owes to private institutions. It doesn't include money owed between different branches of the government-in other words, it doesn't count what the government owes itself-or the debts of banks owned by the government.

In terms of raw cash, here's how that debt looks:

So when the Conservatives say that "during the 13 years in which Labour was in power, there was an almost threefold increase in the national debt", they're right if you only take the cash amount owed into account. Public sector net debt was £347 billion in 1996/97, the year before Labour came into office, and £1,011 billion in 2009/10, their last financial year in power.

That's a cash terms rise of 191% over 13 years, which compares to a 71% rise over seven years with Conservative Chancellors between 2009/10 and 2016/17.

However, the natural rise in prices means that £347 billion was worth more in 1996 than it looks like now. Taking inflation into account, the trend looks very similar:

But the rise in public sector net debt under Labour once inflation is accounted for is a considerably lower 125%.

The equivalent figure for the Conservatives up to 2016/17 is 53%. That means that UKIP and other critics of the government are wrong to claim that " the Tories have doubled the national debt ". That would only be true, in cash terms or in real terms, if you started from 2008/09, whereas the first year for which the Conservatives (and their Liberal Democrat coalition partners) can be said to be responsible for the debt is 2010/11.

As we go into at greater length in our explainer on " how much the government owes ", it's common to look at government debt compared to the size of the national economy. The bigger a country's GDP, the easier it is for the country to support high government debt.

Public sector net debt as a proportion of GDP was down under Labour for most of its term. But it then jumped from 36% of GDP in 2007/08 to 65% in 2009/10.

As with the big jumps in the cash amount, that reflects the impact of the financial crisis and the accompanying recession that began in 2008. The reduction in economic activity in that period meant less in tax receipts and higher welfare spending -blowing a hole in the national finances. The much bigger deficits every year added considerably to the overall debt.

Isn't it nice to have the whole picture?

We rely on your donations to continue and grow our factchecking efforts - to help us maintain our independence we need 1000 donors to give £10 a month. We are currently at 502 - please help Full Fact grow.

By Conor James McKinney

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Labour and Conservative records on the national debt

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Labour was in power between 1997 and 2010, followed by the Conservatives (leading a coalition and then alone) from 2010 to 2017. The amount of money the government owes has mostly risen over those two decades, under administrations of both hues.

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Europe is the second smallest of the inhabited continents. It is a part of the Eurasian land mass that includes Europe, Asia, Asia Minor and the Arabian Peninsula. As many large islands east and south of Asia are usually included in Asia, the Eurasian land mass extends from Iceland to New Guinea, from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from the Arctic to the Indian Oceans. Just where to divide this mass into continents has long been debated. Traditionally the Ural mountains in Russia have been used as a division. This line then had to curve back through the Caspian and Black Seas to avoid leaving Turkey in Europe. The fact that this separated Christian Europe from Muslim, Hindu and Buddhist Asia is not coincidental. With the creation of many new countries from the collapse of the Soviet Union the division is more difficult as so many want to be included in Europe for economic reasons. In order to show complete countries only we have included Russia in Asia, where most of its area lies, rather than in Europe.

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Interactive Map of Europe, Europe Map with Countries and Seas

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Europe Map-online, interactive map of Europe showing its borders, countries, capitals, seas, rivers and adjoining areas. It connects to information about Europe and the history and geography of European countries. Europe is the western part of the Eurasian land mass, Asia is the larger eastern part.

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A brief history of the entry into the European Union for the United Kingdom.

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A brief history of the entry into the European Union for the United Kingdom.

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The United Kingdom submitted its first application for membership in 1961, but the French government immediately vetoed this application in 1963. The British made a second request in 1967, to which the French once again responded with a veto, and it was not until 1969 that the green light was given to Britain's accession negotiations. The United Kingdom joined the European Economic Community (as it then was) on 1 January 1973 with Denmark and Ireland.

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The Maastricht Treaty, which entered into force on 1 November 1993, establishes a European Union between the 12 Member States of the Community (Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom).

It then makes it possible to bring together three fields of action, or "pillars". These are grouped under a common "hat", whose official title is for the first time "the European Union": the European Community (which replaces the EEC) with extensive supranational competences.

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Nine mostly ex-communist states have joined the Schengen zone

Forty-eight hours of celebrations are taking place to mark nine new states joining a European border-free zone.
The Schengen agreement, which allows passport-free travel across the area, now embraces 24 nations.

Some 2,000 people celebrated in the town of Frankfurt on Oder at Germany's border with Poland, amid fireworks and the EU anthem, Beethoven's Ode to Joy.

The Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia joined the zone.

Speaking in Zittau, close to where Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic meet, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said it was a "truly historic moment".

Mrs Merkel was joined by Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, his Czech counterpart Mirek Topolanek and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso.

Crime wave fears

On Thursday a checkpoint between Austria and Slovakia was dismantled in one of several events marking the enlargement from the Baltic Sea to the Adriatic.

Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico and Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer sawed through a barrier at the Berg border crossing.

Mr Fico said: "From midnight tonight you can travel 4,000km (2,485 miles) from Tallinn in Estonia to Lisbon in Portugal without any border controls."

Mr Gusenbauer welcomed the extension of the Schengen zone, rejecting fears that it might create a crime wave in Austria.

The European Commission says that one billion euros (£720m) has been spent on beefing up security on the new EU frontiers, including the establishing of missions along the Polish and Slovak borders.

Initially the lifting of internal controls involves just land and sea borders, but that will be extended to airports at the end of March 2008.

Vast database

Although the enlargement allows passport-free transit throughout the area, travellers can be asked to carry documents by any of the countries concerned.

For non-EU nationals, a Schengen visa allows travel across all the participating countries.

Thirteen existing EU states have already been part of the Schengen accord as well as two non-EU countries, Norway and Iceland.

The UK and Ireland are not involved in the zone - which embraces 400m people - but they have signed up to agreements on security.

A significant element of the Schengen agreement is the Schengen Information Service (SIS) which features an enormous database in the French city of Strasbourg.

The SIS database enables police in any Schengen state to find out whether a suspect has been involved in any kind of crime across the EU.

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BBC NEWS | Europe | Europe's border-free zone expands

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Celebrations mark the enlargement of Europe's Schengen border-free zone to include nine more EU states.

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Create a new document and edit with others at the same time -- from your computer, phone or tablet. Get stuff done with or without an internet connection. Use Docs to edit Word files. Free from Google.

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Here is the summary written by a senior student on a French program about brexit: 

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Here is the summary written by a senior student on a French program about brexit: 

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Last week, on Thursday, Great Britain and the European Union finally reached an agreement
concerning the Brexit. However, Theresa May, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, is in a bad a
position. In her country, she is indeed accused to have accepted the propositions of the European
Union. In fact, last week five English ministers resigned. Therefore, Theresa May wants the
population to choose, she said: “The chaos or me?”
What it is important to realize, is that in a bit more than 4 months, at the beginning of 2019, Brexit
will become a reality. The former minister of finances, Georges Osborn, is comparing the Brexit to a
“beheaded chicken which is able to take a last few steps”.
At this French show called “C dans l’air”, there were 4 journalists, 3 were French and one was
English. According to Philippe Tule, the English one, the situation concerning Brexit is getting worse
and worse. He explains that he had never seen a stage where the Prime Minister was insulted by not
only the opposition but by everyone on Thursday at the House of Commons.
However, according to the journalists present at this show, Theresa May will survive to these attacks
and will do what she thinks is good for the country even without any support. She is in fact very
often compared to a robot because she always repeats the same things, her nickname is “Maybot”
which shows her determination.
The problem is that she is criticized by the “Brexiters” (the ones who want to quit the European
Union) but also by the “Remainers” (the ones who want to stay in the European Union). Seeing that
her agreement is not very popular at the political area, Theresa May in now trying to obtain the
support of the British people by answering to questions at the radio.
Another aspect is that the “Deal” concluded with the European Union, is not an entire agreement.
This means that Great Britain will need to respect the customs standards for example and knowing
they will not be part of the European Union, they will not be able to decide of these laws anymore.
Consequently, this agreement is kind of humiliating for the Brits.
What is also important to notice is that in Europe, we were really afraid of a “domino effect” after
the exit of Great Britain of the European Union. However, nothing happened, there was no country
which suddenly decided to quit the European Union. This is perhaps because of the difficult exit of
Great Britain or the economical help that offers the European Union to some countries.
Furthermore, there are many consequences to the Brexit. For example, many international banks
like HSBC are moving from the City of London to Paris. In fact, French politics are today beneficial to
the installation of banks especially because of the suppression of the wealth tax. It is also important
to consider the fall of the pound which now worth only a bit more than the euro.
To conclude with, the agreement of Theresa May is hard to accept for the ones who wanted to stay in the European Union. And moreover, this same agreement is too soft for the Brexiters.

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Small picture of two dogs with sharp ideas

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Small picture of two dogs with sharp ideas

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This picture shows two dogs. One of them carries a sign with a sign written on it: brexits barking mad. The second one wears a coat with the European flag. We have the impression that they are having their own small demonstration, on their own scale... A dog ladder!

I really like this image because I love animals, and more particularly dogs and cats and I find it funny to try to convey important messages with a touch of humour and lightness. It is a touch of humour that allows us to see that the supporters of this cause are quite peaceful and the fact that cute dogs wear these sloggans makes us want to join their camp.

Since I hate people who try to convince with violence and brutality, I really like this attempt to convince with derision.

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Theresa May still has time to 'improve Brexit deal' | ITV News

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Theresa May still has time to 'improve Brexit deal' | ITV News

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Theresa May still has time to 'improve Brexit deal' | ITV News

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Brexit explained: what happens when the UK leaves the EU?

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Brexit explained: what happens when the UK leaves the EU?

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Brexit explained: what happens when the UK leaves the EU?