As you are no doubt aware this debate in the U.K. lacks even the most basic facts, so here are some hard core facts. One of the most successful debating techniques I find, although hard to achieve, is superior factual knowledge, so read on to whoop some euro sceptic ass !
BACKGROUND
The European Union (EU)(in French UNION EUROP�ENNE, in German EUROP�ISCHE UNION, in Italian UNIONE EUROPEA), is an economic and political organisation of most of the states of western Europe. The European Union consists of the European Community (formerly the European Economic Community) and a framework for unified action by member countries in security and foreign policy and for co-operation in police and justice matters.
HISTORY
The European Economic Community (EEC) was founded over the years 1957-58 to oversee the economic integration of the nations of western Europe. In 1967 the EEC joined together with the European Coal and Steel Community (founded in 1951) and the European Atomic Energy Community to form the European Communities, or EC (the plural was dropped from the name in the 1980s).
The success of the liberalised trade policies sponsored by the EEC (or EC) in the 1960s, '70s, and '80s made its members more receptive to the greater integration of the EC. Subsequent efforts toward greater economic and political union of the EC's members eventually yielded the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty), concluded in December 1991. The treaty's enactment (Nov. 1, 1993) created the European Union out of the European Community; in addition, the European Economic Community was renamed the European Community, and the EC's Council of Ministers was renamed the Council of Ministers of the European Union.
MEMBERS
The original members of the EEC were Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, and The Netherlands. Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom joined in 1973, Greece in 1981, and Portugal and Spain in 1986; the former East Germany was admitted as part of reunified Germany in 1990. Greenland, a dependent state of Denmark that had entered the EC when under full Danish rule, withdrew in 1985. The Maastricht Treaty paved the way for other European countries to join the EU. Austria, Finland, and Sweden - all members of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) - became members of the EU in 1995.
BODIES
The Commission of the European Communities (also commonly called the European Commission) - consisting of 10 members, a president, and 6 vice presidents selected by the member states - is charged principally with formal and practical implementation of the various treaties of the Union and the various rules issued by the Council of Ministers. It also helps prepare acts submitted to the European Parliament and the Council of Ministers. The Commission, as an executive, is in effect both initiator and implementer.
The Council of Ministers, whose membership is made up of one representative from each of the member states governments, has the real power of decision in the Union. It determines how the intents of the treaties are to be carried out and how the separate economic policies of the member nations are to be co-ordinated toward that end.
The European Council, which is composed of the heads of state or government of the member nations, has met regularly since 1974 - ordinarily three times a year - for the purpose of policy making on the highest level.
The European Parliament is the legislative branch of the EU, and the European Court of Justice is the judicial branch of the EU.
The Court of Auditors, created in 1977 and consisting of one member from each of the member nations, is responsible for the external audit of the expenditures and revenue of the Union.
The European Investment Bank, created in 1958, is an independent public institution acting as the European Union's bank for long-term finance. It makes or guarantees loans for investment projects, mainly in industry, power resources, and infrastructure.
The Economic and Social Committee, a consultative body established in 1958, has three groups of representatives - from employers' organisations, trade unions, and "special interests" (e.g., professions, consumers, agriculturists, small businesses). It is intended to advise the Commission and the Council of Ministers on the effect of the EU's policies and practices in the general economy and society.
EURO
One of the main goals of the EC is the integration of its members' economies into a single frontierless market that has a common currency and a common central bank. The measures the EC took in this regard were obtained by the unanimous consensus of its members. The EC oversaw the establishment of the European Monetary System (EMS) in 1978 to regulate currency exchange rates and aid monetary stability among its members. The EMS, which took effect in 1979, linked the currencies of the EC member countries (excepting those of the United Kingdom, Spain, and Portugal, who declined to participate) so as to avoid large day-to-day fluctuations in currency rates while permitting periodic realignments. In the interest of encouraging the mobility of labour, restrictions on the movement of labour among the EC countries also were effectively removed.
In 1987 the EC member states adopted the Single European Act, by which they declared their eventual intention to create a unified, free-trade market in western Europe. Measures implementing this declaration began in 1990 with the lifting of exchange controls and the elimination of barriers to Europe-wide banking, insurance, securities, and other financial services. The economic agreements of the Maastricht Treaty further advanced this process by establishing the European Monetary Institute (effective from January 1st 1994) at Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and by creating a vast free-trade zone - the European Economic Area (EEA) - between the members of the EC and EFTA. The EEA also was implemented on January 1st 1994, with the participation of all EC and EFTA members except Switzerland and Liechtenstein.
The first final step took place from April to May 1998 when final checks were done on the willing economies. The European Central Bank (ECB) was created to decide monetary policy.
On the 1st January 1999 the Euro became a legal currency for digital and cheque transactions and accounts in Germany, Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Austria and Finland - otherwise known as Euroland. Also on that day the currencies to incur transition were freezed and set at the rate of the �cu. The The U.K. and Denmark were noticeable exceptions.
During the transition period, which Euroland is now in, all products on sale will be required to display both the price in Euros and the currency of the nation state in order to help the populations become familiar with the currency.
In September 2000 the people of Denmark voted in a referendum to stay out of Euroland.
The date for the full circulation of the Euro in Euroland is the 1st of January 2002. On this date all government and private monetary accounts will be fully listed in Euros (although very few have yet to make the transition, and most banks in Euroland deal in Euros, coverting to the currency of the nation state only at the end product). I understand at present there will be a six month period during which the currencies of nation states will be in circulation alongside that of the Euro (Source : Cityoens d'Europe Aujourd'hui l'Euro). There will then follow a period of ten years during which the old currencies can be exchanged at any bank within the Euro Zone for Euros (although I am led to believe that there may be some small national differences in this figure).
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