The document provides information about the European Union (EU) in several sections. It begins by describing the EU flag and its symbolic meaning. It then discusses the origins and evolution of the EU from an initial economic agreement between six countries to a broader political and economic union spanning multiple policy areas today. One of the EU's main goals is promoting human rights both within Europe and globally. EU law takes precedence over national laws and confers rights and obligations on member state authorities and citizens. The document also briefly outlines EU policies and funding related to culture, languages, budget, and international trade.

1. THE EUROPEAN UNION
Presentation by students of school in Piekoszów
January 2016

2. FLAG OF EU
The European flag symbolises both
the European Union and, more
broadly, the identity and unity of
Europe. It features a circle of 12 gold
stars on a blue background. They
stand for the ideals of unity,
solidarity and harmony among the
peoples of Europe. The number of
stars has nothing to do with the
number of member countries,
though the circle is a symbol of
unity.

3. ABOUT THE EU
The EU is a unique economic and political partnership
between 28 European countries that together cover much of
the continent. The result was the European Economic
Community (EEC), created in 1958, and initially increasing
economic cooperation between six countries: Belgium,
Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. Since
then, a huge single market has been created and continues to
develop towards, What began as a purely economic union has
evolved into an organisation spanning policy areas, from
development aid to environment. A name change from the EEC
to the European Union (EU) in 1993 reflected. This its full
potential.

4. FUNDAMENTS OF EU
• Human rights and equality!
One of the EU’s main goals is to promote human rights both
internally and around the world. Human dignity, freedom,
democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human
rights: these are the core values of the EU. Since the Lisbon
Treaty's entry in force in 2009, the EU's Charter of
Fundamental Rights brings all these rights together in a
single document. The EU's institutions are legally bound to
uphold them, as are EU governments whenever they apply
EU law.

5. APPLICATION OF EU LAW
• EU law - which has equal force with national law - confers
rights and obligations on the authorities in each member
country, as well as individuals and businesses. The
authorities in each member country are responsible for
implementing EU legislation in national law and enforcing it
correctly, and they must guarantee citizens’ rights under
these laws.

6. CULTURE
• The EU works to preserve
Europe's shared cultural
heritage and help make it
accessible to all. It also
supports and promotes the
arts and creative industries in
Europe.
• Support for the arts and
creative industries takes the
form of:
• programmers to help them
get the most out of digital
technologies & the EU
market
• funding
• help with research projects
• support for cooperation with
EU & non-EU partners.
• The following EU policies
have links with culture:
• education (including languag
e learning)
• scientific research
• support for IT &
communications technologies
• social policy

7. WHAT ARE THE EU'S OFFICIAL LANGUAGES?
There are currently 24: Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch,
English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish,
Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian,
Slovak, Slovene, Spanish and Swedish.As an EU citizen, you have the
right to use any of these languages in correspondence with the EU
institutions, which have to reply in the same language. EU regulations
and other legislative texts are published in all official languages except
Irish (only regulations adopted by both the EU Council and the
European Parliament are currently translated into Irish).In the European
Parliament, the people's elected representatives also have the right to
speak in any of the EU's official languages.

8. BUDGET
The annual EU budget is €145 bn (2015 figures) – a large sum in absolute
terms, but only about 1% of the wealth generated by EU economies every
year. The budget is subject to limits established by the multiannual
financial framework. This sets the maximum annual amounts which the EU
can spend in various policy areas over a given period (usually 7 years).The
EU budget is used in areas where it makes sense to pool resources for the
good of Europe as a whole, such as:
• improving transport, energy and communications links between EU
countries
• protecting the environment Europe-wide
• making the European economy more competitive globally
• helping European scientists and researchers join forces across borders.

9. TRADE FACTS
The EU is the world’s biggest trader, accounting for 16.5% of
the world's imports and exports. Free trade among its
members was one of the EU's founding principles, and it is
committed to liberalising world trade as well. EU trade policy
is made exclusively at EU level. The Commission negotiates
agreements on behalf of the EU within WTO rules and works
closely with national governments and the European
Parliament to maintain the global system and enable it to
adapt to worldwide changes. The EU is the world's biggest
exporter of manufactured goods and services, and it is the
biggest import market for over 100 countries.

10. THANKS FOR
WATCHING
Eryk Staniec
Bartłomiej Paździerz