Judicial branch:
Court of Justice of the European Communities (ensures that the
treaties are interpreted and applied correctly) - 25 justices (one
from each member state) appointed for a six-year term; note - for
the sake of efficiency, the court can sit with 11 justices known as
the "Grand Chamber"; Court of First Instance - 25 justices appointed
for a six-year term
Political parties and leaders:
Group of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe or ALDE
[Graham R. WATSON]; Independence/Democracy Group or IND/DEM
[Jens-Peter BONDE and Nigel FARAGE]; Group of Greens/European Free
Alliance or Greens/EFA [Monica FRASSONI and Daniel Marc
COHN-BENDIT]; Socialist Group in the European Parliament or PES
[Martin SCHULZ]; Confederal Group of the European United Left-Nordic
Green Left or EUL/NGL [Francis WURTZ]; European People's
Party-European Democrats or EPP-ED [Hans-Gert POETTERING]; Union for
Europe of the Nations Group or UEN [Brian CROWLEY and Cristiana
MUSCARDINI]
International organization participation:
European Union: ASEAN (dialogue member), ARF (dialogue member),
EBRD, IDA, OAS (observer), OECD, WTO
European Commission: Australian Group, CBSS, CERN, FAO, G-10, NSG
(observer), UN (observer)
European Central Bank: BIS
European Investment Bank: WADB (nonregional member)
Diplomatic representation in the US: chief of mission: Ambassador John BRUTON chancery: 2300 M Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20037 telephone: [1] (202) 862-9500 FAX: [1] (202) 429-1766
Diplomatic representation from the US: chief of mission: Ambassador Rockwell SCHNABEL embassy: 13 Zinnerstraat/Rue Zinner, B-1000 Brussels mailing address: same as above telephone: [32] (2) 508-2222 FAX: [32] (2) 512-5720
Flag description:
on a blue field, 12 five-pointed gold stars arranged in a circle,
representing the union of the peoples of Europe; the number of stars
is fixed
Economy European Union
Economy - overview:
Domestically, the European Union attempts to lower trade barriers,
adopt a common currency, and move toward convergence of living
standards. Internationally, the EU aims to bolster Europe's trade
position and its political and economic power. Because of the great
differences in per capita income (from $10,000 to $28,000) and
historic national animosities, the European Community faces
difficulties in devising and enforcing common policies. For example,
both Germany and France since 2003 have flouted the member states'
treaty obligation to prevent their national budgets from running
more than a 3% deficit. In 2004, the EU admitted 10 central and
eastern European countries that are, in general, less advanced
technologically and economically than the existing 15. Twelve EU
member states introduced the euro as their common currency on 1
January 1999. The UK, Sweden, and Denmark do not now participate;
the 10 new member states may choose to adopt the euro when they meet
the EU's fiscal and monetary criteria and the member states so agree.
GDP (purchasing power parity):
$11.65 trillion (2004 est.)
GDP - real growth rate:
2.4% (2004 est.)