IRL - European Union. 1/25/10.

URL; https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/ee.html

The European Union today, according to the CIA fact book, has done a lot in Europe, including the abolishment of trade barriers (which is consistent with the idea of European economic cooperation that began in the 1950s and 1960s), has adopted a common currency (the Euro), and is striving toward convergence of living standards. The only limitation to this is that due to differences in average income in various countries as well as the standard of living which varies, it will be difficult to standardize the quality of living and work toward one common European economy.

This is significant to what we have learned in class because it demonstrates that the countries of Europe are cooperating in order to level out their standards of living and make opportunities greater for all European countries who are part of the European Union. This is definitely a continuation of the past attempts to unite Europe economically and move past the divisions due to wars which created rivalries and significant economic gaps from one country to another. Also, statistics demonstrate that this is working, as the unemployment rate of the EU is only 9% compared to the rest of the world which is slightly higher, and that the EU is very technologically advanced compared to most of the world and home to a number of industries (metal, coal, cement, electronics and communication, etc.).

What I find most significant is that the European Union covers a wide range of European regions that were once previously separated culturally and economically, for instance all of Western Europe minus Switzerland, but also Eastern European countries such as Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, etc . are also members, and they were on the other side of the "Iron Curtain", but now seem to be showing interest in cooperating with the rest of Europe, which shows definite progress. There are currently 27 member states of the European Union, which is more than half of all Europe.