AEGEE-European Students‘ Forum Lesson material YOUrope needs YOU! Project Team 25 th September 2008 Index Module I “Europe: Never again war!” 1.1 The creation of the European Union ......................................................................................................... 4 1.2 Robert Schuman and Jean Monet ............................................................................................................. 4 1.3 Forming of the European Coal and Steel Community ............................................................................... 4 1.4 End of European Coal and Steel Community ............................................................................................ 4 1.5 The treaty of Rome .................................................................................................................................... 5 1.6 The European Union .................................................................................................................................. 5 1.7 The treaty of Maastricht............................................................................................................................ 5 1.8 The Euro .................................................................................................................................................... 6 1.9 The extension of the European Union ...................................................................................................... 6 Module II “What benefits do you have from Europe?” 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 8 2.2 Living in Europe ......................................................................................................................................... 8 2.3 Studying in Europe .................................................................................................................................... 8 2.4 Working in Europe ..................................................................................................................................... 9 2.5 Traveling in Europe .................................................................................................................................. 10 Module III “Decision taking in Europe: Not that easy!” 3.1 Institutions of the European Union ......................................................................................................... 12 3.2 The Council of the European Union: Voice of the member states! ........................................................ 13 3.3 The European Council: Top-class meetings! ........................................................................................... 14 3.4 The European Commission: Very independent! ..................................................................................... 14 3.5 The European Parliament: The voice of the people!............................................................................... 15 3.6 The Court of Justice: The Court of Europe! ............................................................................................. 15 3.7 Council of Europe .................................................................................................................................... 16 Module IV "Do you feel European?" 4.1 What does European mean? ................................................................................................................... 22 4.2 The five European core values ................................................................................................................ 22 4.3 The European constitution ...................................................................................................................... 22 4.4 European, only member of your country or both? ................................................................................. 23 2 YOUrope needs YOU! Lesson material 2008| AEGEE-Europe Module V “Active Citizenship” 5.1 What is "Active Citizenship"? .................................................................................................................. 24 5.2 Being active on local level ....................................................................................................................... 24 5.3 Being active on national level.................................................................................................................. 25 5.4 Being active on international level .......................................................................................................... 25 5.5 Youth in Action ........................................................................................................................................ 26 5.6 Tittle-tattles ............................................................................................................................................. 26 5.7 Interesting links ....................................................................................................................................... 27 5.8 Possibilities to go abroad ........................................................................................................................ 27 Modul VI "Practical knowledge" 6.1 Workshop ........................................................................................................................................ 29 6.2 Interactive games ............................................................................................................................. 32 6.3 Icebreaker, teambuilding ................................................................................................................ 34 3 YOUrope needs YOU! Lesson material 2008| AEGEE-Europe Module I “Europe: Never again war!” 1.1 The creation of the European Union The past centuries there have been many wars in Europe as you probably know. Especially the First and Second World War left many scars in Europe. After these wars the governments asked themselves what they could do to prevent a Third World War from taking place. Coal and Steel were in the years after the First and Second World War the most important trade goods between Western European countries, because these are the base materials for making weapons. The two countries with the biggest amount of coal and steel during the Second World War were France and the Federal Republic of Germany. They both wanted to have the most and best weapons and therefore bought all the coal and steel from other countries, which cost them a lot of money. Also they caused a lot of fear in other countries. 1.2 Robert Schuman and Jean Monet Robert Schuman, Frenchman and forefather of the European Union, decided together with the Frenchman Jean Monet that they should do something to prevent a Third World War and create peace and stability in Europe. They said that Europe needed to defend itself against the growing Soviet Union, which kept occupying more and more territory in Eastern-Europe. The best way to do this, is to stop fighting ab out coal and steel and start working together. This would prevent fights and a bigger chance on peace in Europe. 1.3 Forming of the European Coal and Steel Community To make this happen, in 1952 they founded the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). Apart from France and Germany, also The Netherlands, B elgium, Luxembourg and Italy signed the treaty. Here you see the symbol they used. The six stars represent the six member states. 1.4 End of European Coal and Steel Community The European Coal and Steel Community doesn’t exist anymore. The treaty that was signed in 1952, came to an end in 2002. The prime-ministers of the member states didn’t think it would be good to continue the treaty. Mostly coal and also steel are in the current economy not as important anymore. The cooperation between the European countries has also grown a lot the past 20 years, which means that Europe is more than a cooperation on the elements of coal and steel. 4 YOUrope needs YOU! Lesson material 2008| AEGEE-Europe 1.5 The treaty of Rome After the success of the European Coal and Steel Community, the six countries thought that it would be good to also start working together on economical and political subjects. That’s why they signed two new treaties in 1957 in Rome: • The founding treaty of the European Economical Community (EEC) • The founding treaty of the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) Last year (2007) it was exactly 50 years ago that these treaties were signed in Rome. This was celebrated throughout Europe at 25 March 2007. Since 1985 we also celebrate “The day of Europe” every 9th of May. They chose this date because on May 9 th 1950, a big step was taken towards unifying Europe by the French. The purposes of EURATOM were to create a specialist market for atomic energy and distribute it through the community and to develop nuclear energy. The EEC was the most important out of the two new signed treaties. Within the EEC, they created a new open market, so that the countries could work together even better. The EEC- treaty contained agreements about transport, economical and agricultural matters. For example the common agricultural policy had as a goal, to lower the chance of starvation in Europe. Later on they also developed an open capital and labour market. 1.6 The European Union In 1965 the ECSC, EEC and EURATOM changed their name into European Community. The three organizations