10 Little Known Facts About the EU
Here at Brussels Brief we try to cut through the noise and deliver clear and factual information. The Treaty of Rome just had its 60th birthday, here’s a list of 10 things you probably didn’t know about the EU.
1. Awkward Housewarming /Crémaillère
The rear part of the new European Council Building — Europa — has, in previous times, served as a government ministry and the Nazi headquarters during the German occupation of Belgium in World War II.
2. Tower of Babel
Currently, the EU has 24 official languages. Yes, not exactly one for every member state because some of the languages duplicate (e.g.: Cyprus and Greece). What’s more? Every EU citizen has the right to access all EU documents in any of these languages. Citizens also have the possibility of posing a question to the European Commission, and receiving a response, in their own language…viva Google Translate!
3. Making It Rain (or Drizzle)
The EU’s Budget is approximately 1% of the total wealth produced by EU economies yearly. Compare that to the 20% in the US or 57% in France, the EU might seem a little less monstrous. More than 94% of the EU budget is spent in Member States on infrastructure, research and other projects, leaving the remaining 6% is spent to run the EU. For more information on the EU budget, give this a go.
4. Squad Goals
As of January of 2017, there are approximately 32,000 people working for the Commission. That’s a lot. But in comparison Austria holds almost 350,000 public employees. So is the EU big or small? We’ll let you be the judge. Here is more information on EU employees to help you make that judgement with knowledge!
5. Plebiscitis
For the 2014 European Parliament elections, the average voter turnout of all participating member states was 42.61%. Belgian had the highest participation rate with a total of 89.64%. The lowest was left to the Slovakians, with a mere 13.05% of voter turnout. See how your country scored here.
6. Crowdsourcing
Between 2012 and 2015, the country with most Bluebook trainees (and applications) has been Italy with 657, although the success rate is a mere 2.3%. Luxembourg, who holds the fewest amount of trainees at 21, has an acceptance rate of 17.1%. 84% of accepted trainees had a Master’s degree so get crackin’ on your thesis before you apply!
7. Equality
Every country is proportionally represented in the European Parliament with a minimum of 6 seats and a maximum of 96 for a total of 751 members. This means that an MEP “costs” 69,000 votes in Malta and closer to 800,000 in Germany. That’s a big win for the smaller countries!
8. First Aid
The EU countries combined are the world’s largest donor for foreign aid giving more than €50bn a year or twice as much as the US. Meanwhile, the EU alone gave more than €15bn in aid just last year.
9. Star Spangled Banner…
The 12 stars on the EU flag symbolise unity, solidarity and harmony. The EU flag originates from the Council of Europe, which later allowed the EU to adopt it. Confusingly this organisation has nothing to do with the EU and has members from 47 countries including Russia, Turkey, Norway and tiny Andorra.
10. In Varititae Monetas
Each Euro country can issue two commemorative €2 coins pr. year with special designs and symbols, such as the Celtic harp in Ireland or Zeus (in the shape of a bull) kidnapping Europa in Greece (no further comments from us).
