20160117 【The European Union(1)】

The EC became part of the European Union, or EU, when the Treaty on European Union was signed in Maastricht in the Netherlands in 1992.

The treaty permitted citizens of EU countries to travel between countries in the union freely and created a common foreign and security policy.

It also set up rules and a timeline single currency that would be used throughout Europe.

Europe's new single currency , the euro,was adopted in 1999.

Denmark, Sweden and the United Kingdom chose not to join the monetary union.

At first , Greece did not meet the financial requirements for joining the euro system, but it fulfilled them and adopted the euro two years later.

But trouble was on the horizon.

Although the EU imposed rules limiting government debt, the member states
did not consistently follow those rules.

This led to a union-wide financial crisis in 2009, and its results continue to affect the EU.

As the EU looks forward, it will need to find a way to face the new challenges of the 21s century.