Farewell message

Dear students,
I would like to congratulate those who passed the exam and wish you good luck with the rest of your studies. It has been a quite creative semester for me and I hope you have at least learned some things that might prove useful in the future.

Choose the design of the new euro coin!!!

All euro-area countries will issue a commemorative 2-euro coin with a common design at the beginning of 2009 to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the launch of EMU and of the creation of the euro.

The design is chosen by EU citizens and residents by voting on the specific web site set up for this purpose. Voting is open between 31 January and 22 February 2008.

On 1 January 1999 the euro became the currency of the eleven original participating countries and a single monetary policy was introduced under the authority of the European Central Bank (ECB). National banknotes and coins continued to exist as sub-divisions of the euro until they were physically replaced by euro banknotes and coins in 2002. Economic and Monetary Union (EMU) is the political and economic framework that supports the euro and complements the EU's single market. EMU has provided low inflation and interest rates to the benefit of consumers and companies and encouraged sound and sustainable public finances. The single currency has abolished exchange costs and facilitated trade and price comparisons within the 15 countries that currently make up the euro area.

To celebrate the 10-year anniversary of the launch of EMU and of the creation of the euro, all euro-area countries will issue a commemorative 2-euro coin with a common design at the beginning of 2009. On the basis of a design competition between the Mints of the euro area followed by a pre-selection of designs by the Mint Directors, the winning design is chosen exclusively by EU citizens and residents by voting on the specific web site set up for this purpose. The design that receives the highest number of votes will be selected as the winner. One winner will be chosen among those having voted for the winning design. The prize will be a set of high-value euro collector coins.

The winning design will be announced on 25 February 2008.

In order to vote, visit http://www.eurodesigncontest.eu/index.cfm?lang=en (the Greek coin is second on the left side). Good luck to HELLAS!!!!

Exam news!

Dear students,

I would like to apologise for not having sent you emails with your exam grades earlier, but it's been a very busy period lately...
I have already emailed most of you (those who have provided me with an email address), so congratulations to those who passed the exam. As for the students who failed, I will be expecting you next Monday (same time), so take some time to revise your exam notes!

Job opportunities in the EU

Since some of you have asked questions about the working opportunities offered in the EU, take some time to visit the following links, where you can find useful information about EURES (European Employment Services). Thanks to Irene (6th semester) for asking me and providing me with the chance to find this info.

http://ec.europa.eu/eures/main.jsp?lang=en&acro=eures&catId=1&parentId=0&langChanged=true (English version)

http://ec.europa.eu/eures/main.jsp?lang=el&acro=eures&catId=1&parentId=0&langChanged=true (Greek version)

SOS questions (February exam)

Practice lessons

• How did the idea of a united Europe germinate? (1)
• Which are the founding treaties and their issues? (1)
• How many countries have joined the EU since 2004? (1)
• Which countries are candidate members? (1)
• Briefly refer to the four symbols of the EU. (2)
• What do you know about the European Parliament’s elections and its seat? (6)
• Describe in brief the three main working areas of the Parliament. (6)
• What do we mean by the ‘co-decision procedure’? (6)
• Justify the sentence: ‘The European Parliament is the democratic voice of the citizens’.(6)
• Which are the four freedoms of movement? (8)
• What do you know about the free movement of people within the EU? (8)[1]
• What does the EU do in order to prevent organised crime? (8)
• Eurocrat, Eurosceptic, Euroland, four freedoms, Intergovernmental Conference, Schengenland, official languages, subsidiarity principle. (9)

Theory lessons

• Who is considered to be the instigator of the European Single Market? Why? (1)
• In how many political groups are the members of the European Parliament divided? (3)
• What do we mean by the term of ‘co-decision procedure’? (3)
• Explain the motto “think small first”. How is this principle met in the EU? (4)
• Refer to the Europass documents and their value.(6)
• Which funding programmes would attract: (6)
  a higher-education student
  a young worker
  a secondary-education teacher
  an adult
• Briefly refer to the main goals of the Union’s Education and Training 2010 work programme.(6)
• Explain the statement “Mother tongue-plus-two”. (8)
• Which treaties is the Constitutional Treaty going to replace? (9)
• Briefly refer to the structure of the Constitutional Treaty. (9)
• Refer to the procedures needed in order for the Constitutional Treaty to enter into force.(9)
  
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  Special attention should also be paid to all T/F exercises (including their justifications) and theory lesson 3, which deals with the European Institutions. Vocabulary exercises will be similar to the ones included in your notes, but there will be no more than one exercise in each part.

[1] Please have in mind that all EU member states -plus Norway and Iceland- belong to the Schengen area, as well as the newcomers (i.e. the countries that have entered the EU since 2004), except Cyprus, Romania and Bulgaria. The UK and Ireland are still out of the Schengen agreement. This means that you need a valid passport or ID to travel to these countries.