History of the European Union: Every Year

The European Union is an entity unlike any other, uniting the various European states more closely since its formation in a mixture of a confederation and federation. After World War 2, a single European entity was created to link the coal and steel resources of France and Germany to each other and to other European states in the hope that with economic partnership would come political partnership, and thus ensure peace in Europe.

Since then, the European Union has expanded in scope, now including citizenship, a passport free area under the Schengen Area, a common market, and a single unified currency of the Euro and the Eurozone. With Croatia becoming a member of the Schengen Area and adopting the Euro, and plans for Bulgaria and Romania to adopt the Euro and Schengen, it seems that the European Union is going through a phase of internal consolidation after the rapid expansion of the 90s and early 2000s.

Title Image:
European Parliament Strasbourg Hemicycle

Music:
Anthem of Europe
(Ode to Joy by Ludwig van Beethoven)

Artwork software:
Paint.NET

Video editing software:
OpenShot

Mystery Video:

[BennygoatHistory]

Croatia just adopted the Euro today, as well as joining the Schengen Area. Pretty big thing for a country to do, here's hoping for a bright future for all Croatians!

Edit: Reuploaded the video since in the original first upload the music would BLAST out when it hit the 1970s at 0:25 so I just toned down how loud it gets at that point

[LaunchKaffee]

It's my greatest pleasure to welcome Croatia into the Schengen and Euro zone! Let's hope Romania and Bulgaria won't be blocked for 2024!

[sagbon]

I actually congratulated my Croatian friend with "Happy new Euro and happy new Schengen!" Lol 🇭🇷🇵🇹🇪🇺

[borkenstein]

i dont know why you felt the need to include the mystery video but thank you anyway

[pirteaalexandru]

Romania🇷🇴and Bulgaria🇧🇬weren’t granted access into the Schengen Area by Austria🇦🇹and the Netherlands🇳🇱.As a Romanian I hope my country and Bulgaria will finally join the free circulation area sometime in the near future.

[Moribus_Artibus]

Lyrics to the EU anthem
Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium, wir betreten feuertrunken, Himmlische, dein Heiligtum! Deine Zauber binden wieder, was die Mode streng geteilt. Alle Menschen werden Brüder, wo dein Sanfter Flügel weilt.

[kkNORWAY]

I Wonder when Norway will become a part of the EU, we are part of EEA, but not complete members of the EU

We do not decide anything, because we only have a trade agreement, therefore we have no representatives in the European Parliament. I am actually against the EU, but since we are part of the EEA, we are still forced to obey the rules, so since it is the way it is, we might as well have a representative in parliament, but optimally Seen, we should never have been involved in the first place. I wish we were a 100% sovereign state

When we are in practice under the EU's regulations, you should also have a representative. That's the ONLY reason I'm on the «YES» side

[outerspace]

Very detailed as always, keep it up man!