1. European Union The European Flag was originally known as the flag of Council of Europe which later became the European Union Flag. The number of flags has nothing to do with the number of members. There are twelve stars because the number twelve is the symbol of perfection, completeness and unity. The flag therefore remains unchanged. It has been used since 1986.

2. The Countries 27 Countries Participating and more arriving… Just Arrived.. The E.U describes itself as “a family of democratic European Countries”. To Arrive..

3. The Beginning The European Union was set up by France, Italy, Germany and the Benelux countries with an aim to keep peace between countries after world war 2. The determination to rebuild Europe and to illuminate the possibility of another World War. Originally Known as the European Economic Community. Countries Membership 25 March 1957 Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands Denmark, Ireland, United Kingdom Greece Portugal, Spain Austria, Finland, Sweden Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia Bulgaria, Romania 1 January 1973 1 January 1981 Date 1 January 1986 1 January 1995 1 May 2004 1 January 2007

4. Dealing with the Language Barriers With 23 official languages and three official alphabets (Latin, Greek and Cyrillic). The European Union only work with three internal languages: French, English, German. There are problems within the E.U of the translation between languages, up to 4000 interpreters at an annual cost of 1 billion euro. It can take up to a week to translate documents which can cause loss of important information or even introduce errors into translation. It has been said that UK commissioner Neil Kinnock has put forward to make English the official working language to eliminate costs.

7. Italy Known as the ‘boot’ because of it’s shape. The population in 1992 was estimated at around 57 million. 84% of the population are Roman Catholic. Currency is the Euro. Language spoken is Italian

8. Food Everyone loves Italian food, because it is cooked most carefully,tastefully and delightfully. There's pizza and all kinds of pasta. Pizza originated from the USA but Italians make it very tasty. Pasta is the Latin word for ‘paste’, the flour and egg based dough from which it is made. Pasta is widely used throughout the Mediterranean but Italy are its specialists. Spaghetti Bolognese originated from an Italian city of Bologna.

11. Greece Population in 1991 was roughly 10,260,000 98% of the population’s religion is Greek Orthodox. Language spoken is Greek Currency is the Euro Bordered by Bulgaria, Albania and Turkey.

12. Food Greek food is a wonderful mix of oriental and European dishes, cooked using different methods, from frying to broiling to boiling. Food in Greece is both easy to make and delightful. Greek food, uses much tomato paste in a liquid form. Greek Food specializes in poultry,meat and fresh vegetables. Finally, they add the olive oil, wine or seasoning. Olives are loved throughout Greece, they are eaten with everything, as an appetizer, a starter, or with a salad to being flavoured with chicken. Meat is often cooked with baked vegetables or nuts such as aubergine or almond. Kebabs and Meatballs are specialised in Greece and are very popular.

14. The End You should know, Switzerland is not in the EU. Thank you,