1995: THE EURO-MEDITERRANEAN PARTNERSHIP

Source: 30giorni.it

                  

The Euro-Mediterranean Partnership was created in 1995 with the objective of promoting the stability and the growth in the Mediterranean region.

This project could benefit the economy of Spain, which couldn't meet the levels set by the European Parliament that year.

In November 1995, the 1st Euro-Mediterranean Ministerial Conference was held. More than 20 countries met in Barcelona to speak about the future of the trade in the Mediterranean sea.

The foreign ministers of the fifteen member states of the European Union and twelve states from the south and east of the Mediterranean sea established the foundations for a common space for free trade in the Mediterranean. 

Source: prlog.org

    

The three main objectives of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership were:

(1) The definition of a common area of peace and stability, by reinforcing political and security dialogue among the Mediterranean countries.

(2) Promote a shared prosperity of the Mediterranean countries through an economic and financial partnership and the gradual establishment of a free-trade area.

(3) Encouraging understanding between Mediterranean cultures and exchanges between civil societies.

They believed that their dream could be real in 2010.

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Source:

http://www.barcelona.com/barcelona_news/the_barcelona_process_or_euro_mediterranean_partnership

1994: ELECTIONS TO THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT

Every five years EU citizens choose who represents them in the European Parliament.

Every country is assigned a number of seats depending on the size of its population.

The 1994 European election was the fourth election to the European Parliament and the third European election in Spain. They were held on June, 12. 

Source: El País

Participation in Spain increased up to 59.14%, five points higher than the previous elections in 1989. 

Source: Wikipedia

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Source: http://www.europarl.europa.eu/atyourservice/en/20150201PVL00036/Elections

1993: CITIZENS OF THE EU

European Union Citizenship is defined by the Treaty of Maastricht as follows: “Every person holding the nationality of a Member State of the European Union is, as a result, a citizen of the Union.  Citizenship of the Union supplements national citizenship without replacing it.” 

In 1993, Citizenship of the European Union became real. European Union citizenship gives us, among other rights, the right to vote in European and municipal elections, the right to free movement, residence and employment across the EU, and the right to consular protection by other EU states' embassies.

Source: access-info.org/

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Sources:

- http://ec.europa.eu/justice/citizen/index_en.htm
- http://www.20minutos.es/noticia/1839891/0/ano/europeo/ciudadanos/

1992: LIFE, A EU PROGRAMME TO PROTECT THE NATURE

Source: ec.europa.eu

In 1992 LIFE "came to life".

What is LIFE?

According to their site, LIFE is a EU programme dedicated to the environment. Its general objective is contributing to sustainable development and to the achievement of the objectives of the European Strategy. 

And what does LIFE do?

The main things that this program does is supporting financial development and interventions destined to the preservation of Nature and sustainable development of urban and rural environments.

Since 1992 the EU has financed more than 4000 LIFE projects, 699 projects of which have been financed in Spain. Of these, 434 focus on environmental innovation, 256 on nature conservation and nine on information and communication. These projects represent a total investment of €1.1 billion, of which €530 million have been contributed by the European Union.

© WWF / WWF-Spain / Jesus Cobo

Many LIFE projects in Spain are related to the preservation of endangered species. For example, you can look at the project to protect the Iberian lynx here. 

You can find more information about LIFE on the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Environment's page: 

http://www.magrama.gob.es/es/ministerio/servicios/ayudas-subvenciones/programa-life/default.aspx

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Sources: 
- http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/
- http://ec.europa.eu/environment/life/countries/spain.html

1991: TOWARDS A EUROPE WITHOUT FRONTIERS

Source: El País

In 1991, Spain signed an agreement with some EC countries (France, Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxembourg and Italy to simplify the transit between borders. 

Security measures were adopted following the Schengen agreement:

1) The Schengen Information System (SIS) was created: an international computerized database to store and share information on criminals and persons of interest.

2)  Police could follow suspected criminals across borders for a certain distance, after which point domestic police would continue the search.

In 1995 the Schengen area was established and controls at the borders eliminated for EU nationals. Not all of the EU member states are in the Schengen area (for example Ireland and the United Kingdom are not in this area, so you need to go through an ID control at the borders).

Source: europa.eu

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Sources:

-http://www.interior.gob.es/web/servicios-al-ciudadano/normativa/acuerdos-y-convenios/aplicacion-provisional-del-protocolo-de-adhesion-

-https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Area#Membership

-http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/schengen-and-free-movement-people-across-europe

1990: THE ESAW PROJECT

Health and safety at work, especially preventing accidents at work in the EU, are one of the most important areas of action of the European Union. 

The European Statistics on Accidents at Work (ESAW) project was launched in 1990, to collect data on accidents at work in all of the European Community countries. The analysis of ESAW data is useful for writing new regulations and laws to protect the health and safety of workers.  

The active population at that time in Spain was over fifteen million and the occupied population was over twelve million people, the unemployment rate was 19.4%, affecting especially women and young people.  

The total working days lost as a result of accidents at work were 16.5 million days in Spain in 1989: 43% were from industry, 29% from services, 19% from construction and 8% from the farming sector.

Following the European Community indications, Spain made a distinction between accidents with work absence and without work absence in 1990. 

Maybe you think this is not an important piece of news, but these type of projects help a lot to construct a better Europe. For example the use of helmets at construction sites was regulated in Spain in 1992, following the EU indications.

Source: Del Pino, S.L.

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Sources:

-http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/3859598/5926181/KS-RA-12-102-EN.PDF/56cd35ba-1e8a-4af3-9f9a-b3c47611ff1c

-http://www.seguridadypromociondelasalud.com/n116/articulo1En.html

1989: ONE GERMANY IN EUROPE

In November 1989, the Berlin wall that separated East from West Germany was opened and destroyed. 

The decision to open the wall was a reflection of the great political changes taking place in East Germany, where the people were demanding free elections and movement toward a free market system.

When the Berlin Wall opened, demands for reunification of East and West Germany grew louder.

The European Community met in Strasbourg in December. West Germany said that German unity would only be possible in the context of a more unified Europe generally. He said German and European unification were just two sides of the same coin. From the beginning Spain supported the idea of a unified Germany in Europe. France and Britain fought the idea, but in the end the European Community gave support to a unified Germany in Europe. 

This is a very important moment because the European Community understood that they needed to adapt the European project to include Eastern European countries in the future.

Source: Bildarchiv, B 145 Bild-00003260 
REGIERUNGonline/Reineke

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Sources:

-http://europa.eu/about-eu/eu-history/1980-1989/1989/index_en.htm
-http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/east-germany-opens-the-berlin-wall
-http://www.dw.com/en/november-9-1989-the-day-that-changed-european-history/a-4867139
-http://germanhistorydocs.ghi-dc.org/sub_image.cfm?image_id=3403

1988: NO MORE DECEPTIVE ADVERTISEMENTS

In November 1988, Spain published a law to regulate advertisements. This law was based on the European Community regulations on advertising.

This law set some rules for advertisement of alcoholic beverages, medicines, health products, housing, and motor vehicles and pointed out what was not legal:

(1) deceptive advertisement;
(2) unfair advertisement; 
(3) subliminal advertisement; 
(4) advertisement that violates rules explicitly designed for the advertisement of certain products or services; 
(5) advertisement that attacks the dignity of a persons. 


Since then, Spanish advertisement rules are in harmony with EU rules on unlawful advertisement.

Thanks to this law, many companies have been reported for deceptive advertisement and consumers' rights are now protected.

For example, the distributor of this film in Spain was reported because the people on the motorbike were not wearing helmets, and they had to pay a fine.

Source: idearium30.com

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Sources: 

-http://www.ibls.com
-http://www.idearium30.com/la-publicidad-ilegal-i25

1987: THE FIRST ERASMUS SCHOLARSHIPS

In 1987 the Erasmus (European Region Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students) scholarships were created. Spain was one of the first 12 countries to participate in the programme.

Source: European Union for Illustration

The Erasmus scholarships started as a cooperation among different universities of the European Union. 

Source: http://europa.eu/

Nowadays, there are more than 2100 academic institutions participating in the Erasmus programme, and since 1987, more than 40,000 students have participated in this programme.

Source: variacionxxi.com

Spain is the country that sends more students abroad, and it is the favourite place to go to among the Erasmus students.

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Sources:

-http://ec.europa.eu/spain/actualidad-y-prensa/noticias/educacion-formacion-y-juventud/erasmus-veinticinco-anhos_es.htm

-http://variacionxxi.com/2015/04/27/espana-destino-erasmus/

1986: SPAIN IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

Source: El País

On January 1, 1986 Spain and Portugal joined the European Union, at the time known as the EEC, thanks to the signature of the Accession Treaty. Before joining the EU, Spain suffered from outdated industrial and agricultural sectors compared with the Member States of the European Economic Community (EEC).

The Accession Treaty was signed on the 12th of July of 1985. But it wasn't effective until the 1st of January. Since then we have seen many important and positive changes in the welfare of the Spanish society.

Source: exteriores.gob

This year we are celebrating the 30th anniversary of Spain in the EU.

Source: es.dreamstime.com

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