Every time a new member accedes to the EU, its language becomes an official EU language. The aim of such policy is to help the European Union establish communication with its citizens in their own language, to protect Europe’s rich linguistic diversity, to promote language learning in Europe. The EU institutions are the world’s largest employers of translators and interpreters.

Under the agreement, Belgium, Germany, France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands agreed to gradually abolish common border controls and introduce freedom of movement for citizens of signatory member states, other member states or third countries. Currently, the Schengen Area includes:
22 EU member states: Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden;
Four non-EU states: Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein.
Four more states that are candidates to entering the Schengen Area are: Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia and Romania.
Great Britain and Ireland – EU member – are not part of the Schengen Area.

In April 2004, a few days before the official accession of the Republic of Cyprus to the European Union, a referendum on the unification of Cyprus (the so-called “Annan plan”) was held in both parts of the island. In the Turkish Cypriot area, 64.9 per cent of voters supported the Annan Plan, whereas 24.2% of Greek Cypriots rejected it. As a result, only South Cyprus became a member of the EU in 2004.

Seats are allocated to each state according to the number of population. Nevertheless, small countries are best able to express their positions and share their ideas through this mechanism.

The history of today’s European Union begins on this day 1950 when the French foreign minister Robert Schuman presented a plan for European countries to pool their strategic resources together to make war “not only unthinkable, but materially impossible” even between historic rivals such as France and Germany.

The anthem of the European Union “Ode to Joy” is part of Symphony No.9 composed back in 1823 by the famous German composer Ludwig van Beethoven.

The EU-Georgia Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) allows Georgia to gradually adopt three of the four freedoms of the EU internal market: free movement of goods, services and capital. The fourth freedom – the free movement of people is facilitated by the visa liberalization process.

Its functions are as follows: preventing the resumption of hostilities, promoting the restoration of a safe and normal life for the local population on both sides of the occupation line, building confidence and updating the international community on the security and human rights situation on the ground – including by providing objective and unbiased information on violations of the ceasefire agreement by Russia.

The Single European Act established European Council. The title “European Parliament” was made official. The Single European Act also increased the European Parliament’s legislative powers and the Commission’s implementing powers The Single European Act also created the foundations for the Court of First Instance – now the General Court. The Single European Act introduced several new policy areas such as: internal market; economic and social cohesion; common foreign policy and social policy – health and safety at work.

The work of the Council of the European Union is based on its rotating presidency, which is held by various member states presiding over the meetings and setting the common political agenda.

One of such competitions is the EU Prize for Woman Innovation – aimed at promoting the role of women in innovation. EU Prize is awarded annually to women entrepreneurs.

With the signing of this treaty, the European Communities were transformed into the European Union, and acquired a political aspect along with the economic one.

From 2015 to 2020 as many as 6,509 Georgian students received higher education in EU countries through Erasmus+ program.

The purpose of the platform is to help teachers, school management and other staff connect and collaborate with each other. The platform allows them to share ideas with each other and develop joint learning projects. The programme made it possible for Georgian and European teachers to make friends, communicate and share their experience with each other.

The Schengen provisions abolish checks at the EU’s internal borders, while strengthening control at the external borders. Countries are obliged to adopt an integrated approach to migration, which calls for the a common database and a common police-judicial system.

Its main objective is to ensure price stability and maintain a stable financial system through the control of financial markets and institutions.

The European Court of Auditors is one of the EU institutions checking EU funds. Its main goal is to improve the financial management of the European Union and prepare a report on how EU funds are spent. The European Court of Auditors was established in 1975 and is based in Luxembourg.

The Court of Justice of the European Union interprets EU law to make sure it is applied in the same way in all EU countries, and settles legal disputes between national governments and EU institutions. Private individuals, companies and organizations can apply to the court if they believe that EU institutions have violated their rights. The Court of Justice of the European Union was founded in 1952 and is based in Luxembourg.

The Association Agreement including the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area Agreement (DCFTA) covers almost all areas of the country’s political, social and economic life.