The European Union is the result of a cooperation and integration process started in 1951 by six European countries – Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. After five accession stages (1973 – Denmark, Ireland and Great Britain, 1981 – Greece, 1986 – Spain and Portugal, 1995 – Austria, Finland and Sweden, 2004 – Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Slovenia and Hungary), the European Union has now 25 Member Countries and prepares for the sixth enlargement concerning the inclusion of new members in the stable and prosperous European zone.
The European Union’s mission is to establish relationships between member countries and its peoples, in a coherent manner, supporting the solidarity and the identity assertion of the Union on the international stage (through humanitarian help for non-member countries, the promotion of external policy and joint security, the involvement in the settlement of international crisis, co-operative attitudes in international organizations). Subsequently, in the Community territory, the European citizenship was set up – this doesn’t replace the national citizenship, but completes it, instating a number of civil and political rights to European citizens.
A major European Union goal represents the promotion of economic and social progress (the set up of the sole market in 1993 and sole currency in 1999) adding the development of a zone of freedom, security and justice (bound by the functioning of the internal market and especially by the free circulation of persons).
Through signing the European Agreement in 1993, Romania became a partner country of the European Community, bounding a way which will be inaugurated on the 1st of January, 2007. A historical step in the enlargement of the European Union will be made on April 25, in Luxembourg, through the signing up by Romania of the Accession Treaty.
The European Parliament members appreciate that the Romanian accession to the European Union will bring, through its cultural and political dimension, an authentic value added to European structure. Also, the Romanian accession is welcome from the point of view the stabilization of the Balkan region and the strengthening of the European Union neighbourhood policy.
Wishing to emphasize this historic event, Romfilatelia, the company specialized in issuing and trading Romanian postage stamps, releases a philatelic issue compound of two postage stamps with the same face value.
