Читать книгу European Integration - Mark Gilbert - Страница 15

February 9, 2010: The European Parliament approves the Barroso II Commission.

May 7, 2010: Together with the IMF, EU leaders approve emergency funding, worth up to €750 billion, to bail out members of the Eurozone unable to finance their national debt.

June 17, 2010: The European Council decides to open accession negotiations with Iceland. European Council adopts Europe 2020 strategy for “smart, sustainable and inclusive growth.”

November 28, 2010: The EU agrees to support the Irish economy to help safeguard the stability of the euro.

January 1, 2011: Estonia adopts the euro, the seventeenth state to do so.

March 25, 2011: “Euro Plus” pact adopted by European Council.

August 16, 2011: Chancellor Angela Merkel (Germany) and President Nicolas Sarkozy (France) call for additional biannual meetings of the European Council to provide “true economic government” for the EU.

January 3, 2012: All the EU states except for the Czech Republic and Great Britain vote for a new treaty regulating the stability and governance of the economic and monetary union. The treaty is signed at the beginning of March.

July 1, 2013: Croatia joins the EU.

January 1, 2014: Latvia joins the euro.

May 22–25, 2014: European Parliament elections. In Great Britain, the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) takes 27.6 percent of the vote, increasing pressure on Prime Minister David Cameron to negotiate a special deal for Britain.

August 30, 2014: Donald Tusk of Poland replaces Herman Van Rompuy as president of the European Council. Federica Mogherini of Italy replaces Catherine Ashton as High Representative.

October 22, 2014: Jean-Claude Juncker (Luxembourg) becomes president of the Commission.

February 19, 2016: The European Council negotiates a special deal with Great Britain that exempts Britain from involvement in political union and allows Britain to restrict the welfare benefits it pays to immigrants from other EU countries.

June 23, 2016: Britain votes to leave the EU by 52 percent to 48 percent; 17.4 million British citizens vote to leave. Prime Minister David Cameron resigns the following day.

March 1, 2017: The Commission publishes the White Paper on the Future of Europe.

March 29, 2017: Prime Minister Theresa May formally notifies the European Council of Britain’s decision to leave the EU under article 50 of the Treaty of Lisbon. Britain has until March 29, 2019, to negotiate and ratify a treaty withdrawing from the EU.

December 20, 2017: The EU sanctions Poland for its reforms to the judiciary, which are widely interpreted as being a deliberate attempt to reduce the independence of the legal system from political control.

July 17, 2018: The EU and Japan conclude the largest free trade deal in the EU’s history.

November 14, 2018: Publication of the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) between the United Kingdom and the EU. It is subsequently approved by the European Council and provokes a challenge to May’s leadership of the Conservative Party.

January 15, 2019: WA rejected by the House of Commons by 432 votes to 202. It is the largest defeat by a British government in parliamentary history. The WA is subsequently rejected on March 12 by the fourth largest margin in parliamentary history.

March 21, 2019: The European Council approves a British request for an extension to the article 50 procedures. Britain is given until May 22, 2019, provided that the House of Commons approves the Withdrawal Agreement. Otherwise, Britain must leave on April 12. On March 29, 2019, the WA is again rejected by the House of Commons.

April 10, 2019: Following a further British request for an extension, the European Council sets a new date of October 31, 2019, for “Brexit.”

May 23–26, 2019: European Parliament elections are won by the European People’s Party. Right-wing populist and nationalist parties make gains, but so do pro-EU Greens and Liberals. In Britain, the Conservative Party is defeated by the newly formed “Brexit Party.”

July 2, 2019: The European Council chooses Charles Michel of Belgium to replace Donald Tusk as its president beginning on December 1, 2019.

July 16, 2019: Ursula von der Leyen (Germany) is narrowly nominated as president of the Commission by the European Parliament. She is the first woman to hold the office.

October 17, 2019: The European Council approves a revised WA with the British government, which is now headed by Boris Johnson. The October 31 deadline for Britain to leave the EU is subsequently extended to January 31, 2020, and Britain holds a general election on December 12, 2019, in a bid to break the parliamentary deadlock.