In 1945, Frédéric-Joseph Vandemeulebroek, Mayor of Brussels, welcomes Winston Churchill, former British Prime Minister, in order to confer upon him the freedom of the city of Brussels for his heroic actions during the Second World War.
‘Currying favour with the citizen.' On 15 April 1994, in the Vienna-based daily newspaper Die Presse, the Austrian cartoonist, Ironimus, portrays the efforts being made by the Austrian Chancellor, Franz Vranitzky, to encourage his fellow citizens to vote ‘Yes' in the referendum to be held on 12 June 1994 on Austria's accession to the European Union.
On 29 April 2004, commenting on the enlargement of the European Union to include 10 new Member States and with a view to the European elections and the national referenda on the European Constitution, the German weekly newspaper Die Zeit emphasises the central role to be played by European citizens in the new Europe.
On 13 May 2003, in the run-up to the referendum due to be held on 16 and 17 May on the Slovak Republic’s accession to the European Union, the leaders of the main Slovak political parties take to the streets of Bratislava to demonstrate in favour of the country’s accession to the EU. From left to right: Dušan Caplovic, Member of the National Council of the Slovak Republic, Mikuláš Dzurinda, Prime Minister, Rudolf Schuster, President of the Slovak Republic, Bela Bugar, leader of the Party of the Hungarian Coalition (SMK), Pavol Hrušovský, leader of the Christian Democratic Movement (KDH), Pavol Rusko, leader of the Alliance of the New Citizen (ANO), and Vladimír Meciar, leader of the Movement for a Democratic Slovakia.
It emerges from the judgment of the Court of Justice of 19 October 2004, in Case C-200/02, Zhu and Chen, that Article 18 of the EC Treaty, relating to the right of every citizen of the Union to move and reside freely within the territory of the Member States, and Directive 90/364, on the right of residence, confer on a young minor who is a national of a Member State, is covered by appropriate sickness insurance and is in the care of a parent who is a third-country national having sufficient resources for that minor not to become a burden on the public finances of the host Member State, a right to reside for an indefinite period in that State. In such circumstances, those same provisions allow a parent who is that minor’s primary carer to reside with the child in the host Member State.
In this interview, Jacques F. Poos, Member of the European Parliament from 1999 to 2004, emphasises the fundamental role of Parliament in acting as the voice of the citizen in European politics and emphasises its innovative role in the European integration process.
In this interview, Manuel Marín, Vice-President of the European Commission from 1993 to 1999, discusses European values as the result of a reflexion on a mixed past which resulted in the ‘historic success’ of the creation of an area of peace, progress and stability. He also mentions future European challenges, particularly the development of systems for citizen protection and the consolidation of a cooperation on the European continent that will supersede a history marked by domination.
‘The “Europe” passport — at least it’s something. And what’s it for? Oh — we were rather thinking of smoke and mirrors …’ On 8 January 1976, German cartoonist Hanns Erich Köhler criticises the disappointing results of European Political Cooperation and condemns the lack of action by the Franco-German duo. Meeting in Rome on 3 and 4 December 1975, the European Council agreed to introduce a uniform European passport that could be issued from 1978 onwards. The cartoonist portrays a disappointed European citizen who had hoped for a real revival of European integration and wonders about the point of the European passport plan. On a crumbling pedestal (the European Community) that looks like it might be about to collapse, we see a smiling French President Giscard and Federal Chancellor Schmidt, accompanied by British Prime Minister Wilson. The two crows and the jackal, traditionally bad omens, do not augur well and seem to mark the end of the EC. The European integration process is in crisis.