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Answers!
How many countries are there in the EU?
There have been 27 countries in the European Union since January 2007, when Bulgaria and Romania became full Member States.
What colours are on the EU flag?
Officially, the EU flag shows gold stars on a blue background. (Not a lot of difference between gold stars and yellow stars, admittedly.)
Why are there twelve stars on the EU flag?
The right answer is that the number twelve was chosen as a symbol of unity and completeness.
It's a common belief that the twelve stars on the EU flag correspond to the twelve original countries in the EU. But this is a myth. For a start, the EU flag was originally designed to represent the whole of Europe in a geographical sense, not just the Union - and it was adopted by the Council of Europe in 1955, two years before the EU's predecessor ever existed. Besides, the original EEC had six members, not twelve.
There are all kinds of outlandish conspiracy theories, such as the stars representing Christ's apostles or the halo of the Virgin Mary, but these have no basis in fact.
Which two institutions form the EU legislature?
The European Parliament and the Council of the EU together make up what is effectively a two-chamber legislature at European level. Under the co-decision procedure, proposed EU laws are debated and amended by both these bodies and must be approved in equal terms by both before they can become law.
The European Commission is not part of the legislature as it can only make proposals and carry out what has been agreed. The European Court of Justice adjudicates on disputes regarding EU law, and the European Court of Human Rights is nothing at all to do with the EU.
A former British judge said, "
[they] do not take political decisions, but they must sometimes remind politicians of what they have agreed". Which institution was he talking about?
He was talking about the European Court of Justice.
The judge in question was in fact a British president of the court.
Who sits on the Council of the EU?
The Council is made up of ministers from all 25 EU member states. Since the Council is one half of the EU legislature, this means that no law can enter into force without being agreed by member state governments.
The European Commission is the central administrative body for the EU. Roughly how many employees does it have?
Contrary to the tabloid image of a vast, sprawling bureaucracy, the Commission actually has fewer employees than Leeds City Council - and even then, more than half of those are involved in translating and interpreting among the EU's 20 different languages.
True or false? The UK has a permanent opt-out on membership of the euro and will never have to join unless it wants to.
True. This opt-out is preserved in the proposed new constitutional treaty. Furthermore, the UK government has said that it will never sign up to the euro without first getting citizens' permission in a referendum.
The EU's entire budget amounts to what percentage of GDP?
EU countries have agreed that they will not spend more than 1.24% of GDP at EU level, but the current level of spending is actually round about 1%. Of course, 1% of a country's national budget is still a lot of money, but this fact gives the lie to the claim that the EU is somehow a centralised system of government. Compare it to the USA, where the central federal budget is actually about 40%, to see the difference!
In which of the following areas do we make most of our laws at EU level?
The only correct answer on the list is 'the environment'. Most of the UK's environmental legislation is agreed at European level with our neighbours. When you think about it, this makes sense; pollution doesn't respect borders and for countries to try to tackle environmental problems individually would be next to useless.
In most policy areas - including health, social security and taxes - we take all or nearly all of our decisions at national or local level. What little EU action exists in these areas is pretty much limited to supporting actions between different countries and exchanging our experiences of best practice.
What is the EU's smallest member state?
The smallest is Malta, with just under 0.4 million citizens. Luxembourg has nearly 0.5 million, while Cyprus has nearly 0.7 million. (By comparison, the EU's largest member state is Germany, with a whopping 82 million citizens.)
True or false? Between 1979 and 1999, the turnout in European Parliament elections fell by far more than the turnout in UK general elections.
False. Decreasing electoral turnout is a problem at all levels of democracy - it's certainly not unique to the European Parliament. Between 1979 and 1999, turnout in European elections fell by 13 percentage points, while turnout in UK general elections actually fell by 17 percentage points (to 2001). The same trend has been encountered by many other European countries.
Admittedly, it's natural that there should be a generally lower level of turnout for European elections as compared to national elections. European elections are less visibly important and no government is at stake.
What does an MEP earn?
An MEP earns exactly the same as an MP from his or her own country.
This leads to all kinds of problems because, of course, different MEPs get paid wildly different amounts for doing the same job. So the system is set to change in the next Parliament, when MEPs will receive a common salary. Naturally, this will be a pay rise for some, but a pay cut for others, including the British.
(So next time someone asks you "What's a Grecian earn?", you can explain that the answer is "Exactly the same whether he's an MP or an MEP"...)
Which costs more per citizen to maintain, the Commons or the European Parliament?
Contrary to myth, the House of Commons is far more expensive, coming to £5.54 per citizen - and that excludes the cost of buildings, such as the £230 million new Portcullis House. Meanwhile, the European Parliament costs £1.41 per citizen - and that includes the ridiculous system (imposed on Parliament by governments) of moving between Brussels and Strasbourg every month, and the need to translate everything into 20 languages.
An interesting comparison would be to look at the cost per working hour of MPs vs MEPs - because the European Parliament also has much shorter holidays than the Commons...
One type of EU law is called a 'Directive'. What does this mean?
A Directive is a European-level agreement that ministers have agreed to enter into their own national laws. Directly applicable EU laws are called 'Regulations' - and of course there's no such thing as a law "handed down by the European Commission".
The European Parliament has three working places. Where are they?
Strasbourg, Brussels and Luxembourg. MEPs don't actually go to Luxembourg, though many of Parliament's staff
work there, but they do trek over to Strasbourg once a month for a week of plenary sessions. This expensive and wasteful arrangement is the result of a shabby late-night compromise approved in 1992 at the Edinburgh summit chaired by John Major, and it persists despite MEPs repeatedly requesting the right to choose a single Parliamentary seat for themselves.
How are MEPs elected?
By proportional representation. The detail of the system varies from country to country, but it has to be proportional.
When did the House of Commons first publish a report recommending a switch from imperial to metric measures?
Believe it or not, this was back in the mid-19th century! And metrication has been official UK government policy since the 1940s. This policy came about because of pressure from industry, and it has nothing at all to do with the EU.
What would happen if the UK joined the euro?
The only one of these options that's correct is that we would agree a common interest rate with other eurozone members in the European Central Bank. Our taxes would still be set nationally, and we could still put the Queen's head on our coins (or, indeed, any other national design we liked).
Which island is not part of the EU?
The Isle of Man, which is neither a member of the EU or an associate member. Manx goods can be freely moved within the EU but services and capital cannot.
Which of the following, if any, are laid down in European law?
The only true item here is that EU countries have agreed a common start and end to daylight saving time. The other three are tabloid euromyths:
- Bendy bananas are not banned. At the request of industry, the EU has drafted a set of regulations describing how bananas are classified. These were designed to supersede the various existing and conflicting sets of national regulations, and were welcomed by importers, who finally knew what they'd be getting when they ordered a crate of bananas from anywhere in the EU. You can continue to sell a banana as bendy as you please (and as yellow, squidgy and sweet as you please), as long as you don't mislabel a class B banana as a class A banana and so on.
- Cars in the UK, Ireland, Cyprus and Malta will continue to drive on the left. (Believe it or not, even this has been the subject of a tabloid scare story.)
- MEPs certainly can be arrested. The rules simply say that an MEP on his or her home turf benefits from the same immunities as a member of his or her own national parliament, and elsewhere in the EU, the European Parliament must give permission before an MEP is prosecuted. Parliament can and does waive immunity to allow MEPs to stand trial.
Which two Member States entered the euro on January 1st 2008?
It was Malta and Cyprus, the first Commonwealth countries to join the euro.
Who is currently President of the EU?
There's no such post - not now, and not in the new constitutional treaty either. But it's not just the tabloids who feed this particular euromyth. Even the BBC makes the mistake from time to time.
What the EU does have is several institutions (Parliament, Council etc.) which each have their own president; and besides, 'president' here simply means 'chair', a post with no executive power whatsoever.
It sounds like a fairly harmless quibble, but it's not quite so harmless when eurosceptics start complaining that the EU is obviously a superstate because it's got a president and everything. That's simply not true.
Who pointed out that being in Europe hasn't made the French any less French?
As it happens, it was Thatcher, though it might equally well have been any of them. The same is true for every country in the EU, of course: the Danes are no less Danish, the Italians are no less Italian, and the Brits are no less British. The EU's motto is 'Unity in diversity', and long may it remain so.
Who said, "The EU is the world's most successful peace process"?
That was John Hume.
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