Section3.Italy

** 1.History/Background of E.U. Country **

General Attitudes: Because of improved and economic and social conditions in the southern regions and the influenced of the media, differences between the North and South are diminishing in Italy.
 *  [[image:venice-86.jpg width="277" height="125"]] || 

Language: Italian is the official language, although dialects differ from city to city. The second language they prefer to speak is French.

Population: Italy's population is roughly 58.1 million and is declining slightly. Rome is the capital and the largest city with 2.7 million people. Italy's population is decreasing slowly and they're expecting to decline significantly in the coming decades.

Religion: Nearly all Italians are Roman Catholics, although many do not participate on a regular basis. Attendance at services are not high, and secularism is more appealing to many segments of society. At the same time, many Catholics are finding alternate ways to worship though. There can be informed gatherings, praying at shrines, and so forth. However, the Catholic Church does wield significant social and political influence on Italy. 

Family: Italians enjoy strong ties, and when being together or helping eachother is possible, they honor their family obligations. Parents are willing to offer financial assistance to their adult children when necessary. Many parents are willing to buy a home or pay for an apartment even if it means financial sacrifice. Young Italians seek to be economically independent of the family. ||


 * 2. Year of Admission to E.U. History and General Information about the E.U.**
 * || Italys admission to the E.U. was in 1952. The Union idea started after both devastating world wars. Some people thought the only way to stop the madness was to unite the two countries that fought in them, France and Germany. Not long after that statement was aloud, a man named Robert Schumman backed it up to unite some countries and create a common market. The number of countries joined was 6, and they were France, Western Germany, __Italy__, Belgium, The Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The common market started with the ECSC, which is the European Coal and Steel Community. It traded those ores without trade barriers, and it worked very, very well. It worked so well, they took of trade barriers for all products. So, they then decided to try and integrate other countries economies. In 1957, the E.U. accepted the Treaty of Rome, to end up creating another community called the EEC. EEC stands for European Atomic Energy Community. In 1973, the E.U. had its first enlargement. The added countries were Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. In 1980 Greece joined in. In 1981 came Spain and Portugal. In 1995 Austria, Finland, and Sweden hopped in. There was one more thing to make it perfect to trade between all these countries. That one thing was a common currency. Well, in 1999 the Euro was created as a new common currency! So, to this day, there is 27 total E.U. countries. ||

Click on the link to hear our view! ||
 * 3. How does the E.U. and your country feel about global temperatures/climate change? (//environmental issue)// **
 * The E.U. is at the screaming point with climate change. They said thereselves they were ready to put 2.4 billion Euro's (3.5 billion dollars here) down on the table just to stop climate change by 2012. The E.U. is at big commitment with this problem. Our country, Italy, also cares deeply on climate change and global warming. Our country feels horrible because a huge city in Italy, Venice, is sinking into the ocean as I speak of a cause by global warming. Some day it is going to sink into the water. That is why our country cares about climate change very badly. || media type="file" key="John 1.wav" width="300" height="50"


 * 4. How does the E.U. and your country feel about supporting the war in Afghanistan? //(political issue)// **
 * [[image:AF.jpg width="212" height="121"]] || Pakistan has built fences in some positions of its border with Afghanistan which remains open in some areas to foreign terrorists and other illegal activities.

E.U. - The E.U.'s assistance reflects the porities set out in Afghanistan's National Develop Strategy adopted at the Paris Conference on 12 June 2008, including support for justice and law and order; comboling narotics producing and accisting on health sector. media type="file" key="John 2.wav" width="300" height="50" Click on the link to hear our view! ||

media type="file" key="John 3.wav" width="300" height="50" Click on the link to hear our view! ||
 * 5. What is the economic background of your country and how does your country feel about supporting the economies of weaker countries in the E.U? //(economic issue)// **
 * || Our economy background is based on agriculture in the south and industry in the north. Even though their industry is better agriculture is a big thing there because they produce cheese and wine which are huge agricultural products, especially in Italy. They are also big on tourism so they also make big money off that too. They are also big on coal and steel. Our country trades with other E.U. countries like Germany and France. Italy is one of the seven most major industrialized countries in the world. Italy is only struggling with lower government spending, but they are still holding on and continue to keep a good economy. Now to the other question, which is what our country would do for other E.U. countries. The answer is, our country does not help other E.U. countries because they keep extra money just incase they have a bag economy one year or it just drops altogether. That is all the information we have on our countries economy.