Section3.France

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

Napolean's Arc du Triomphe.Click on the Arc du Triomphe to see what it's like. || France dominated Europe in the 1600's under control of King Louis XIV. In 1789, the French Revolution began, and the French monarchy fell. After ten years of instability, Napolean Bonaparte took over. Napolean took over most of Europe before invading Russia. While invading Russia, Austria took over Paris, and Napolean was sent to jail. Napoelan was known for his short temper when people would point out how short he was. Now, France has a democracy. Their current president's name is Nicolas Sarkozy. French is France's official language, which is spoken by 63.7 million citizens. Also, France owns overseas territories. Some of their territories include Martinique and Guadalope. When exploring and conquering was popular in Europe, France claimed many territories such as Tunisia, Cote d'ivoire, and other African countries. Although all of these countries have gained their independence, many of them speak French, and carry out many other French traditions. Here is some more information on France's history. ||
 * [[image:Arc_De_Triumph.jpg width="162" height="166" caption="Arc du Triomphe" link="@http://www.360cities.net/image/underneath-the-arc-de-triomphe-paris"]]


 * 2. Year of Admission to E.U. History and General Information about the E.U.**
 * [[image:41-Q7o30ogL__SL500_AA280_.jpg width="223" height="174" caption="This is the E.U. and the French flag."]] ||    France was admitted into the E.U. in 1951. It was one of the founding members of the E.U. France is the largest country in the E.U. and it also gathers one of the largest income for the European Union. The E.U. is a supranational organization that has 27 membering countries. The E.U. operates over 1.6 millon square miles, and contains a half billion people. 23 languages are spoken inside the E.U. The official currency is the Euro. The E.U.was officially formed when a treaty was signed in November 1993. The E.U. uses a common market between their countries. They removed tariffs so that they could trade between each other without taxes. The Euro was created to make business and traveling easier between European countries.      ||

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 * 3. How does the E.U. and your country feel about global temperatures/climate change? (//environmental issue)// **
 * [[image:hot-thermometer.gif width="169" height="293" caption="The Earth is heating up quickly and France is trying to stop it."]] || So far, the E.U. is the biggest donor to climate change worldwide. The E.U. would like to submit 2.4 billion euro into climate change funds. France is using nuclear energy to power 80% of electricity int their cities. This is one of the cleanest sources of energy you can find in today's world. Also, it reduces greenhouse gases. France is one of the world's leading countries in the climate change issue. Also, France produces the most renewable energy in the E.U. France is now taxing citizens for the corbon dioxide they produce. They are charging a pretty large price of 17 euro per ton of gas released. This is like asking Americans to give up 25.30$ for every ton of CO2 produced. This helps the government spend the money they make on these taxes to submit to global warming funds.

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 * 4. How does the E.U. and your country feel about supporting the war in Afghanistan? //(political issue)// **
 * [[image:20091015-sarkozy-afghanistan-m.jpg width="261" height="206" caption="Nikolas Sarlozy, the French president"]] || 55% of French poloticians voted to pull troops from Afghanistan. A major factor in this vote is 10 soldiers killed in one attack, which is the largest death toll of a single attack in 10 years for France. Sarkozy has decided to bring no extra troops to Afghanistan. He is very firm about this and is saying things such as, "Not a single soldier more!". We feel this is the right decision. If France loses more soldiers their country could go through horrible tragedies. Since 2001, France has suffered losses of troop because of their deducation to helping America out in this nasty war. President Sarkozy has planned a vote on this subject sometime this year.

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 * 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)// **
 * [[image:euro.jpg width="280" height="240" caption="The Euro is Europe's main currency."]] || Overall, France's economy is doing pretty well compared to some other countries. The Euro officially replaced the former currency, the franc. France is one of Europe's leading agriculture producers. About 80 percent of France's energy is nuclear power. 70 percent of the labor force is in the service sector. France attracts more tourists than any other country in the world. According to Nikolas Sarkozy, France is ready to help Greece if it is necessary. Greece is in a financial crisis and if European countries don't bail it out soon, things in the E.U. could get pretty ugly.