The Treaty on European Union was signed by 12 countries in Maastricht on 7 February 1992.
It marked a new step in the process of creating an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe.
Take a trip back in time and discover more important moments in history, inventions, major events in sport and society and more, many of which made the EU what it is today.
💚More than a recovery plan, it is a chance to emerge stronger from the pandemic, transform our economies, and create opportunities for the Europe where we want to live.
🩹 What we’ve managed to achieve during 2021 was a true European success story.
✅All Europeans have access to vaccines.
✅Most vaccinated region in the world.
✅More than 1 billion vaccine doses exported worldwide.
✅Biggest donor of vaccines in the world.
Despite all the challenges we faced this year, 2021 has also been a year full of inspiring stories about solidarity, merit and hope.
We bring you 7⃣ inspiring stories of 2021!
1⃣ The power of science
In 2021, Dr Özlem Türeci and Dr Uğur Şahin, co-founders of @BioNTech_Group, received the Order of Merit – an award for their scientific persistence to develop a COVID-19 vaccine saving lives of millions of people worldwide. 🏅
An inspiration to all.
2⃣ The power of solidarity
In 2021, #TeamEurope shared over 350 million doses to low and middle-income countries - mostly via #COVAX. And our efforts will continue next year with more donations.
A modern, resource-efficient economy and climate-neutral by 2050. This is our objective.
This week we kept delivering on Europe’s climate targets with new #EUGreenDeal proposals.
⚡️Energy and climate
🚆Efficient and green mobility
⚖️Combating environmental crimes
➡Europe needs to decarbonise the energy consumed.
Our proposals will help cut emissions by:
🔸facilitating the uptake of renewable and low carbon gases, including hydrogen
🔸ensuring energy security for all citizens in Europe.
🔸removing regulatory barriers
1️⃣
A smart and sustainable Trans-European Transport Network, boosting high-speed trains and embedding multimodality.
424 cities will be interconnected by ports, airports and railway terminals. Once completed, travel times between these cities will be considerably reduced.
2️⃣
Only 7% of rail kilometres travelled between 2001 and 2018 involved cross-border trips.
We aim to make long-distance cross-border train travel more attractive and the default travel option for many more 🇪🇺 passengers: quicker journeys, more frequencies, and more affordable.