other: 23 km (2003)
Highways:
total: 4,634,810 km (including 56,704 km of expressways)
paved: 4,161,318 km
unpaved: 473,492 km (1999–2000)
Waterways:
53,512 km
Ports and harbors:
Antwerp (Belgium), Barcelona (Spain), Bremen (Germany), Copenhagen
(Denmark), Gdansk (Poland), Hamburg (Germany), Helsinki (Finland),
Las Palmas (Canary Islands, Spain), Le Havre (France), Lisbon
(Portugal), London (UK), Marseille (France), Naples (Italy),
Peiraiefs or Piraeus (Greece), Riga (Latvia), Rotterdam
(Netherlands), Stockholm (Sweden), Talinn (Estonia)
Airports:
3,130 (2004 est.)
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 1,834
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 1,296
Heliports:
94 (2004)
Military European Union
Military - note:
In November 2004, the European Union heads of government signed a
"Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe" that offers
possibilities - with some limits - for increased defense and
security cooperation. If ratified, in a process that may take some
two years, this treaty will in effect make operational the European
Security and Defense Policy (ESDP) approved in the 2000 Nice Treaty.
Despite limits of cooperation for some EU members, development of a
European military planning unit is likely to continue. So is
creation of a rapid-reaction military force and a humanitarian aid
system, which the planning unit will support. France, Germany,
Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, and Italy continue to press for
wider coordination. The five-nation Eurocorps - created in 1992 by
France, Germany, Belgium, Spain, and Luxembourg - has already
deployed troops and police on peacekeeping missions to Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Macedonia, and the Democratic Republic of Congo and
assumed command of the International Security Assistance Force
(ISAF) in Afghanistan in August 2004. Eurocorps directly commands
the 5,000-man Franco-German Brigade, the Multinational Command
Support Brigade, and EUFOR, which took over from SFOR in Bosnia in
December 2004. Other troop contributions are under national command
- committments to provide 67,100 troops were made at the Helsinki EU
session in 2000. Some 56,000 EU troops were actually deployed in
2003. In August 2004, the new European Defense Agency, tasked with
promoting cooperative European defense capabilities, began
operations. In November 2004, the EU Council of Ministers formally
committed to creating thirteen 1,500-man "battle groups" by the end
of 2007, to respond to international crises on a rotating basis.
Twenty-two of the EU's 25 nations have agreed to supply troops.
France, Italy, and the UK are to form the first three battle groups
in 2005, with Spain to follow. In May 2005, Norway, Sweden, and
Finland agreed to establish one of the battle groups, possibly to
include Estonian forces. The remaining groups are to be formed by
2007. (2005)
Transnational Issues European Union
Disputes - international:
the EU has no border disputes with neighboring countries; it has
set up a Schengen area - consisting of 13 EU member states that have
signed the convention implementing the Schengen agreements (1985 and
1990) on the free movement of persons and the harmonization of
border controls in Europe; the Schengen agreements ("acquis") became
incorporated into EU law with the implementation of the 1997 Treaty
of Amsterdam on 1 May 1999; member states are: Austria, Belgium,
Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg,
Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden; in addition, non-EU states
Iceland and Norway (as part of the Nordic Union) have been included
in the Schengen area since 1996 (full members in 2001), bringing the
total current membership to 15; the UK (since 2000) and Ireland
(since 2002) take part in some aspects of the Schengen area,
especially with respect to police and criminal matters; the 10 new
member states that joined the EU in 2004 eventually are expected to
participate in Schengen, following a transition period to upgrade
their border controls and procedures
This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005
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@Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)
Introduction Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas)
Background:
Although first sighted by an English navigator in 1592, the first
landing (English) did not occur until almost a century later in
1690, and the first settlement
