Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union

In the European Union highly educated men and women tend to live longer.

Seventy-one years ago, in a speech given to the Assembly of the League of Nations in Geneva, Aristide Briand declared that "Among peoples who are geographically grouped together like the peoples of Europe there must exist a sort of federal link…These nations should, at any moment, have the possibility of establishing contact, of discussing their interests, of adopting common resolutions, of creating among themselves a bond of solidarity that allows them, on suitable occasions, to face up to serious circumstances, in case they arise.

One person in two in the EU27 uses the internet daily.

Eurostat estimates that 23.057 million men and women in the EU27 were unemployed in July 2010. Compared with June, the number of persons unemployed decreased by 45 000 in the EU27.

64 years ago Winston Churchill, former British Prime Minister, gave an address at the University of Zurich in which he invites European countries to form a United States of Europe.

Exactly 20 years ago the Federal Republic of Germany, the German Democratic Republic, the Soviet Union, the United States, France and the United Kingdom signed the Two Plus Four Agreement. Under the terms of this treaty, Germany once again became fully sovereign. Germany renounced all claims to territory east of the Oder-Neisse line, agreed to sign a separate treaty with Poland to reaffirm the present common border and reaffirmed its renunciation of the manufacture and possession of nuclear weapons.

7 years ago the Estonian people approved joining the European Union. Estonia joined the European Union on the first of May 2004.

Today we celebrate the 2010 International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer.

Today the Oktoberfest in Munich begins. It is widely considered to be the biggest beer festival in the world. Each year it receives over six million visitors. The Oktoberfest lasts until Sunday the third of October.

Today we celebrate International Day of Peace.

On average, each individual in the EU-27 generated the equivalent of 524 kg of municipal waste in 2008, some 28 kg more than a decade earlier.

In the European Union one woman in four will be aged 65 and over in 2030.

Migrants sent 32 bn euro to their former country of residence in 2008.

56 years ago the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) was founded. Today the CERN is one of the world's largest and most respected centres for scientific research!