title: Athens International Airport

text: The airport was constructed to replace the now-closed Athens (Ellinikon) International Airport, as the latter had reached its saturation point with no physical space for further growth. Studies for a new airport had been carried out from as early as the 1970s, with as many as 19 different locations being looked at before an area close to the town of Spata was chosen as suitable. "Athens Airport SA", a state-owned company, was established in 1978 to proceed with the plans. However, after delays and slow development, the project was revived in 1991, approximately 1 year after the city lost the right to host the 1996 Summer Olympics to Atlanta, USA and the possibility of submitting a bid for the 2000 Game was discussed. However, the city presented the project that was eventually the winner for the 2004 Summer Olympic Games. with the then government launching an international tender for the selection of a build-own-operate-transfer partner for the airport project, with Hochtief of Germany being selected.


title: Athens International Airport

text: In 1996, "Athens International Airport S.A." (AIA) was established as a Public–private partnership with a 30-year concession agreement. That same year, the €2.1 billion development finally began with an estimated completion date of February 2001. The airport construction was completed five months before schedule, but was delayed opening a month due to surface connections to Attiki Odos not being completed. The airport officially opened on 28 March 2001.


title: Athens International Airport

text: Its major features include two parallel runways being and long respectively. The airport has received approval from the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Federal Aviation Administration for take-offs and landings of the biggest passenger jet worldwide, the A380. The first ever A380 to visit 'Eleftherios Venizelos' Athens International Airport made an emergency landing on 13 April 2011 for emergency medical reasons. The first scheduled A380 flight took place on 26 October 2012 by Emirates.


title: Athens International Airport

text: The Greek government-debt crisis reduced the overall passenger traffic of the airport for six consecutive years. Many long-haul airlines outright terminated service to the airport, while others chose to operate on a seasonal basis only, opting to terminate service during the winter months. Moreover, these problems were further exacerbated by the closure of Olympic Airlines, which operated many long-haul flights to and from the airport. In 2013, the airport handled just above 12.5 million passengers, 3.2% fewer than in 2012 and lower by approximately 25% when compared to 2007's traffic, which was the all-time-high at that time.


title: Athens International Airport

text: 2014 signaled a strong recovery for the airport's passenger traffic and all statistical figures. More than ten new airlines started new flights to and from Athens. Aegean Airlines strengthened its network by 30% (with many more destinations scheduled for 2015) while Ryanair established a new base in the Athens Airport and added eight destinations. The airport company recorded an increase in passenger traffic in excess of 21% during 2014, reaching 15.1 million passengers, resulted both by new destinations but also by increased capacity offered on established ones. Characteristically, Singapore and Gulf Air resumed flights while Emirates, Etihad Airways and Qatar Airways fly more frequently to/from Athens. Delta Air Line resumed their weekly flights and American Airlines retained their seasonal schedules to/from USA with even more frequent connectivity. From 2017 onwards, year-round services to Singapore are going to resume after more than five years. Flights are going to be operated by Scoot.


title: Athens International Airport

text: According to AIA published statistics, total traffic for 2015 achieved an impressive performance reaching almost 18.1 million passengers, an all-time-record for the airport at that time, increased by 19% on year-over-year basis and by 1.55 million (+9.4%) the previous best, which was the pre-crisis year 2007. In addition, over the same period, aircraft traffic exhibited a solid growth of 14% year-over-year. Moreover, in 2015 a significant rise (+38%) was recorded by transfer passengers, with the international to international transfer traffic marking an impressive increase (+60%) demonstrating the significant enhancement of the Athens airport connectivity.


title: Athens International Airport

text: 2016 was a landmark year for the Athens International Airport, both for domestic and international destinations. Annual results reflected a solid performance for a third year in a row fueled by double-digit growth, this time passing the twenty million mark, increased by 10.7% on year-over-year basis. Healthy growth continued in 2017 with the airport showing traffic increase of 8.6% to a total of 21.7 million passengers, yet another all-time record for the Athens airport. During 2018, the airport achieved yet another record high, reporting increased passenger traffic by 11% to more than 24.1 million passengers. Equally, aircraft traffic achieved a new record with a reported annual growth of 10.8% to 217,094 movements.


title: Athens International Airport

text: For the first three quarters of 2019, the airport traffic shows signs of further increase with passenger numbers up by 6.5% to 19.97 million passengers and aircraft movements up by 3.2%.


title: Athens International Airport

text: The airport currently has two terminals, the main terminal and the satellite terminal accessible by an underground link from the main terminal.


title: Athens International Airport

text: It is designed to be extended in a modular approach over the ensuing years in order to accommodate increases in air travel. These extensions are planned in a six-phase framework. The first (and current) phase allowed the airport to accommodate 26 million passengers per year. When the airport originally opened, the current phase called for a capacity of only 16 million passengers per year; however, the capacity was able to increase without progressing to the next phase thanks to advanced IT logistics. The sixth and final expansion phase will allow the airport to accommodate an annual traffic of 50 million passengers, with the current layout leaving enough space for five more terminals to be added. As such, the parallel runway system currently in place has been designed to accommodate flight traffic with this high equivalent annual passenger load upon completion of the final expansion phase.


title: Athens International Airport

text: The main terminal building handles all intra-Schengen flights, as well as several non-Schengen flights. All of the airport's 144 check-in desks are located in the Main Terminal and it has three separate levels, one for arrivals, one for departures and a food court level complete with a view of the eastern runway. Finally, the terminal is equipped with fourteen jet bridges and eleven belt conveyors for luggage.


title: Athens International Airport

text: In March 2018, the Athens International Airport issued a tender for its first physical expansion, concerning the south wings of the main terminal. The tender called for a building expansion with a total area of approximately 14,950 square meters over five levels (levels 0 to 4). The construction company to build the expansion has been awarded in summer 2018 and the project is scheduled to be completed by mid-2019. It will add 18 more counter check-in decks as well as additional space for arrivals, departures, security and automated control gates, it will also add expanded shopping area and new lounges by mid-2020.


title: Athens International Airport

text: The satellite terminal has two levels, one for arrivals and the other for departures. It is easily accessible through an underground link complete with moving walkways. The terminal is equipped with ten jet bridges and is capable of handling annual traffic of six million passengers.


title: Athens International Airport

text: In recent years its parking stands were utilized for long-term storage of airliners, specifically two ex-Olympic Airways Airbus A340-300s (both aircraft were transferred to its new owner in February 2017) and a Boeing 767-300ER of defunct Greek start-up carrier SkyGreece Airlines. However, as of June 2017, the parking space of the satellite terminal is in full use for both Schengen and non-Schengen area flights and to accommodate increased traffic. From June 2017 some low-cost carriers were using it. On 24 May 2018, the Satellite Terminal officially restarted full operations. The airlines using it are Ryanair, Easyjet, Vueling, Eurowings, Norwegian, Transavia and Transavia France, TUIfly Belgium, Brussels Airlines, Aer Lingus, Air Transat and Scoot.


title: Athens International Airport

text: Athens International Airport is the largest and busiest airport in Greece. By the end of 2021, it was the 15th busiest airport in Europe.


title: Athens International Airport

text: The table below shows passenger totals at Athens International Airport by country destination during 2021, and changes compared to 2020.


title: Athens International Airport

text: A railway station is immediately adjacent to the airport terminal, accessible by an elevated walkway. Athens Metro line 3 and the suburban railway service Proastiakos run trains to and from this station.


title: Athens International Airport

text: The airport is accessible by the Attiki Odos toll highway from the centre and northern Athens, Varis-Koropiou Avenue from the western part, Laurio Ave. from the South, and Spata-Loutsa Avenue from the East. A variety of parking options are available on site at the airport in three different parking lots. Located at the arrivals level, opposite the airport terminal, the airport offers short-term parking for up to five hours with 1,357 parking spaces available in lots P1 and P2. Long-term parking is located across the airport's main access road (Attiki Odos) with 5,802 parking spaces in lot P3. A free shuttle bus is available to transport passengers, while the lots are also accessible by foot to the terminal. Premium valet service is also offered at the Departures level by Entrance 3.


title: Athens International Airport

text: Taxis are available at the designated Taxi waiting area located by exit 3 of the arrivals level. Limousine service is also available upon request by the inner curbside of the arrivals level between exits 3 and 4.


title: Athens International Airport

text: Four bus lines (X93, X95, X96, X97) connect directly to the Athens greater area, X95 starts from Syntagma square, X93 connects the airport to intercity bus stations (KTEL Kifissos Bus Terminal and Liosion bus terminal), X96 to Athens main port Piraeus and X97 to Elliniko metro station the Southern terminal of Line 2. Buses disembark passengers at the departures level and depart from the arrivals level between exits 4 and 5. Regional bus services by KTEL Express operate to the airport, currently connecting the airport to Rafina, Markopoulo, Lavrio, Kalyvia and Keratea.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Jean Baudrillard ( , , ; 27 July 1929 – 6 March 2007) was a French sociologist, philosopher and poet with interest in cultural studies. He is best known for his analyses of media, contemporary culture, and technological communication, as well as his formulation of concepts such as simulation and hyperreality. Baudrillard wrote about diverse subjects, including consumerism, gender relations, critique of economy, economics, social history, art, Western foreign policy, and popular culture. Among his best known works are "Seduction" (1978), "Simulacra and Simulation" (1981), "America" (1986), and "The Gulf War Did Not Take Place" (1991). His work is frequently associated with postmodernism and specifically post-structuralism. Nevertheless, Baudrillard has also "opposed" post-structuralism and had distanced himself from postmodernism.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Baudrillard was born in Reims, northeastern France, on 27 July 1929. His grandparents were farm workers and his father a gendarme. During high school (at the Lycée at Reims), he became aware of pataphysics via philosophy professor Emmanuel Peillet, which is said to be crucial for understanding Baudrillard's later thought. He became the first of his family to attend university when he moved to Paris to attend the Sorbonne. There he studied German language and literature, which led him to begin teaching the subject at several different lycées, both Parisian and provincial, from 1960 until 1966. While teaching, Baudrillard began to publish reviews of literature and translated the works of such authors as Peter Weiss, Bertolt Brecht, Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, and Wilhelm Emil Mühlmann.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: While teaching German, Baudrillard began to transfer to sociology, eventually completing and publishing in 1968 his doctoral thesis "Le Système des Objets" ("The System of Objects") under the dissertation committee of Henri Lefebvre, Roland Barthes, and Pierre Bourdieu. Subsequently, he began teaching Sociology at the Paris X Nanterre, a university campus just outside Paris which would become heavily involved in the events of May 1968. During this time, Baudrillard worked closely with Philosopher Humphrey De Battenburge, who described Baudrillard as a "visionary". At Nanterre he took up a position as "Maître Assistant" (Assistant Professor), then "Maître de Conférences" (Associate Professor), eventually becoming a professor after completing his accreditation, "L'Autre par lui-même" ("The Other by Himself").


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: In 1970, Baudrillard made the first of his many trips to the United States (Aspen, Colorado), and in 1973, the first of several trips to Kyoto, Japan. He was given his first camera in 1981 in Japan, which led to him becoming a photographer.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: In 1986 he moved to IRIS (Institut de Recherche et d'Information Socio-Économique) at the Université de Paris-IX Dauphine, where he spent the latter part of his teaching career. During this time he had begun to move away from sociology as a discipline (particularly in its "classical" form), and, after ceasing to teach full-time, he rarely identified himself with any particular discipline, although he remained linked to academia. During the 1980s and 1990s his books had gained a wide audience, and in his last years he became, to an extent, an intellectual celebrity, being published often in the French- and English-speaking popular press. He nonetheless continued supporting the Institut de Recherche sur l'Innovation Sociale at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and was "Satrap" at the Collège de Pataphysique. Baudrillard taught at the European Graduate School in Saas-Fee, Switzerland, and collaborated at the Canadian theory, culture, and technology review "Ctheory", where he was abundantly cited. He also purportedly participated in the "International Journal of Baudrillard Studies" (as of 2022 hosted on Bishop's University domain) from its inception in 2004 until his death. In 1999–2000, his photographs were exhibited at the Maison européenne de la photographie in Paris. In 2004, Baudrillard attended the major conference on his work, "Baudrillard and the Arts", at the Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe in Karlsruhe, Germany.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Baudrillard enjoyed baroque music; a favorite composer was Claudio Monteverdi. He also favored rock music such as "The Velvet Underground & Nico".


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Baudrillard did his writing using "his old typewriter, never at the computer". He has stated that a computer is "true prosthesis" and not "merely a handier and more complex kind of typewriter", whereas with a typewriter he has a "physical relation to writing".


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Baudrillard was married twice. He and his first wife Lucile Baudrillard had two children, Gilles and Anne.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: In 1970 during his first marriage, Baudrillard met 25 year old Marine Dupuis when she arrived at the Paris Nanterre University where he was a professor. Marine went on to be a media artistic director. They married in 1994 when he was 65.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Diagnosed with cancer in 2005, Baudrillard battled the disease for two years from his apartment on Rue Sainte-Beuve, Paris, dying at the age of 77. Marine Baudrillard curates "Cool Memories", an association of Jean Baudrillard's friends.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Baudrillard's published work emerged as part of a generation of French thinkers including: Gilles Deleuze, Jean-François Lyotard, Michel Foucault, Jacques Derrida, and Jacques Lacan who all shared an interest in semiotics, and he is often seen as a part of the post-structuralist philosophical school. In common with many post-structuralists, his arguments consistently draw upon the notion that signification and meaning are both only understandable in terms of how particular words or "signs" interrelate. Baudrillard thought, as do many post-structuralists, that meaning is brought about through "systems" of signs working together. Following on from the structuralist linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, Baudrillard argued that meaning ("value") is created through "difference"—through what something is not (so "dog" means "dog" because it is not-"cat", not-"goat", not-"tree", etc.). In fact, he viewed meaning as near enough self-referential: objects, images of objects, words and signs are situated in a web of meaning; one object's meaning is only understandable through its relation to the meaning of other objects; for instance, one thing's prestige relates to another's mundanity.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: From this starting point Baudrillard theorized broadly about human society based upon this kind of self-referentiality. His writing portrays societies always searching for a sense of meaning—or a "total" understanding of the world—that remains consistently elusive. In contrast to Post-structuralism (such as Michel Foucault), for whom the formations of knowledge emerge only as the result of relations of power, Baudrillard developed theories in which the excessive, fruitless search for total knowledge leads almost inevitably to a kind of delusion. In Baudrillard's view, the (human) subject may try to understand the (non-human) object, but because the object can only be understood according to what it signifies (and because the process of signification immediately involves a web of other signs from which it is distinguished) this never produces the desired results. The subject is, rather, "seduced" (in the original Latin sense: ) by the object. He argued therefore that, in the final analysis, a complete understanding of the minutiae of human life is impossible, and when people are seduced into thinking otherwise they become drawn toward a "simulated" version of reality, or, to use one of his neologisms, a state of "hyperreality." This is not to say that the world becomes unreal, but rather that the faster and more comprehensively societies begin to bring reality together into one supposedly coherent picture, the more insecure and unstable it looks and the more fearful societies become. Reality, in this sense, "dies out."


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Accordingly, Baudrillard argued that the excess of signs and of meaning in late 20th century "global" society had caused (quite paradoxically) an effacement of reality. In this world neither liberal nor Marxist utopias are any longer believed in. We live, he argued, not in a "global village", to use Marshall McLuhan's phrase, but rather in a world that is ever more easily petrified by even the smallest event. Because the "global" world operates at the level of the exchange of signs and commodities, it becomes ever more blind to "symbolic" acts such as, for example, terrorism. In Baudrillard's work the symbolic realm (which he develops a perspective on through the anthropological work of Marcel Mauss and Georges Bataille) is seen as quite distinct from that of signs and signification. Signs can be exchanged like commodities; symbols, on the other hand, operate quite differently: they are exchanged, like gifts, sometimes violently as a form of potlatch. Baudrillard, particularly in his later work, saw the "global" society as without this "symbolic" element, and therefore symbolically (if not militarily) defenseless against acts such as the Rushdie Fatwa or, indeed, the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United States and its military and economic establishment.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: In his early books, such as "The System of Objects", "For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign", and "", Baudrillard's main focus is upon consumerism, and how different objects are consumed in different ways. At this time Baudrillard's political outlook was loosely associated with Marxism (and Situationism), but in these books he differed from Karl Marx in one significant way. For Baudrillard, as for the situationists, it was consumption rather than production that was the main driver of capitalist society.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Baudrillard came to this conclusion by criticising Marx's concept of "use-value." Baudrillard thought that both Marx's and Adam Smith's economic thought accepted the idea of genuine needs relating to genuine uses too easily and too simply. Baudrillard argued, drawing from Georges Bataille, that needs are constructed, rather than innate. He stressed that all purchases, because they always signify something "socially", have their fetishistic side. Objects always, drawing from Roland Barthes, "say something" about their users. And this was, for him, why consumption was and remains more important than production: because the "ideological genesis of needs" precedes the production of goods to meet those needs.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Baudrillard's earlier books were attempts to argue that the first two of these values are not simply associated, but are disrupted by the third and, particularly, the fourth. Later, Baudrillard rejected Marxism totally ("The Mirror of Production" and "Symbolic Exchange and Death"). But the focus on the difference between sign value (which relates to commodity exchange) and symbolic value (which relates to Maussian gift exchange) remained in his work up until his death. Indeed, it came to play a more and more important role, particularly in his writings on world events.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: As Baudrillard developed his work throughout the 1980s, he moved from economic theory to mediation and mass communication. Although retaining his interest in Saussurean semiotics and the logic of symbolic exchange (as influenced by anthropologist Marcel Mauss), Baudrillard turned his attention to the work of Marshall McLuhan, developing ideas about how the nature of social relations is determined by the forms of communication that a society employs. In so doing, Baudrillard progressed beyond both Saussure's and Roland Barthes's formal semiology to consider the implications of a historically understood version of structural semiology. According to Kornelije Kvas, "Baudrillard rejects the structuralist principle of the equivalence of different forms of linguistic organization, the binary principle that contains oppositions such as: true-false, real-unreal, center-periphery. He denies any possibility of a (mimetic) duplication of reality; reality mediated through language becomes a game of signs. In his theoretical system all distinctions between the real and the fictional, between a copy and the original, disappear".


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Simulation, Baudrillard claims, is the current stage of the simulacrum: all is composed of references with no referents, a hyperreality. Baudrillard argues that this is part of a historical progression. In the Renaissance, the dominant simulacrum was in the form of the counterfeit, where people or objects appear to stand for a real referent that does not exist (for instance, royalty, nobility, holiness, etc.). With the Industrial Revolution, the dominant simulacrum becomes the product, which can be propagated on an endless production line. In current times, the dominant simulacrum is the model, which by its nature already stands for endless reproducibility, and is itself already reproduced.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, one of Baudrillard's most common themes was historicity, or, more specifically, how present-day societies utilise the notions of progress and modernity in their political choices. He argued, much like the political theorist Francis Fukuyama, that history had ended or "vanished" with the spread of globalization; but, unlike Fukuyama, Baudrillard averred that this end should not be understood as the culmination of history's progress, but as the collapse of the very "idea" of historical progress. For Baudrillard, the end of the Cold War did not represent an ideological victory; rather, it signaled the disappearance of utopian visions shared between both the political Right and Left. Giving further evidence of his opposition toward Marxist visions of global communism and liberal visions of global civil society, Baudrillard contended that the ends they hoped for had always been illusions; indeed, as "The Illusion of the End" argues, he thought the idea of an end itself was nothing more than a misguided dream:


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Within a society subject to and ruled by fast-paced electronic communication and global information networks the collapse of this façade was always going to be, he thought, inevitable. Employing a quasi-scientific vocabulary that attracted the ire of the physicist Alan Sokal, Baudrillard wrote that the speed society moved at had destabilized the linearity of history: "we have the particle accelerator that has smashed the referential orbit of things once and for all."


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: In making this argument Baudrillard found some affinity with the postmodern philosophy of Jean-François Lyotard, who argued that in the late 20th century there was no longer any room for "metanarratives." (The triumph of a coming communism being one such metanarrative.) But, in addition to simply lamenting this collapse of history, Baudrillard also went beyond Lyotard and attempted to analyse how the idea of positive progress was being employed in spite of the notion's declining validity. Baudrillard argued that although genuine belief in a universal endpoint of history, wherein all conflicts would find their resolution, had been deemed redundant, universality was still a notion utilised in world politics as an excuse for actions. Universal values which, according to him, no one any longer believed universal were and are still rhetorically employed to justify otherwise unjustifiable choices. The means, he wrote, are there even though the ends are no longer believed in, and are employed in order to hide the present's harsh realities (or, as he would have put it, unrealities). "In the Enlightenment, universalization was viewed as unlimited growth and forward progress. Today, by contrast, universalization is expressed as a forward "escape"." This involves the notion of "escape velocity" as outlined in "The Vital Illusion" (2000), which in turn, results in the postmodern "fallacy of escape velocity" on which the postmodern mind and critical view cannot, by definition, ever truly break free from the all-encompassing "self-referential" sphere of discourse.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Baudrillard reacted to the West's indifference to the Bosnian War in writings, mostly in essays in his column for "Libération". More specifically, he expressed his view on Europe's unwillingness to respond to "aggression and genocide in Bosnia," in which "New Europe" revealed itself to be a "sham." He criticized the Western media and intellectuals for their passivity, and for taking the role of bystanders, engaging in ineffective, hypocritical and self-serving action, and the public for its inability to distinguish "simulacra" from real world happenings, in which real death and destruction in Bosnia seemed unreal. He was determined in his columns to openly name the perpetrators, Serbs, and call their actions in Bosnia aggression and genocide.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Baudrillard's provocative 1991 book, "The Gulf War Did Not Take Place", raised his public profile as an academic and political commentator. He argued that the first Gulf War was the inverse of the Clausewitzian formula: not "the continuation of politics by other means," but "the continuation of the absence of politics by other means." Accordingly, Saddam Hussein was not fighting the Coalition, but using the lives of his soldiers as a form of sacrifice to preserve his power. The Coalition fighting the Iraqi military was merely dropping 10,000 tonnes of bombs daily, as if proving to themselves that there was an enemy to fight. So, too, were the Western media complicit, presenting the war in real time, by recycling images of war to propagate the notion that the U.S.-led Coalition and the Iraqi government were actually fighting, but, such was not the case. Saddam Hussein did not use his military capacity (the Iraqi Air Force). His power was not weakened, evinced by his easy suppression of the 1991 internal uprisings that followed afterwards. Over all, little had changed. Saddam remained undefeated, the "victors" were not victorious, and thus there was no war—i.e., the Gulf War did not occur.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: The book was originally a series of articles in the British newspaper "The Guardian" and the French newspaper "Libération", published in three parts: "The Gulf War Will Not Take Place," published during the American military and rhetorical buildup; "The Gulf War Is Not Taking Place," published during military action; and "The Gulf War Did Not Take Place" published afterwards.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Some critics, like Christopher Norris accused Baudrillard of instant revisionism; a denial of the physical action of the conflict (which was related to his denial of reality in general). Consequently, Baudrillard was accused of lazy amoralism, cynical scepticism, and Berkelian subjective idealism. Sympathetic commentators such as William Merrin, in his book "Baudrillard and the Media", have argued that Baudrillard was more concerned with the West's technological and political dominance and the globalization of its commercial interests, and what that means for the present possibility of war. Merrin argued that Baudrillard was not denying that something had happened, but merely questioning whether that something was in fact war or a bilateral "atrocity masquerading as a war." Merrin viewed the accusations of amorality as redundant and based on a misreading. In Baudrillard's own words:


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: In his essay, "The Spirit of Terrorism," Baudrillard characterises the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 on the World Trade Center in New York City as the "absolute event." Baudrillard contrasts the "absolute event" of 11 September 2001 with "global events," such as the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and World Cup. The essay culminates in Baudrillard regarding the U.S.-led Gulf War as a "non-event," or an "event that did not happen." Seeking to understand them as a reaction to the technological and political expansion of capitalist globalization, rather than as a war of religiously based or civilization-based warfare, he described the absolute event and its consequences as follows:


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: In accordance with his theory of society, Baudrillard portrayed the attacks as a symbolic reaction to the inexorable rise of a world based on commodity exchange.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: This stance was criticised on two counts. Richard Wolin (in "The Seduction of Unreason") forcefully accused Baudrillard and Slavoj Žižek of all but celebrating the terrorist attacks, essentially claiming that the United States received what it deserved. Žižek, however, countered that accusation to Wolin's analysis as a form of intellectual barbarism in the journal "Critical Inquiry", saying that Wolin failed to see the difference between fantasising about an event and stating that one is deserving of that event. Merrin (in "Baudrillard and the Media") argued that Baudrillard's position affords the terrorists a type of moral superiority. In the journal "Economy and Society", Merrin further noted that Baudrillard gives the symbolic facets of society unfair privilege above semiotic concerns. Second, authors questioned whether the attacks were unavoidable. Bruno Latour, in "Critical Inquiry," argued that Baudrillard believed that their destruction was forced by the society that created them, alluding to the notion that the Towers were "brought down by their own weight." In Latour's view, this was because Baudrillard conceived only of society in terms of a symbolic and semiotic dualism.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Latour lamented of Baudrillard, "What has become of critique when a book that claims that no plane ever crashed into the Pentagon can be a bestseller? I am ashamed to say that the author was French, too.".


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: 19 February 2003, with the 2003 invasion of Iraq impending, moderated a debate entitled ""Pourquoi La Guerre Aujourd’hui?"" between Baudrillard and Jacques Derrida, co-hosted by "Major's Institute for Advanced Studies in Psychoanalysis" and "Le Monde Diplomatique". The debate discussed the relation between terrorist attacks and the invasion. On the Iraq War, University of Oklahoma professor Vincent Leitch states that "Where Baudrillard situates 9/11 as the primary motivating force, Derrida argues that the Iraq War was planned long before 9/11, and that 9/11 plays a secondary role".


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: During 2005, Baudrillard wrote three short pieces and gave a brief magazine interview, all treating similar ideas; following his death in 2007, the four pieces were collected and published posthumously as "The Agony of Power", a polemic against power itself. The first piece, "From Domination to Hegemony", contrasts its two subjects, modes of power; domination stands for historical, traditional power relations, while hegemony stands for modern, more sophisticated power relations as realized by states and businesses. Baudrillard decried the "cynicism" with which contemporary businesses openly state their business models. For example, he cited French television channel TF1 executive Patrick Le Lay who stated that his business' job was "to help Coca-Cola sell its products." Baudrillard lamented that such honesty pre-empted and thus robbed the Left of its traditional role of critiquing governments and businesses: "In fact, Le Lay takes away the only power we had left. He steals our denunciation." Consequently, Baudrillard stated that "power itself must be abolished—and not solely in the refusal to be dominated…but also, just as violently, in the refusal to dominate."


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: The latter pieces included further analysis of the September 11 terrorist attacks, using the metaphor of the Native American potlatch to describe both American and Muslim societies, specifically the American state versus the hijackers. In the pieces' context, "potlatch" referred not to the gift-giving aspect of the ritual, but rather its wealth-destroying aspect: "The terrorists' potlatch against the West is their own death. Our potlatch is indignity, immodesty, obscenity, degradation and abjection." This criticism of the West carried notes of Baudrillard's simulacrum, the above cynicism of business, and contrast between Muslim and Western societies:We [the West] throw this indifference and abjection at others like a challenge: the challenge to defile themselves in return, to deny their values, to strip naked, confess, admit—to respond to a nihilism equal to our own.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: But Poster still argued for his contemporary relevance; he also attempted to refute the most extreme of Baudrillard's critics, the likes of Alan Sokal and Christopher Norris who see him as a purveyor of a form of reality-denying irrationalism:


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Only one of the two major confrontational books on Baudrillard's thought—Christopher Norris's "Uncritical Theory: Postmodernism, Intellectuals and the Gulf War"—seeks to reject his media theory and position on "the real" out of hand. The other—postmodern theorist Douglas Kellner's "Jean Baudrillard: From Marxism to Postmodernism and Beyond"—seeks rather to analyse Baudrillard's relation to postmodernism (a concept with which Baudrillard has had a continued, if uneasy and rarely explicit, relationship) and to present a Marxist counter. Regarding the former, William Merrin (discussed above) published more than one denunciation of Norris' position. The latter Baudrillard himself characterised as reductive.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Kellner commented that Baudrillard's views were 'ultra-leftist' in his writing of "Symbolic Exchange and Death". Baudrillard later admitted that his views could be classified as right-wing "in objective terms", but found the Left–right political spectrum arbitrary.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Mark Fisher pointed out that Baudrillard "is condemned, sometimes lionised, as the melancholic observer of a departed reality", asserting that Baudrillard "was certainly melancholic". Poster stated that "As the politics of the sixties receded so did Baudrillard's radicalism: from a position of firm leftism he gradually moved to one of bleak fatalism." Richard G. Smith, David B. Clarke and Marcus A. Doel instead consider Baudrillard "an extreme optimist". In an exchange between critical theorist McKenzie Wark and European Graduate School professor Geert Lovink, Wark remarked of Baudrillard that "Everything he wrote was marked by a radical sadness and yet invariably expressed in the happiest of forms." Baudrillard himself wrote in "Cool Memories 1980-1985" that he wanted to "accuse himself of... being profoundly carnal and melancholy...AMEN".


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Native American (Anishinaabe) writer Gerald Vizenor made extensive use of Baudrillard's concepts of simulation in his critical work.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: The Wachowskis said that Baudrillard influenced "The Matrix" (1999), and Neo hides money and disks containing information in "Simulacra and Simulation". Adam Gopnik wondered whether Baudrillard, who had not embraced the movie, was "thinking of suing for a screen credit," but Baudrillard himself disclaimed any connection to "The Matrix", calling it at best a misreading of his ideas.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: Some reviewers have noted that Charlie Kaufman's film "Synecdoche, New York" seems inspired by Baudrillard's "Simulacra and Simulation".


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: The album "Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?" by rock band Deerhunter was influenced by Baudrillard's essay of the same name.


title: Jean Baudrillard

text: "I am not interested in the rules of the game of the symbolic. By 'symbolic' I do not mean the Lacanian symbolic but the universe of mental simulation. . . . For me the symbolic order is the register of desire, where ideology is fatal. The Lacanian sign is a chain of representations, but I am interested in another kind of sign, which is elliptical, as in poetry, where the sign is fatal" (2015, 49–50). https://muse.jhu.edu/article/751101/summary


title: Georgians

text: The Georgians, or Kartvelians (; , ), are a nation and indigenous Caucasian ethnic group native to Georgia and the South Caucasus. Georgian diaspora communities are also present throughout Russia, Turkey, Greece, Iran, Ukraine, United States, and European Union.


title: Georgians

text: Georgians arose from Colchian and Iberian civilizations of classical antiquity; Colchis was interconnected with the Hellenic world, whereas Iberia was influenced by the Achaemenid Empire until Alexander the Great conquered it. In the 4th century, the Georgians became one of the first to embrace Christianity and now the majority of Georgians are Orthodox Christians, with most following their national autocephalous Georgian Orthodox Church, although there are small Georgian Catholic and Muslim communities as well as a significant number of irreligious Georgians. Located in the Caucasus, on the continental crossroads of Europe and Asia, the High Middle Ages saw Georgian people form a unified Kingdom of Georgia in 1008 AD, the pan-Caucasian empire, later inaugurating the Georgian Golden Age, a height of political and cultural power of the nation. This lasted until the kingdom was weakened and later disintegrated as the result of the 13th–15th-century invasions of the Mongols and Timur, the Black Death, the Fall of Constantinople, as well as internal divisions following the death of George V the Brilliant in 1346, the last of the great kings of Georgia.


title: Georgians

text: Thereafter and throughout the early modern period, Georgians became politically fractured and were dominated by the Ottoman Empire and successive dynasties of Iran. Georgians started looking for allies and found the Russians on the political horizon as a possible replacement for the lost Byzantine Empire, "for the sake of the Christian faith". The Georgian kings and Russian tsars exchanged no less than 17 embassies, which culminated in 1783, when Heraclius II of the eastern Georgian kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti forged an alliance with the Russian Empire. The Russo-Georgian alliance, however, backfired as Russia was unwilling to fulfill the terms of the treaty, proceeding to annex the troubled kingdom in 1801 as well as the western Georgian kingdom of Imereti in 1810. There were several uprisings and movements to restore the statehood, the most notable being the 1832 plot, which collapsed in failure. Eventually, Russian rule over Georgia was acknowledged in various peace treaties with Iran and the Ottomans, and the remaining Georgian territories were absorbed by the Russian Empire in a piecemeal fashion through the course of the 19th century. Georgians briefly reasserted their independence from Russia under the First Georgian Republic from 1918 to 1921 and finally in 1991 from the Soviet Union.


title: Georgians

text: The Georgian nation was formed out of a diverse set of geographic subgroups, each with its characteristic traditions, manners, dialects and, in the case of Svans and Mingrelians, own regional languages. The Georgian language, with its own unique writing system and extensive written tradition, which goes back to the 5th century, is the official language of Georgia as well as the language of education of all Georgians living in the country. According to the State Ministry on Diaspora Issues of Georgia, unofficial statistics say that there are more than 5 million Georgians in the world.


title: Georgians

text: Georgians call themselves "Kartvelebi" (ქართველები), their land "Sakartvelo" (საქართველო), and their language "Kartuli" (ქართული). According to "The Georgian Chronicles", the ancestor of the Kartvelian people was Kartlos, the great-grandson of the Biblical Japheth. However, scholars agree that the word is derived from the "Karts", the latter being one of the proto-Georgian tribes that emerged as a dominant group in ancient times. "Kart" probably is cognate with Indo-European "gard" and denotes people who live in a "fortified citadel". Ancient Greeks (Homer, Herodotus, Strabo, Plutarch etc.) and Romans (Titus Livius, Cornelius Tacitus, etc.) referred to western Georgians as Colchians and eastern Georgians as Iberians.


title: Georgians

text: The term "Georgians" is derived from the country of Georgia. In the past, lore-based theories were given by the medieval French traveller Jacques de Vitry, who explained the name's origin by the popularity of St. George amongst Georgians, while traveller Jean Chardin thought that "Georgia" came from Greek γεωργός ("tiller of the land"), as when the Greeks came into the region (in Colchis) they encountered a developed agricultural society.


title: Georgians

text: However, as Prof. Alexander Mikaberidze adds, these explanations for the word "Georgians/Georgia" are rejected by the scholarly community, who point to the Persian word "gurğ/gurğān" ("wolf") as the root of the word. Starting with the Persian word "gurğ/gurğān", the word was later adopted in numerous other languages, including Slavic and West European languages. This term itself might have been established through the ancient Iranian appellation of the near-Caspian region, which was referred to as "Gorgan" ("land of the wolves").


title: Georgians

text: The eighteenth-century German professor of medicine and member of the British Royal Society Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, widely regarded one of the founders of the discipline of anthropology and the obsolete and disproven theory of biological race, regarded Georgians the most beautiful race of people in his opinion.


title: Georgians

text: Most historians and scholars of Georgia as well as anthropologists, archaeologists and linguists tend to agree that the ancestors of modern Georgians inhabited the southern Caucasus and northern Anatolia since the Neolithic period. Scholars usually refer to them as Proto-Kartvelian (Proto-Georgians such as Colchians and Iberians) tribes.


title: Georgians

text: The Georgian people in antiquity have been known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Colchians and Iberians. East Georgian tribes of Tibarenians-Iberians formed their kingdom in 7th century BCE. However, western Georgian tribes (Colchian tribes) established the first Georgian state of Colchis (circa 1350 BCE) before the foundation of the Kingdom of Iberia in the east. According to the numerous scholars of Georgia, the formations of these two early Georgian kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia, resulted in the consolidation and uniformity of the Georgian nation.


title: Georgians

text: According to the renowned scholar of the Caucasian studies Cyril Toumanoff, the Moschians also were one of the early proto-Georgian tribes which were integrated into the first early Georgian state of Iberia.


title: Georgians

text: The ancient Jewish chronicle by Josephus mentions Georgians as Iberes who were also called Thobel (Tubal). David Marshall Lang argued that the root "Tibar" gave rise to the form "Iber" that made the Greeks pick up the name "Iberian" in the end for the designation of the eastern Georgians.


title: Georgians

text: Diauehi in Assyrian sources and Taochi in Greek lived in the northeastern part of Anatolia. This ancient tribe is considered by many scholars as ancestors of the Georgians. Modern Georgians still refer to this region, which now belongs to present-day Turkey, as Tao-Klarjeti, an ancient Georgian kingdom. Some people there still speak the Georgian language.


title: Georgians

text: Colchians in the ancient western Georgian polity of Colchis were another proto-Georgian tribe. They are first mentioned in the Assyrian annals of Tiglath-Pileser I and in the annals of Urartian king Sarduri II, and also included western Georgian tribe of the Meskhetians.


title: Georgians

text: Both Colchians and Iberians played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the modern Georgian nation.


title: Georgians

text: An FTDNA collection of Georgian Y-DNA suggests that Georgians have the highest percentage of Haplogroup G (39.9%) among the general population recorded in any country. Georgians' Y-DNA also belongs to Haplogroup J (32.5%), R1b (8.6%), L (5.4%), R1a (4.2%),


title: Georgians

text: Georgian is the primary language for Georgians of all provenance, including those who speak other Kartvelian languages: Svans, Mingrelians and the Laz. The language known today as Georgian is a traditional language of the eastern part of the country which has spread to most of the present-day Georgia after the post-Christianization centralization in the first millennium CE. Today, Georgians regardless of their ancestral region use Georgian as their official language. The regional languages Svan and Mingrelian are languages of the west that were traditionally spoken in the pre-Christian Kingdom of Colchis, but later lost importance as the unified Kingdom of Georgia emerged. Their decline is largely due to the capital of the unified kingdom, Tbilisi, being in the eastern part of the country known as Kingdom of Iberia effectively making the language of the east an official language of the Georgian monarch.


title: Georgians

text: All of these languages comprise the Kartvelian language family along with the related language of the Laz people, which has speakers in both Turkey and Georgia.


title: Georgians

text: Georgian dialects include Imeretian, Racha-Lechkhumian, Gurian, Adjarian, Imerkhevian (in Turkey), Kartlian, Kakhetian, Ingilo (in Azerbaijan), Tush, Khevsur, Mokhevian, Pshavian, Fereydan dialect in Iran in Fereydunshahr and Fereydan, Mtiuletian, Meskhetian and Javakhetian dialect.


title: Georgians

text: According to Orthodox tradition, Christianity was first preached in Georgia by the Apostles Simon and Andrew in the 1st century. It became the state religion of Kartli (Iberia) in 337. At the same time, in the first centuries A.D., the cult of Mithras, pagan beliefs, and Zoroastrianism were commonly practiced in Georgia. The conversion of Kartli to Christianity is credited to St. Nino of Cappadocia. Christianity gradually replaced all the former religions except Zoroastrianism, which become a second established religion in Iberia after the Peace of Acilisene in 378. The conversion to Christianity eventually placed the Georgians permanently on the front line of conflict between the Islamic and Christian world. Georgians remained mostly Christian despite repeated invasions by Muslim powers, and long episodes of foreign domination.


title: Georgians

text: As was true elsewhere, the Christian church in Georgia was crucial to the development of a written language, and most of the earliest written works were religious texts. Medieval Georgian culture was greatly influenced by Eastern Orthodoxy and the Georgian Orthodox Church, which promoted and often sponsored the creation of many works of religious devotion. These included churches and monasteries, works of art such as icons, and hagiographies of Georgian saints.


title: Georgians

text: Today, 83.9% of the Georgian population, most of whom are ethnic Georgian, follow Eastern Orthodox Christianity.


title: Georgians

text: A sizable Georgian Muslim population exists in Adjara. This autonomous Republic borders Turkey, and was part of the Ottoman Empire for a longer amount of time than other parts of the country. Those Georgian Muslims practice the Sunni Hanafi form of Islam. Islam has however declined in Adjara during the 20th century, due to Soviet anti-religious policies, cultural integration with the national Orthodox majority, and strong missionary efforts by the Georgian Orthodox Church. Islam remains a dominant identity only in the eastern, rural parts of the Republic. In the early modern period, converted Georgian recruits were often used by the Persian and Ottoman Empires for elite military units such as the Mameluks, Qizilbash, and ghulams. The Georgians in Iran are all reportedly Shia Muslims today, while the Georgian minority in Turkey are mostly Sunni Muslim.


title: Georgians

text: In addition to traditional religious confessions, Georgia retains irreligious segments of society, as well as a significant portion of nominally religious individuals who do not actively practice their faith.


title: Georgians

text: The Georgian cuisine is specific to the country, but also contains some influences from other European culinary traditions, as well as those from the surrounding Western Asia. Each historical province of Georgia has its own distinct culinary tradition, such as Megrelian, Kakhetian, and Imeretian cuisines. In addition to various meat dishes, Georgian cuisine also offers a variety of vegetarian meals.


title: Georgians

text: The importance of both food and drink to Georgian culture is best observed during a Caucasian feast, or "supra", when a huge assortment of dishes is prepared, always accompanied by large amounts of wine, and dinner can last for hours. In a Georgian feast, the role of the "tamada" (toastmaster) is an important and honoured position.


title: Georgians

text: In countries of the former Soviet Union, Georgian food is popular due to the immigration of Georgians to other Soviet republics, in particular Russia. In Russia all major cities have many Georgian restaurants and Russian restaurants often feature Georgian food items on their menu.


title: Georgians

text: The Georgians have historically been classified into various subgroups based on the geographic region which their ancestors traditionally inhabited.


title: Georgians

text: Even if a member of any of these subgroups moves to a different region, they will still be known by the name of their ancestral region. For example, if a Gurian moves to Tbilisi (part of the Kartli region) he will not automatically identify himself as Kartlian despite actually living in Kartli. This may, however, change if substantial amount of time passes. For example, there are some Mingrelians who have lived in the Imereti region for centuries and are now identified as Imeretian or Imeretian-Mingrelians.


title: Georgians

text: Last names from mountainous eastern Georgian provinces (such as Kakheti, etc.) can be distinguished by the suffix –"uri" (ური), or –"uli" (ული). Most Svan last names typically end in –"ani" (ანი), Mingrelian in –"ia" (ია), -"ua" (უა), or -"ava" (ავა), and Laz in –"shi" (ში).


title: Georgians

text: The 1897 Russian census (which accounted people by language), had Imeretian, Svan and Mingrelian languages separate from Georgian.


title: Georgians

text: Svan and Mingrelian languages are both Kartvelian languages and are closely related to the national Georgian language.


title: Georgians

text: Laz people also may be considered Georgian based on their geographic location and religion. According to the London School of Economics' anthropologist Mathijs Pelkmans, Lazs residing in Georgia frequently identify themselves as "first-class Georgians" to show pride, while considering their Muslim counterparts in Turkey as "Turkified Lazs".


title: Gold reserve

text: A gold reserve is the gold held by a national central bank, intended mainly as a guarantee to redeem promises to pay depositors, note holders (e.g. paper money), or trading peers, during the eras of the gold standard, and also as a store of value, or to support the value of the national currency.


title: Gold reserve

text: The World Gold Council estimates that all the gold ever mined, and that is accounted for, totalled 190,040 metric tons in 2019 but other independent estimates vary by as much as 20%. At a price of US, reached on 16 August 2017, one metric ton of gold has a value of approximately $40.2 million. The total value of all gold ever mined, and that is accounted for, would exceed $7.5 trillion at that valuation and using WGC 2017 estimates.


title: Gold reserve

text: During most of history, a nation's gold reserves were considered its key financial asset and a major prize of war.


title: Gold reserve

text: A typical view was expressed in a secret memorandum by the British Chief of the Imperial General Staff from October 1939, at the beginning of World War II. The British Military and the British Secret Service laid out "measures to be taken in the event of an invasion of Holland and Belgium by Germany" and presented them to the War Cabinet:


title: Gold reserve

text: The Belgian government transferred one-third of its gold reserves to the UK, another third to Canada and the United States and most of the remainder to southern France. Following the outbreak of war, the gold held in France was sent to Dakar, the capital of Senegal, then part of the French colonial empire. This was against the Belgian Government's wishes, with the Belgians having directed the French to transfer it to the United States. After the Germans occupied Belgium and France in 1940, they demanded the Belgian gold reserve held in Senegal. In 1941, Vichy French officials arranged the transport of 4,944 boxes with 198 tonnes of gold to officials of the German Reichsbank and the German Government used it to purchase commodities and munitions from neutral countries. The Banque de France fully compensated the Belgian National Bank for the loss of its gold after the war.


title: Gold reserve

text: The IMF regularly maintains statistics of national assets as reported by various countries. This data is used by the World Gold Council to periodically rank and report the gold holdings of countries and official organizations.


title: Gold reserve

text: On 17 July 2015, China announced that it increased its gold reserves by about 57 percent from 1,054 to 1,658 tonnes, while disclosing its official gold reserves for the first time in six years.


title: Gold reserve

text: In July 2015, the State Bank of Vietnam stated that gold reserves totalled 10 tonnes. However, it was not ranked below due to the current absence of any published data.


title: Gold reserve

text: In 2019, the State Oil Fund of the Republic of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) extended the gold allocation limit from 5% to 10%, in accordance with the amendments made to the Investment Policy of the Fund for diversification purposes. However, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan does not hold any gold.


title: Gold reserve

text: The gold listed for each of the countries in the table may not be physically stored in the country listed, as central banks generally have not allowed independent audits of their reserves. Gold leasing by central banks could place into doubt the reported gold holdings in the table below.


title: Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

text: Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg (; 1 March 1868 – 28 June 1914) was the wife of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne. Their assassination in Sarajevo sparked a series of events that led, four weeks later, to World War I.


title: Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

text: Sophie was born in Stuttgart as the fourth daughter of Count Bohuslav Chotek von Chotkow und Wognin, a Bohemian aristocrat, Ambassador and a member of the House of Chotek, and his wife Countess Wilhelmine Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau (1838–1886).


title: Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

text: As a young woman, Sophie became a lady-in-waiting to Archduchess Isabella, the wife of Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen, head of the Bohemian cadet branch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.


title: Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

text: It is unknown where Sophie first met Archduke Franz Ferdinand, although it may have been at a ball in Prague in 1894. Franz Ferdinand, who was stationed at a military garrison in Prague, paid frequent visits to Halbturn Castle, the home of Archduke Friedrich, and it was assumed that he had fallen in love with Friedrich's eldest daughter, Archduchess Marie Christine. The liaison was discovered by Archduchess Isabella, herself only born into a mediatised family (the House of Croÿ). When Isabella discovered Franz Ferdinand's locket lying on the tennis court, she opened it, expecting a photo of her daughter. Instead, the locket contained a photo of Sophie. From this, a scandal ensued.


title: Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

text: Franz Ferdinand had become heir presumptive to the throne, after the suicide of his cousin Crown Prince Rudolf in 1889 and the death of his father Karl Ludwig of typhoid in 1896. As such his uncle, the Emperor Franz Joseph, informed him that he could not marry Sophie, who could not become an empress consort. To be an eligible consort for any member of the Imperial House of Habsburg-Lorraine, one needed to belong to one of the reigning or formerly reigning dynasties of Europe. Although the Chotek family were noble since at least the 14th century and had been made counts of the Holy Roman Empire in 1745, they were not of dynastic rank (although ironically Sophie was of royal blood by also being a descendant of Habsburgs, from Elisabeth, sister of King Rudolph I of Germany, Franz Ferdinand's ancestor).


title: Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

text: Franz Ferdinand refused to renounce Sophie to marry equally and beget an heir to the throne, compounding the scandal surrounding the death and illicit affair of the emperor's previous heir.


title: Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

text: In 1899, under pressure from family members (especially the Archduchess Maria Theresa, the emperor's formidable sister-in-law and Franz Ferdinand's stepmother) the couple were granted permission to wed. Franz Ferdinand was allowed to retain his place in the order of succession and a suitable title was promised for his future wife. However, to prevent Franz Ferdinand from attempting to proclaim his wife empress-queen or declaring their future children dynasts and thus eligible to inherit the crown (especially that of Hungary, where morganatic marriages were unknown to law) once he ascended the throne, he was compelled to appear at the Hofburg Imperial Palace before the gathered archdukes, ministers, and dignitaries of the court, the Cardinal-Archbishop of Vienna and the Primate of Hungary on 28 June 1900 to execute by signature an official instrument in which he publicly declared that Sophie would be his morganatic wife, never to bear the titles of empress, queen or archduchess, and acknowledging that their descendants would neither inherit nor be granted dynastic rights or privileges in any of the Habsburg realms.


title: Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

text: Sophie and Franz Ferdinand were married on 1 July 1900 at Reichstadt (now Zákupy) in Bohemia. The Emperor did not attend the nuptials, nor did any of the archdukes, including Franz Ferdinand's brothers. The only members of the Imperial family who were present were Franz Ferdinand's stepmother, Archduchess Maria Theresa, and her two daughters, Maria Annunciata and Elisabeth Amalie.


title: Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

text: Upon her marriage, Sophie was given the title "Fürstin von Hohenberg" ("Princess of Hohenberg") with the style of "Durchlaucht" ("Serene Highness"). In 1909, she was elevated to "Herzogin" (Duchess) and accorded the higher style of "Hoheit" ("Highness").


title: Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

text: Nonetheless, all of the archduchesses, mediatized princesses and countesses of Austria and Hungary took precedence before her. For the fourteen years of their marriage, Sophie never shared her husband's rank, title, or precedence. Her position at the Imperial court was humiliating, aggravated by the Imperial "Obersthofmeister", Alfred, 2nd Prince of Montenuovo, whose insecurity about his own morganatic background is said to have prompted him to rigorously enforce court protocol at Sophie's expense. Problems of protocol prevented many royal courts from hosting the couple despite Franz Ferdinand's position as heir to the throne. Nonetheless, some did so, including King George V and Queen Mary of the United Kingdom, who warmly welcomed the couple to Windsor Castle from 17–21 November 1913. Queen Mary's father, Francis, Duke of Teck, was the offspring of a morganatic marriage and was shunned by royal families in Europe.


title: Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

text: In 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand was invited by General Oskar Potiorek, Governor of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to watch troops on maneuvers for three days in Sarajevo, the provincial capital. Sophie was not usually allowed to accompany her husband on ceremonial visits because of her lower status, but on this occasion, Franz Ferdinand was invited as a military commander rather than a royal personage. The archduke therefore arranged for Sophie to join him on 28 June, the third and final day, for a troop review followed by a visit to the city to dedicate a new museum before returning to Vienna. The date coincided with the 14th anniversary of their Oath of Renunciation and was a rare opportunity to celebrate in public together, although he knew that the visit would be dangerous.


title: Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

text: At 10:10 am of Sunday, 28 June 1914, when the procession passed the Sarajevo central police station, Nedeljko Čabrinović hurled a hand grenade at the archduke's car. The driver accelerated when he saw the object flying towards the car and the grenade exploded under the wheel of the next car. Two of the occupants, Eric von Merizzi and Count Boos-Waldeck, were seriously wounded. Fourteen spectators were hit by bomb splinters.


title: Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

text: After attending the official reception at the City Hall, Franz Ferdinand asked about the members of his party that had been wounded by the bomb. When the archduke was told they were badly injured in hospital, he insisted on being taken to see them. A member of the archduke's staff, , suggested this might be dangerous, but General Oskar Potiorek, who was responsible for the safety of the Imperial party, replied, "Do you think Sarajevo is full of assassins?" However, Potiorek did accept it would be better if Sophie remained behind in the city hall. When Freiherr Morsey told Sophie about the revised plans, she refused to stay, arguing: "As long as the Archduke shows himself in public today I will not leave him."


title: Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

text: In order to avoid the city centre, Potiorek decided that the Imperial car should travel straight along the Appel Quay to the Sarajevo Hospital. However, Potiorek forgot to tell the driver, Leopold Loyka, about this decision. On the way to the hospital, by the Latin Bridge, the driver took a right turn into Franz Joseph Street. One of the conspirators, Gavrilo Princip, was standing on the corner at the time. Oskar Potiorek immediately realized the driver had taken the wrong route and shouted "What is this? This is the wrong way! We're supposed to take the Appel Quay!"


title: Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

text: The driver put his foot on the brake, and began to back up. In doing so he moved slowly past the waiting Gavrilo Princip. The assassin stepped forward, drew his pistol, and at a distance of about five feet, fired twice into the car. Franz Ferdinand was hit in the neck and Sophie in the abdomen. Sophie said to her husband, "For God's sake, what has happened to you?!" She then fell bleeding. Before losing consciousness he pleaded, "Sopherl! Sopherl! Don't die! Stay alive for our children!", using his pet name for the duchess. They were both dead within an hour.


title: Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

text: The bodies were transported to Trieste by the battleship and then to Vienna by special train for a joint funeral mass in a short ceremony at the Hofburg Palace attended by the immediate imperial family. The Archduke and Duchess were then taken to be entombed side by side as he had requested in the crypt of Artstetten Castle, the Habsburgs' summer home, because burial in the Imperial Crypt was forbidden to Sophie. Today the castle houses a museum in their memory.


title: Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg

text: Duchess Sophie's castle of Artstetten was selected as a main motif for the 10-euro Castle of Artstetten commemorative coin minted on 13 October 2004. The reverse of the coin shows the entrance to the Hohenberg family crypt, with left-set overlay profile portraits of Sophie and Archduke Franz Ferdinand.


title: Jaime Murray

text: Jaime Erica Murray (born 21 July 1976) is an English actress. She is known for playing Stacie Monroe in the BBC series "Hustle" (2004–2012), Lila West in the Showtime series "Dexter" (2007), Gaia in the Starz miniseries "" (2011), Olivia Charles in The CW series "Ringer" (2011–2012), Helena G. Wells in the Syfy series "Warehouse 13" (2010–2014), Stahma Tarr in the Syfy series "Defiance" (2013–2015), Fiona/the Black Fairy in the ABC series "Once Upon a Time" (2016–2017), Antoinette in The CW series "The Originals" (2018), and Nyssa al Ghul in "Gotham".


title: Jaime Murray

text: Murray was born on 21 July 1976 in Hammersmith, London, England, to Elaine and Billy Murray. Just before taking her A Levels, Murray was diagnosed with dyslexia. She briefly studied philosophy and psychology at the London School of Economics, but dropped out to train at the Drama Centre London, where she graduated in 2000.


title: Jaime Murray

text: Murray's first role was miming the lyrics in the original video of Stretch & Vern's dance track "I'm Alive" (1996). Some of her early television appearances included minor guest roles in BBC One's "Casualty", "The Bill", "Love Soup" and "ShakespeaRe-Told: The Taming of the Shrew".


title: Jaime Murray

text: Murray starred as Stacie Monroe in series 1–4 of "Hustle". She reprised that role in "Hustle", series 8.


title: Jaime Murray

text: Relocating to Los Angeles, Murray starred in "Dexter" as Lila West, Dexter Morgan's Narcotics Anonymous sponsor and the main antagonist in Season 2. In mid-2008, Murray joined the cast of The CW's series "Valentine", playing the lead character, Grace Valentine. The show began airing in October 2008 but was cancelled by the end of the month. Murray was cast in another CW show, "", as a wardrobe stylist, but the show was cancelled before she was able to appear.


title: Jaime Murray

text: She starred in the horror film "Devil's Playground" (2010), directed by Mark McQueen, and then appeared as Helena G. Wells on the Syfy series "Warehouse 13". Murray's portrayal of Wells received critical praise and was described as "saucy", "superb", as able to "anchor a series" and "endlessly fascinating". Her absence as the villainess in the season 3 Christmas episode, "The Greatest Gift", was bemoaned with the lamentation "she would have done it better". Murray was nominated for a 2012 Portal Award for her portrayal of Helena G. Wells on "Warehouse 13".


title: Jaime Murray

text: Murray also made a guest appearances on the Fox series "The Finder", where she played a drug co-ordinator. Murray starred in the Starz miniseries "", as Gaia, a longtime friend of Lucretia. Murray also had a guest appearance in 2009 on CBS series NCIS, playing ICE Agent Julia Foster-Yates.


title: Jaime Murray

text: Murray made an appearance on the "Partially Examined Life" philosophy podcast, playing a part in Sartre's "No Exit", alongside Lucy Lawless, Mark Linsenmayer and Wes Alwan.


title: Jaime Murray

text: From 2013, she portrayed the character of Stahma Tarr in the Syfy series "Defiance", which aired its final episode in August 2015. Murray had a recurring role in the sixth season of "Once Upon a Time" as the Black Fairy.


title: Jaime Murray

text: She has recently been cast in "The Originals" final season as Antoinette, a vampire Elijah meets soon after losing his memories.


title: Jaime Murray

text: Murray modelled clothing in television advertisements for Debenhams department store. She is signed to Models 1 in London and has appeared in men's magazines such as "GQ", "Mayfair" and "FHM", as well as women's magazines like "Hello!", "Cosmopolitan" and "OK!".


title: Estadio Azteca

text: Estadio Azteca () is a multi-purpose stadium located in Mexico City. It is the official home of football clubs Club América and Cruz Azul as well as the Mexico national football team. The stadium sits at an altitude of above sea level. With an official capacity of 87,523, it is the largest stadium in Mexico and Latin America. The National Football League (NFL) features one game at Estadio Azteca per season as a part of their International Series.


title: Estadio Azteca

text: Regarded as one of the most famous and iconic football stadiums in the world, it is the first to have hosted two FIFA World Cup Finals; in the 1970 World Cup Final, Brazil defeated Italy 4–1, and in the 1986 World Cup Final, Argentina defeated West Germany 3–2. It also hosted the 1986 quarter-final match between Argentina and England in which Diego Maradona scored both the "Hand of God goal" and the "Goal of the Century". The Estadio Azteca is the only football stadium in the world to have both Pelé (1970) and Diego Maradona (1986) win FIFA World Cups; both of whom are considered among the greatest football players of all time. The stadium also hosted the "Game of the Century", when Italy defeated West Germany 4–3 in extra time in one of the 1970 semifinal matches. The stadium was also the principal venue for the football tournament of the 1968 Summer Olympics and 1971 Women's World Cup. Additionally, it is scheduled to host games in the 2026 FIFA World Cup.


title: Estadio Azteca

text: The Estadio Azteca was envisioned as a major sports venue during the Presidency of Adolfo López Mateos, when Mexico was awarded the 1968 Summer Olympics, where the football final was held. The stadium was designed by architects Pedro Ramírez Vázquez and Rafael Mijares Alcérreca and broke ground in 1961. The inaugural match was between Club América and Torino F.C. on 29 May 1966, with a capacity for 107,494 spectators. The first goal was scored by Brazilian Arlindo Dos Santos and the second one by Brazilian José Alves; later, the Italians tied the game, which ended in 2–2 draw. Mexican president Gustavo Díaz Ordaz made the initial kick and FIFA president Sir Stanley Rous was the witness.


title: Estadio Azteca

text: A modern illumination system was inaugurated on 5 June 1966, with the first night game played between Spanish side Valencia C.F. and Necaxa. The first goal of the match was scored by Honduran José Cardona for Valencia. Roberto Martínez, aka Caña Brava, became the first Mexican to score a goal in the stadium after scoring for Necaxa. The result was a 3–1 victory for Valencia.


title: Estadio Azteca

text: In 1978 the stadium hosted the final of the Copa Interamericana between América and Boca Juniors of Argentina, and would host a final again in 1990 between América and Club Olimpia of Paraguay.


title: Estadio Azteca

text: The Estadio Azteca is also the site in which Pelé and Diego Maradona (during the 1970 and 1986 FIFA World Cup) lifted the trophy for the last time (The Jules Rimet Trophy and the current FIFA World Cup Trophy, respectively).


title: Estadio Azteca

text: Estadio Azteca has also been used for musical performances throughout its history. Michael Jackson (5 sold-out shows in 1993), Menudo (in 1983), U2 (in 2006 and 2011), Luis Miguel (in 2002), Paul McCartney (in 2012 and 2017), Elton John, Maná, Juan Gabriel, Gloria Estefan, Jaguares, Lenny Kravitz, *Nsync, Hanson, Ana Gabriel, and The Three Tenors all have become part of the stadium's main spectacle. The stadium has also been used for political events, including Mexican president Felipe Calderón's campaign closure in 2006, as well as religious events, such as Jehovah's Witnesses conventions, and the appearance of Pope John Paul II in 1999.


title: Estadio Azteca

text: In April 2017, it was announced that starting July 2018, Cruz Azul would relocate to the Azteca on a temporary basis, due to the impending demolition of the Estadio Azul. According to club owner Guillermo Álvarez, they plan on building a new private stadium, which could take an estimated three-to-four years.


title: Estadio Azteca

text: The stadium is scheduled to host games during the 2026 FIFA World Cup that will take place in the United States, Mexico and Canada. It will be the third time Azteca hosts World Cup games as the 1970 and 1986 games took place at the stadium. Additionally, it is currently vying for the inaugural game with SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles as another possible venue for the game.


title: Estadio Azteca

text: The stadium has undergone gradual improvements and renovations, including the replacing of seating within the stadium as well as the installation of electronic advertising boards. In May 2015, modern Panasonic LED panels were installed at the north and south ends of the stadium, replacing the phosphorous panels installed in 1998.


title: Estadio Azteca

text: In February 2015, a vast renovation plan was unveiled with the intention that the completion of the project coincide with the stadium's 50th anniversary and with Club América's centenary in 2016, as well as the construction of a commercial hub outside the stadium to be completed some time in 2019. It was reported that Grupo Televisa, owners of the stadium, approved a joint-venture bid from private development firms IQ Real Estate and Alhel. The hub, named "Foro Azteca", would reportedly consist of a mall, office spaces, two hotels, new leisure spaces, and parking spaces for 2,500 cars. The renovations to the stadium were planned in two phases: the first saw the demolition of the restaurant and seating at the lower east stand and the construction of a new hospitality area with dining and banqueting spaces, and the second saw the construction of new media boxes and private skyboxes at the upper west stand. The renovations to the stadium were completed in November 2016. The seating capacity was ultimately reduced to 87,000 as a result of the renovations.


title: Estadio Azteca

text: The name "Azteca" is a tribute to the Aztec heritage of Mexico City. The stadium is currently owned by Mexican multimedia conglomerate Televisa, which has a heated media rivalry with the similarly named TV Azteca. Although there had been little to no confusion between the stadium and television network (which itself had only come into existence four years before in 1993), Televisa officially changed the stadium's name to Estadio Guillermo Cañedo on 20 January 1997, in tribute to Guillermo Cañedo de la Bárcena, a top network executive, former Mexican Football Federation president, and a prominent member of the FIFA executive committee who had died that day. As with the similar situation with the defunct Candlestick Park in San Francisco in the United States and its sponsored names, few outside of Televisa itself took up the new name, and most of the general public probably had no thought about the stadium's ownership (much less the Televisa/Azteca rivalry) and continued to refer to the Estadio Azteca by its original (and current) name. After two of Cañedo's sons took a business interest in TV Azteca in 1998, Televisa quietly returned to referring to it solely as Estadio Azteca.


title: Estadio Azteca

text: Known colloquially by the nickname "Coloso de Santa Úrsula", which in English translates to "Colossus of Saint Ursula", due to its large structure and Santa Úrsula referring to the suburb where the stadium is located.


title: Estadio Azteca

text: It is served by the Azteca station on the Xochimilco Light Rail line. This line is an extension of the Mexico City metro system which begins at Metro Tasqueña station and ends in the Xochimilco Light Rail Station.


title: Estadio Azteca

text: Tickets are available up until kick-off times from the ticket office which is located at the front of the stadium, located towards the exit ramps from the Azteca station. Prices start from as little as MXN$100 (about US$5 as of 2016), and could cost up to MXN$500 (about US$26 as of 2016) for more high-profile matches.


title: Estadio Azteca

text: A commemorative bronze plaque of the "Game of the Century" played between Italy and West Germany, as well as Diego Maradona's "Goal of the Century" against England.


title: Estadio Azteca

text: There is also a commemorative plaque with the names of the first goal scorer in the inaugural match and in the first match played at night.


title: Estadio Azteca

text: On 25 April 2022, a fight involving association football fans and the police ensued after a Cruz Azul versus Atlético San Luis game. No arrests or injuries were reported. San Luis won the game, 1-0.


title: Epic film

text: Epic films are a style of filmmaking with large-scale, sweeping scope, and spectacle. The usage of the term has shifted over time, sometimes designating a film genre and at other times simply synonymous with big-budget filmmaking. Like epics in the classical literary sense it is often focused on a heroic character. An epic's ambitious nature helps to set it apart from other types of film such as the period piece or adventure film.


title: Epic film

text: Epic historical films would usually take a historical or a mythical event and add an extravagant setting and lavish costumes, accompanied by an expansive musical score with an ensemble cast, which would make them among the most expensive of films to produce. The most common subjects of epic films are royalty, and important figures from various periods in world history.


title: Epic film

text: The term "epic" originally came from the poetic genre exemplified by such works as the "Epic of Gilgamesh" and the works of the Trojan War Cycle. In classical literature, epics are considered works focused on deeds or journeys of heroes upon which the fate of many people depends. Similarly, films described as "epic" typically take a historical character, or a mythic heroic figure. Common subjects of epics are royalty, gladiators, great military leaders, or leading personalities from various periods in world history. However, there are some films described as "epic" almost solely on the basis of their enormous scope and the sweeping panorama of their settings such as "How the West Was Won" or "East of Eden" that do not have the typical substance of classical epics but are directed in an epic style.


title: Epic film

text: When described as "epic" because of content, an epic movie is often set during a time of war or other societal crisis, while usually covering a longer span of time sometimes throughout entire generations coming and passing away, in terms of both the events depicted and the running time of the film. Such films usually have a historical setting, although speculative fiction (i.e. fantasy or science fiction) settings have become common in recent decades. The central conflict of the film is usually seen as having far-reaching effects, often changing the course of history. The main characters' actions are often central to the resolution of the societal conflict.


title: Epic film

text: In its classification of films by genre, the American Film Institute limits the genre to historical films such as "Ben-Hur". However, film scholars such as Constantine Santas are willing to extend the label to science-fiction films such as "" and "Star Wars". Lynn Ramey suggests that "Surely one of the hardest film genres to define is that of the "epic" film, encompassing such examples as "Ben-Hur", "Gone with the Wind" and more recently, "300" and the "Star Wars" films none of these comes from literary epics "per se", and there is little that links them with one another. Among those who espouse film genre studies, epic is one of the most despised and ignored genres". Finally, although the "American Movie Channel" formally defines epic films as historical films, they nonetheless state the epic film may be combined with the genre of science-fiction and cite "Star Wars" as an example.


title: Epic film

text: Stylistically, films classed as epic usually employ spectacular settings and specially designed costumes, often accompanied by a sweeping musical score, and an ensemble cast of bankable stars. Epics are usually among the most expensive of films to produce. They often use on-location filming, authentic period costumes, and action scenes on a massive scale. Biographical films may be less lavish versions of this genre.


title: Epic film

text: Many writers may refer to any film that is "long" (over two hours) as an epic, making the definition epic a matter of dispute, and raise questions as to whether it is a "genre" at all. As Roger Ebert put it, in his "Great Movies" article on "Lawrence of Arabia":


title: Epic film

text: The epic is among the oldest of film genres, with one early notable example being Giovanni Pastrone's "Cabiria", a three-hour silent film about the Punic Wars, which laid the groundwork for the subsequent silent epics of D. W. Griffith.


title: Epic film

text: The genre reached a peak of popularity in the early 1960s, when Hollywood frequently collaborated with foreign film studios (such as Rome's Cinecittà) to use relatively exotic locations in Spain, Morocco, and elsewhere for the production of epic films such as "El Cid" (1961) or "Lawrence of Arabia" (1962). This boom period of international co-productions is generally considered to have ended with "Cleopatra" (1963), "The Fall of the Roman Empire" (1964), and "Doctor Zhivago" (1965). Nevertheless, films in this genre continued to appear, with one notable example being "War and Peace", which was released in the former Soviet Union during 1967–1968.


title: Epic film

text: Epic films continue to be produced, although since the development of CGI they typically use computer effects instead of an actual cast of thousands. Since the 1950s, such films have regularly been shot with a wide aspect ratio for a more immersive and panoramic theatrical experience.


title: Epic film

text: The enduring popularity of the epic is often accredited to their ability to appeal to a wide audience. Many of the highest-grossing films of all-time have been epics. James Cameron's 1997 film "Titanic", which is cited as helping to revive the genre, grossed $659 million domestically and over $2.1 billion worldwide, making it the third highest-grossing film of all-time behind "" and "Avatar", another James Cameron epic which grossed $2.7 billion worldwide. If inflation is taken into account, then the historical romantic epic "Gone with the Wind" becomes the highest-grossing film ever in the United States (two other romantic epics, "Titanic" and "Doctor Zhivago" also feature in the top ten as the 5th and 8th highest grossers respectively). Adjusted for inflation, it earned the equivalent of $1.6 billion in the United States alone. Adjusted for ticket price inflation, the science fiction/fantasy epic "Star Wars" stands at number 2, with an inflated gross of $1.4 billion in the United States.


title: Epic film

text: So far the most Academy Awards ever won by a single film stands at 11. This feat has only been achieved by three films: "Ben-Hur" (1959), "Titanic" (1997) and "" (2003), all of which are above three hours long and considered epic films. The previous record holder was "Gone with the Wind" (1939), also an epic, with 10 awards.


title: European Economic Community

text: The European Economic Community (EEC) was a regional organization created by the Treaty of Rome of 1957, aiming to foster economic integration among its member states. It was subsequently renamed the European Community (EC) upon becoming integrated into the first pillar of the newly formed European Union in 1993. In the popular language, however, the singular "European Community" was sometimes inaccuratelly used in the wider sense of the plural "European Communities", in spite of the latter designation covering all the three constituent entities of the first pillar.


title: European Economic Community

text: In 2009, the EC formally ceased to exist and its institutions were directly absorbed by the EU. This made the Union the formal successor institution of the Community.


title: European Economic Community

text: The Community's initial aim was to bring about economic integration, including a common market and customs union, among its six founding members: Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany. It gained a common set of institutions along with the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM) as one of the European Communities under the 1965 Merger Treaty (Treaty of Brussels). In 1993 a complete single market was achieved, known as the internal market, which allowed for the free movement of goods, capital, services, and people within the EEC. In 1994 the internal market was formalised by the EEA agreement. This agreement also extended the internal market to include most of the member states of the European Free Trade Association, forming the European Economic Area, which encompasses 15 countries.


title: European Economic Community

text: Upon the entry into force of the Maastricht Treaty in 1993, the EEC was renamed the European Community to reflect that it covered a wider range than economic policy. This was also when the three European Communities, including the EC, were collectively made to constitute the first of the three pillars of the European Union, which the treaty also founded. The EC existed in this form until it was abolished by the 2009 Treaty of Lisbon, which incorporated the EC's institutions into the EU's wider framework and provided that the EU would "replace and succeed the European Community".


title: European Economic Community

text: The EEC was also known as the European Common Market in the English-speaking countries and sometimes referred to as the European Community even before it was officially renamed as such in 1993.


title: European Economic Community

text: In April 1951, the Treaty of Paris was signed, creating the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). This was an international community based on supranationalism and international law, designed to help the economy of Europe and prevent future war by integrating its members.


title: European Economic Community

text: With the aim of creating a federal Europe two further communities were proposed: a European Defence Community and a European Political Community. While the treaty for the latter was being drawn up by the Common Assembly, the ECSC parliamentary chamber, the proposed defense community was rejected by the French Parliament. ECSC President Jean Monnet, a leading figure behind the communities, resigned from the High Authority in protest and began work on alternative communities, based on economic integration rather than political integration. After the Messina Conference in 1955, Paul Henri Spaak was given the task to prepare a report on the idea of a customs union. The so-called Spaak Report of the Spaak Committee formed the cornerstone of the intergovernmental negotiations at Val Duchesse conference centre in 1956. Together with the Ohlin Report the Spaak Report would provide the basis for the Treaty of Rome.


title: European Economic Community

text: In 1956, Paul Henri Spaak led the Intergovernmental Conference on the Common Market and Euratom at the Val Duchesse conference centre, which prepared for the Treaty of Rome in 1957. The conference led to the signature, on 25 March 1957, of the Treaty of Rome establishing a European Economic Community.


title: European Economic Community

text: The resulting communities were the European Economic Community (EEC) and the European Atomic Energy Community (EURATOM or sometimes EAEC). These were markedly less supranational than the previous communities, due to protests from some countries that their sovereignty was being infringed (however there would still be concerns with the behaviour of the Hallstein Commission). Germany became a founding member of the EEC, and Konrad Adenauer was made leader in a very short time. The first formal meeting of the Hallstein Commission was held on 16 January 1958 at the Chateau de Val-Duchesse. The EEC (direct ancestor of the modern Community) was to create a customs union while Euratom would promote co-operation in the nuclear power sphere. The EEC rapidly became the most important of these and expanded its activities. One of the first important accomplishments of the EEC was the establishment (1962) of common price levels for agricultural products. In 1968, internal tariffs (tariffs on trade between member nations) were removed on certain products.


title: European Economic Community

text: Another crisis was triggered in regard to proposals for the financing of the Common Agricultural Policy, which came into force in 1962. The transitional period whereby decisions were made by unanimity had come to an end, and majority-voting in the council had taken effect. Then-French President Charles de Gaulle's opposition to supranationalism and fear of the other members challenging the CAP led to an "empty chair policy" whereby French representatives were withdrawn from the European institutions until the French veto was reinstated. Eventually, a compromise was reached with the Luxembourg compromise on 29 January 1966 whereby a gentlemen's agreement permitted members to use a veto on areas of national interest.


title: European Economic Community

text: On 1 July 1967 when the Merger Treaty came into operation, combining the institutions of the ECSC and Euratom into that of the EEC, they already shared a Parliamentary Assembly and Courts. Collectively they were known as the "European Communities". The Communities still had independent personalities although were increasingly integrated. Future treaties granted the community new powers beyond simple economic matters which had achieved a high level of integration. As it got closer to the goal of political integration and a peaceful and united Europe, what Mikhail Gorbachev described as a "Common European Home".


title: European Economic Community

text: The 1960s saw the first attempts at enlargement. In 1961, Denmark, Ireland, the United Kingdom and Norway (in 1962), applied to join the three Communities. However, President Charles de Gaulle saw British membership as a Trojan horse for U.S. influence and vetoed membership, and the applications of all four countries were suspended. Greece became the first country to join the EC in 1961 as an associate member, however its membership was suspended in 1967 after a coup d'état established a military dictatorship called the Regime of the Colonels.


title: European Economic Community

text: A year later, in February 1962, Spain attempted to join the European Communities. However, because Francoist Spain was not a democracy, all members rejected the request in 1964.


title: European Economic Community

text: The four countries resubmitted their applications on 11 May 1967 and with Georges Pompidou succeeding Charles de Gaulle as French president in 1969, the veto was lifted. Negotiations began in 1970 under the pro-European UK government of Edward Heath, who had to deal with disagreements relating to the Common Agricultural Policy and the UK's relationship with the Commonwealth of Nations. Nevertheless, two years later the accession treaties were signed so that Denmark, Ireland and the UK joined the Community effective 1 January 1973. The Norwegian people had finally rejected membership in a referendum on 25 September 1972.


title: European Economic Community

text: The Treaties of Rome had stated that the European Parliament must be directly elected, however this required the Council to agree on a common voting system first. The Council procrastinated on the issue and the Parliament remained appointed, French President Charles de Gaulle was particularly active in blocking the development of the Parliament, with it only being granted Budgetary powers following his resignation.


title: European Economic Community

text: Parliament pressured for agreement and on 20 September 1976 the Council agreed part of the necessary instruments for election, deferring details on electoral systems which remain varied to this day. During the tenure of President Jenkins, in June 1979, the elections were held in all the then-members (see 1979 European Parliament election). The new Parliament, galvanised by direct election and new powers, started working full-time and became more active than the previous assemblies.


title: European Economic Community

text: Shortly after its election, the Parliament proposed that the Community adopt the flag of Europe design used by the Council of Europe. The European Council in 1984 appointed an "ad hoc" committee for this purpose. The European Council in 1985 largely followed the Committee's recommendations, but as the adoption of a flag was strongly reminiscent of a national flag representing statehood, was controversial, the "flag of Europe" design was adopted only with the status of a "logo" or "emblem".


title: European Economic Community

text: The European Council, or European summit, had developed since the 1960s as an informal meeting of the Council at the level of heads of state. It had originated from then-French President Charles de Gaulle's resentment at the domination of supranational institutions (e.g. the Commission) over the integration process. It was mentioned in the treaties for the first time in the Single European Act (see below).


title: European Economic Community

text: Greece re-applied to join the community on 12 June 1975, following the restoration of democracy, and joined on 1 January 1981. Following on from Greece, and after their own democratic restoration, Spain and Portugal applied to the communities in 1977 and joined together on 1 January 1986. In 1987 Turkey formally applied to join the Community and began the longest application process for any country.


title: European Economic Community

text: With the prospect of further enlargement, and a desire to increase areas of co-operation, the Single European Act was signed by the foreign ministers on 17 and 28 February 1986 in Luxembourg and The Hague respectively. In a single document it dealt with reform of institutions, extension of powers, foreign policy cooperation and the single market. It came into force on 1 July 1987. The act was followed by work on what would be the Maastricht Treaty, which was agreed on 10 December 1991, signed the following year and coming into force on 1 November 1993 establishing the European Union, and paving the way for the European Monetary Union.


title: European Economic Community

text: The EU absorbed the European Communities as one of its three pillars. The EEC's areas of activities were enlarged and were renamed the "European Community", continuing to follow the supranational structure of the EEC. The EEC institutions became those of the EU, however the Court, Parliament and Commission had only limited input in the new pillars, as they worked on a more intergovernmental system than the European Communities. This was reflected in the names of the institutions, the Council was formally the "Council of the "European Union"" while the Commission was formally the "Commission of the "European Communities"".


title: European Economic Community

text: However, after the Treaty of Maastricht, Parliament gained a much bigger role. Maastricht brought in the codecision procedure, which gave it equal legislative power with the Council on Community matters. Hence, with the greater powers of the supranational institutions and the operation of Qualified Majority Voting in the Council, the Community pillar could be described as a far more federal method of decision making.