At 4:30 -0800 02/03/13, cellular qwerty wrote: >As far as the driving licence is concerned: > >1. Yes. there is a single licence for the European >Union. It is valid in all EU countries. See: >http://www.dvla.gov.uk/drivers/yrfulldl.htm
Let me disagree. There is no - for the moment - any "european driving license". Each member state issues its own driving license documents. But they are all designed on the same model, using pictograms for the various categories, etc. And they are all valid in all EU member countries - in fact, in most countries in the world, including the USA, as long as you are not a permanent resident. >2. There is a technicality that I don't understand - >it is called a 'European Community' licence rather >than a 'European Union' licence. Does anybody know >why? Yes, the difference between "European Community" (EC) and "European Union" (EU) is subtle and difficult to explain ! Let me try to make it as simple as possible. The term "European Union" has been introduced by the Maastricht Treaty to reflect the fact that the political union of member states was becoming stronger and stronger - the treaty was, for example, providing the basis for a common defence policy, even a common army. The term "European Community" still exists and refers to the "acquis communautaire", i.e. the bunch of laws, regulations, etc. applying to all members states. Including regulations on driving. This was previously called "European Economic Community" (EEC), but the word "economic" was dropped in the eighties to reflect the move towards political integration. In short, EU = the political aspects, EC the technical ones. BTW, our passports bear the mention "European Community". >The greater >use of icons appears to be a European cultural thing. >America often uses words where Europe has icons. This >is apparent in road signs. In addition, modern fire >exits in Europe have no words, just icons. Right. But there are - for the moment ! - 11 official languages in the European Union. How many when the 13 candidate countries will join ? >4. There is no photo on the licence. Although a >separate photocard version is gradually being >introduced. The driving licence is simply a piece of >administrative paper. May be true in UK, not elsewhere. I have always had my photo on my driving license. >5. The US tradition of using driving licence as ID >does not apply in Europe. In France, a driving license (with a photo) is normally accepted as a ID. >Most countries have a >separate ID card. The UK is an exception and has no ID >at all (I think that there is another exception - >Sweden?) No. It used to be the Netherlands. >Much of the ID requirement in the US is for >alcohol control. Since Europe is more liberal with >alcohol What ?? Have you ever driven in Sweden or other Northern Europe countries ? Louis
