The airport that serves Aachen, Maastricht Aachen Airport, is located about 40 km away in Dutch territory, close to the town of Beek.

A 13 year long observation performed by the University of Maastricht, the Netherlands, on 120, 000 subjects between 55 and 70, has shown that increased intake of acrylamide ( formed when potatoes are baked or fried ) is correlated with a 60 % higher rate of kidney cancer.

* 1992 – The Maastricht Treaty is signed, leading to the creation of the European Union.

Maastricht is situated on both sides of the Meuse river ( Dutch: Maas ) in the south-eastern part of the Netherlands, on the Belgian border ( with both the Dutch-speaking Flemish and French-speaking Walloon region within easy reach from the city centre ) and near the German border.

The name Maastricht is derived from Latin Trajectum ad Mosam ( or Mosae Trajectum ), meaning ' crossing at the Meuse ', and referring to the bridge built by the Romans.

There is some debate as to whether Maastricht is the oldest city in the Netherlands.

A resident of Maastricht is referred to as Maastrichtenaar whilst in the local dialect it is either Mestreechteneer or, colloquially, Sjeng ( derived from the formerly popular French name Jean ).

It is not known exactly when the Romans arrived in Maastricht, or whether the settlement was founded by them.

Maastricht Romanesque stone sculpture is regarded as one of the highlights of Mosan art.

In 1748 the French once again conquered the city at what is known as the Second French Siege of Maastricht, during the War of Austrian Succession.

The Meuse is navigable over a substantial part of its total length: In the Netherlands and Belgium, the river is part of the major inland navigation infrastructure, connecting the Rotterdam-Amsterdam-Antwerp port areas to the industrial areas upstream: Hertogenbosch, Venlo, Maastricht, Liège, Namur.

Between Maastricht and Maasbracht, an unnavigable section of the Meuse is bypassed by the 36 km Juliana Canal.

Being a small country with a history of neutrality it was the host country for the important Maastricht Treaty and Amsterdam Treaty and is the seat of the International Court of Justice.

* February 7 – The Maastricht Treaty is signed, founding the European Union.

* April – Maastricht is conquered by Maurice de Saxe.

Maastricht in the Netherlands is also the headquarters of the European Centre for Development Policy Management ( ECDPM ) a " think and do tank " with a Europe and Africa focus.

* March – Maastricht is captured by the Spanish under Parma.

Kohl is widely regarded as one of the main architects of the German reunification and, together with French President François Mitterrand, the Maastricht Treaty, which contributed to the creation of the European Union.

The Zuid-Willemsvaart (" South Willem's Canal ") is a canal in the southern Netherlands, providing a shortcut in river Meuse between the cities of Maastricht and's-Hertogenbosch.

In Europe, progress towards forming a federal union of European states gained much momentum, starting in 1952 as a trade deal between the German and French people lead, in 1992, to the Maastricht Treaty that established the name and enlarged the agreement that the European Union ( EU ) is based upon.

Maastricht Aachen Airport is located in the municipality of Beek.

This resulted in the creation by the Maastricht Treaty of the Committee of the Regions, and provision for member states to be represented in the Council by ministers from their regional governments.

The Maastricht Treaty established that, while reaching the objectives of the Union, and notably the freedom of movement, the member states consider the following as areas of common interest under Justice and Home Affairs:

It was created, on the foundations of the TREVI cooperation, as the Justice and Home Affairs pillar by the Maastricht treaty in order to advance cooperation in criminal and justice fields without member states sacrificing a great deal of sovereignty.

Before the Maastricht Treaty, member states cooperated at the intergovernmental level in various sectors relating to free movement and personal security (" group of co-ordinators ", CELAD, TREVI ) as well as in customs co-operation ( GAM ) and judicial policy.

With Maastricht, Justice and Home Affairs co-operation aimed at reinforcing actions taken by member states while allowing a more coherent approach of these actions, by offering new tools for coordinating actions.

However, according to the 1993 Maastricht Accord the European Union does not prevent member states from maintaining or introducing more stringent laws on working conditions, social policy, consumer protection and the environment, so long as these laws are compliant with the Treaty of Rome, which has relevant provisions in these areas.

The UK subsequently was the only member state to vetoed the Social Charter being included as the " Social Chapter " of the 1992 Maastricht Treaty, instead an Agreement on Social Policy was added as a protocol.

The failing wars intended to regain the ' heretical ' Northern Netherlands meant significant loss of ( still mainly Catholic ) territories in the north, which was consolidated in the 1648 Westphalian peace, and given the peculiar, inferior status of Generality Lands ( jointly ruled by the United Republic, not admitted as member provinces ): Zeeuws-Vlaanderen ( south of the river Scheldt ), the present Dutch province of Noord-Brabant and Maastricht ( in the present Dutch province of Limburg ).

According to the Maastricht Treaty, each current member state and the European Parliament must agree to any enlargement.

Farage is a founding member of the UKIP, having left the Conservative Party in 1992 after they signed the Maastricht Treaty.

By that December, the Intergovernmental Conference was coming to an end and the member states had pledged themselves to establishing Europol through Article K. 1 ( 9 ) of the Maastricht Treaty.

Political leaders in the province of Limburg, most notably Sjeng Tans, the chairman of the Dutch Labour Party and former member of the Limburg provincial council and Maastricht city council, successfully lobbied for the new medical school to be established in Maastricht.

Howard was a member of the Conservative Government that rejected calls for a referendum on the Maastricht Treaty in 1993.

: The State may ratify the Treaty on European Union signed at Maastricht on the 7th day of February, 1992, and may become a member of that Union.

A former member of the Conservative Party, Sykes left the party in 1991 in a dispute over the Maastricht Treaty.

However, specific EU policy on cultural cooperation began between member states since its inclusion in the 1992 Maastricht Treaty.

The European Community ( EC ) is a multigovernmental legislative structure that, through the Treaty of European Union ( Maastricht ) in 1992, the Treaty of Amsterdam in 1997, and various other agreements has promoted full economic integration of its member states.

In 1899 Ruijs de Beerenbrouck became a member of the Maastricht City council and in 1905 he was elected to the House of Representatives.

The euro convergence criteria ( also known as the Maastricht criteria ) are the criteria for European Union member states to enter the third stage of European Economic and Monetary Union ( EMU ) and adopt the euro as their currency.

While that text was not adopted by the member states, it triggered the negotiations and provided the impetus for the Single European Act and the Maastricht Treaty ( which established the European Union ).

Measures which sought to harmonising extradition rules across EU member states go back to the mid 1990s when the EU institutes two treaties under the Maastricht Treaty which sought to streamline existing extradition procedures under the European Convention on Extradition.

He was a member of Parliament from 1979 to 1997 and one of the Maastricht Rebels against the embattled administration of John Major during the mid-1990s.

With the support of his uncle, who was a member of the Maastricht government, and the salesman Johann Maria Farina ( real name Giovanni Maria Farina ), Johann Baptist Farina ( II ) signed on 1 August 1709 a twelve year contract to rent a building at the junction of the streets Großen Bottengassen and Goldschmidts, now known as Unter Goldschmidt, Cologne.