European Union Essay Research Paper Executive SummaryThis

European Union Essay, Research Paper

Executive Summary

This report is a brief informational overview of past, present and future actions towards a unified Europe.

European Union

The European Union consists of 15 countries. Under the Union these countries will have one currency, one set of laws and one government. After four decades there is still a slow road ahead.

Governing Bodies

A Parliament and Council govern the European Union. Citizens vote in elections every five years to elect their leaders.

European Economic Community

to European Union

In 1957 after World War II, the European Economic Community was formed, initially combining Europe s big industries. By 1991 the European Economic Community had grown into a fifteen-member Union. All included states agreed to the Maastricht Treaty and are now pushing for a single currency.

Problems with The Union

For many years Europe has been plagued by brutal wars over religion, borders, and even old pride. Some people still feel very strongly about these issues.

Countries of the Warsaw Pact are eager to join the Union, however Russians feel unwanted. They feel because of their communist backgrounds other countries do not trust them. Some people say the Union will have too much power. These people feel some laws and programs should be left up to the individual states.

Future of E.U.

Eleven member states are switching their currency to the Euro in January of 2002.

A day will come when all nations on our continent will form a European brotherhood… A day will come when we shall see … the United States of America and the United States of Europe, face to face, reaching out for each other across the seas.”

Victor Hugo (1848)

Europe is made up of more than 30 countries and even more distinct cultures; they are now trying to adjust to new economic systems throughout the world. Today there are new and big powers such as: N.A.F.T.A. and G.N.A.T.T. Europe is trying to advance it s old system called the European Economic Community (EEC) to become the European Union. One European Parliament rules the current membership of 15 countries. The current E.U. members listed in order of membership are: Belgium, Germany, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Denmark, Republic of Ireland, United Kingdom, Greece, Portugal, Spain, Austria, Finland, and Sweden. Under the E.U. each country will share one currency called the Euro dollar, one central banking system, and will be regulated with the same set of laws. In effect the countries of the E.U. will eventually become one. The way to a unified Europe is not an easy one; problems caused by countries unwilling to give up their sovereignties, and by countries afraid of the new Union continually slow progress.

The European Unions main institutions are the European Parliament, the European Commission, the European Court of Justice, the Council of Ministers and the Court of Auditors. The Council and the European Parliament are the main decision-taking bodies of the E.U. EU citizens elect the 626 members of the European Parliament every five years. Their individual governments nominate the president and the other 19 members of the European Commission, which has the sole right to initiate draft legislation.

The first initiatives to establish a Union of European countries were made during the aftermath of World War II. The Treaty of Rome was ratified in 1957, instituting the European Economic Community of six member states; including Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, and West Germany. The founding members of the Community first combined their big industries. One of the first important accomplishments of the EEC was the establishment of common price levels for agricultural products in 1962. In 1968, internal tariffs (tariffs on trade between member nations) were eliminated and a common external tariff was fixed. Then they set about creating a single market in which goods, services, people and capital could move about as freely as within a single country. The process was gradually spanning 40 years and covering political and social as well as economic and trade aspects of nations. The Union was formally completed and the single market went into effect in January 1993. The Maastricht Treaty of the European Union was signed in the Dutch city of Maastricht in December of 1991 and took effect in November 1993. It strengthened the Community further, by preparing the way for economic and monetary union (EMU) and a single currency called the Euro. The Maastricht treaty also added common foreign and security police and cooperation on justice and police affairs. The term European Union is actually used to describe the wider Maastricht framework in which all these changes old and new take place.

The European Union is the name of the organization for the countries that have decided to co-operate on a great number of areas ranging from a single market economy, foreign policies, same sets of environmental laws, all the way to exchange of criminal records.

Some of the problems the E.U. is facing are sovereignty and unity. For thousands of years Europe has been torn time and again by wars, which were largely fueled by ethnic or religious differences. Today Europeans are asked to put aside their differences and become one. Wit

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