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European Union
An emerging political system?
2007-01-01, EU enlargement
• Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU
• Now the EU includes 27 countries
Comparison: EU vs. US
• Land area
– European Union is less than half the size of
the United States
• Population
– European Union has 516 million residents
• GDP (purchasing power parity)
– US$13 trillion
• EU exports more but imports less than US
European Union
• A family of democratic European countries
• not a State intended to replace existing
state
• more than any other international
organization
• Member states
– set up common institutions
– delegate some of their sovereignty
European Union
• More than an economic organization or
trading bloc
• Three pillars (or spheres) of activities
– trade and economic matters
– justice and home affairs
– foreign and security policy
• most controversial aspect of EU today
Outline
• How and why did the EU emerge?
• What are its main decision-making bodies?
• Progress of European integration
– bursts of growth
– broadening (add new members)
– deepening (add new powers)
– stagnation, doubts, and criticisms
“Europe Day” (1950)
• Destruction of
World War II
• 1950-05-09
“Europe Day”
• Schuman (Fr.)
proposed an
organized
Europe to
maintain peace
ECSC (1951)
• European Coal and Steel
Community
– 6 members: Belgium, West Germany,
Luxembourg, France, Italy, and the
Netherlands
European Economic Community
• Same 6 countries as in ECSC
• Treaties of Rome (1957)
– European Atomic Energy Community
– European Economic Community
– remove trade barriers
– form common market
Merge of 3 communities (1967)
• 1967, executives of ECSC, EURATOM,
and EEC were merged
• one single Commission
• one single Council of Ministers
• European Parliament
– members chosen by national parliaments
– directly elected every 5 years since 1979
Enlargement (1973 - 1995)
• 1973
– Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom
• 1981
– Greece
• 1986
– Spain and Portugal
• 1995
– Austria, Finland, and Sweden
Creation of European Union
• Treaty on European Union was signed in
Maastricht in 1992
• add to the existing “Community” system
• inter-government cooperation between
member states
– justice and home affairs
– foreign and security policy
Single Market
• free movement of
– goods
– services
– people
– and capital
• formally completed by January 1, 1993
• passport and customs checks were
abolished at most of the internal borders
Single Currency
• Economic and Monetary Union (EMU)
– exchange rate stability
– interest rates, the budget deficit, the inflation
rate, and the debt-to-GDP ratio
• When the euro was launched in 1999, the
European Central Bank (ECB) took over
full responsibility for monetary policy
throughout the euro area
Monetary Union: Stage III
• European Central Bank be set up
• exchange rates between participating
currencies be fixed once and for all
• single currency be introduced for the
administrations and the banks
• coins and notes of the single currency be
in circulation on January 1, 2002 at the
latest
Introduction of the Euro
• 2002-01-01
EU enlargement
• Three main criteria that countries have to
meet before being eligible to begin
negotiations to join the EU (1997)
– establishment of a functioning and stable
democratic regime
– market-oriented capitalist economy
– acceptance of the 80,000 pages of laws and
regulations already on the EU’s books
EU enlargement
• Ten countries joined the EU in 2004
• former communist countries
– Poland, Hungry, Czech, Slovakia, & Slovenia
• former Soviet republics
– Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
• Mediterranean islands
– Cyprus and Malta
• Two countries joined the EU in 2007
EU applicant countries
• Two candidate countries
– Turkey and Croatia
– Entry negotiations formally began in 2005
• An application for membership submitted
by Macedonia was formally accepted by
EU leaders in 2005
• The EU is now looking at further
enlargements in the Western Balkans
Other problems
• Few people identify themselves first as
European.
• Key EU organizations are still superficial
• Democratic deficit
• Lack of common language