Advantages and Disadvantages of being a EU member

The EU was created after the Second World War to unite the neighboring countries of Europe. It was established by six European countries in 1951: France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Netherlands and West Germany (Briney, 2015). Today it consists of 28 countries united to create an economic and political community (Gov.uk, 2014).

The European Union (EU) is the organization which integrates the countries listed below, both politically and economically. It is a customs union, which is an agreement amongst a group of countries to eliminate trade barriers between them on the movement of goods, services, labor and capital, and also to establish a common external tariff on goods and services coming into the union. The EU evolved from the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which was formed in 1951 as a response to the First and Second World Wars to try to ensure future peace in Europe. This became the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1965, which in turn became the European

EU policies aim to ensure the free movement of people, goods, services, and capital, enact legislation in justice and home affairs, and maintain common policies on trade, agriculture, fisheries, and regional development (European Commission, 2015). Countries accede to the union by becoming party to the founding treaties, thereby subjecting themselves to the privileges and obligations of EU membership.

The EU has become more economically integrated by becoming a common market. This removes barriers to production, like capital and labor.

After World War II, it was clear that Europe was in need of economic restructuring. The European Community (EC) originated in 1957 an d eventually became the European Union, now made up of 28 member states. (Gerber , 2014). The EU trade bloc allows free movement of goods,

The European Union (EU) is a family of democratic European countries working together to improve life for their citizens and to build a better world. In just half a century it has delivered peace and prosperity in Europe, a single currency and a frontier-free 'single market ' where people, goods, services and capital can move around freely. It has become a major trading bloc, and a world leader in fields such as environmental protection and development aid.

Moving on to the economic union that is a type of trade bloc comprised of a common market with a customs union. The member countries have common policies in few sectors, which involved, product regulation, freedom of movement of goods, services and factors of production such as capital and labour, and common external trade policy.

The introduction of a social and economic grouping is often to create a single market, such as was the case with the EU and NAFTA. The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 member states which are located in Europe – its roots are with the EEC which was formed in 1957. The European Union was fully established when the Maastricht Treaty came into force on 1st November 1993. The original objective of the EU was to create such single market, so that there was the free circulation of goods,

First at all, what has been going on politically and economically in Europe? How does it compare with the US? We knew about the finance and economic crash of 2008, the worst in over 75

After the 2008 crisis caused by the collapse of the American investment bank, the Lehman Brothers, the Europe Union faced difficult decisions to both recover the economy in the short term and in improving the economy for the long. ‘With their immediate response to the Banks in Europe giving them €4.5 trillion, the European Union then had to respond to the debt crisis that occurred as they realised a debt fuel economy was not stable. They then came together to form an Economic union where by a fiscal treaty was created, the idea behind the treaty was to limit yearly deficits to 0.5% of a country’s GDP’[1], this is the idea of a Budgetary policy, aiming there deficit, equilibrium or surplus to reduce debt. The policy was to follow the principles, ‘it should be timely; this is to allow for quick support of economic activity during low demand, temporary; to avoid a permanent deterioration in budget positions, the spending when borrowing low should be mix with both revenue and expenditure ideas; there can be impacts on demand in the short term affecting consumption allowing for growth, it should be directed within the stability and growth pact; it provides a common framework and allows for better measures to be take of the cyclical conditions while strengthening long term fiscal discipline, and should be accompanied with structural reforms that support demand.’{2]

Europe is about to enter its third recession in the last three years, says The Economist. Prices fall in eight European countries, inflation fell to 0.3% and the region is prepared to deal with deflation and economic stagnation. The debt crisis in Greece has had a profound impact on the countries of the European periphery (Ireland, Portugal, Spain and Italy) but also had serious consequences for some larger countries because this debt was contracted primarily with French banks and Germans. At the same time, while the government promotes economic measures since 2010 to get support from multilateral agencies, millions of people are suffering the consequences of the crisis without consolation in the short term.

The report aims to analyze the global impact of the Eurozone crisis. The recent Eurozone crisis has affected all parts of the world and has shifted the balance of economy which has been highlighted in the report.

Europa (n.d. d) describing the single market and related policies stated that all borders between Member countries disappeared allowing the freely movement for goods, people and capital in order to stimulate industrial and economical extending within a large area. Grabtree (2007) researching the EU operation has found that the introduced unique currency called Euro has an advantageous impact on companies function and on economy in general. He stated that transfers became easier, costs more transparent and prices on goods became averaged in the whole union. Such strengthening of the economy brought stability and bright future. Moreover, because all economies became unified, countries gained the ability as a common body to overcome financial crises and agree on issues that mainly affect the economy. The Europa (n.d. e) also made a suggestion that such strengthening of economy made possible the financial help for poor regions that require the raising of life standard. Because of this reasons it is beneficial to a country to join the union.

The crisis has hit European economies unprecedentedly hard and its effects have occurred in two phases. The first phase is the economic recession following the global economic downturn. The second phase is the so-called sovereign debt crisis which started in Greece firstly and then appeared in Ireland and Portugal. Like many other countries and organizations, European Union (EU) has also developed strategies in order to tackle the challenges of the crisis (Yurtsever, 2011).

Medrano (2012) argues that integration processes are difficult because of the diversity within the EU, the rise of Euroscepticism, and the shift in the balance of power of national institutions from domestic parliaments to a European parliament. Fligstein (2012) mentions that in 2004 only 3.9 per cent of people who lived in Europe viewed themselves as European, this is very damning in suggesting that the processes of EU integration have failed because no one identifies themselves as European. Raunio (2011) also echoes this sentiment; he comments that national governments are the gatekeepers of EU integration; however, the consistent enlargement of the EU has made this task more difficult, leading to the conclusion that integration has resulted in the loss of control that domestic governments have over their decisions