The European Union calls itself “a unique economic and political partnership between 27 democratic European countries” (1) which apparently aims to promote “peace, prosperity and freedom for its 495 million citizens – in a fairer, safer world” (1). While this may be a noble sentiment, in reality the EU is an inefficient, bureaucratic mess. It is my belief that, while the European Union is fundamentally a good idea, it is turning into an undemocratic kleptocracy that will gradually begin to remove our civil liberties while causing great damage to many areas including the environment and society. One key issue is that the European Union is undeniably unnecessary, especially at the current cost to us. For example, countries under the …show more content…
One UK Diplomat even called the CAP “the most stupid, immoral state-subsidised policy in human history, communism aside” (3). Now onto the next major issue: the £1000billion a year cost of the EU, nearly £2000 per European Citizen per year. (2) However, the EUs official budget for 2009 came in at “only” €134 billion (around £122 billion). So what explains the massive difference between the two sums? Well, the EU budget only includes money it directly spends, and doesn’t include the cost of complying with EU regulation, dealing with red-tape, tax fraud committed, higher food prices due to high import duties and the cost of having civil servants carry out the EU’s will in member countries. These seem, to any reasonable person, to be costs that should be considered, so the fact that they were not considered in the EU Budget (4) shows that either the EU’s accountants are incompetent or that the EU is deliberately trying to distort how much it actually costs to its citizens. So, now we know the true cost of the EU, let’s look at what we get for our money. We get 5 new laws a day (2), the “most stupid… policy in human history” (3) aka the Common Agricultural Policy, we get MEPs (Members of European Parliament) being paid £468,000 for 1 years work (2) while hiring escort girls on expenses
The European Union is a group of European countries who combined together as allies after WWII for trade and peace reasons. It was established so countries in Europe would not create conflicts with each other to prevent the disaster of the two World Wars. They also signed trade deals to secure the countries in the EU would be financially stable and not go into depression and poverty like most countries did in WWII. Each country in the EU has to provide the EU with money to operate. In return, not only will they see trade with European countries, but the EU budgets will help redevelopment and regeneration of poor areas, seen in
The European Union (EU) is a unique economic and political partnership between 28 different countries. It consists of about half a billion citizens, and its combined economy represents about 20 percent of the world’s total economy (Briney, 2015). Today The European Union works as a single market, with free movement of people, goods and services from one country to another. There is a standard system of laws to be followed, and since 1999 many countries share a single currency called the Euro (Europa.eu, 2015). This essay will explore the background history of the European Union and the benefits and drawbacks of the European Union.
The EU is an economic powerhouse which benefits all people and nations of the united Europe. The EU benefits everyone in Europe. It is an economic superpower and provides peace as well as jobs for all citizens. The EU’s economy is booming.
The EU was created in the midst of a war in attempts to unite Europe under a common government. After 43 years of rebuilding foreign affairs, have their attempts made a positive impact on the modern Europe? Many argue that the EU takes a toll on country's sovereignty. They lack in allowing countries to be apart of the union, without masking the unique culture and diversity of that country. Despite the advantages of being apart of the EU, the disadvantages highly outweigh them in the areas of economic, independence and cultural identity.
The issue of whether or not the United Kingdom should remain a member of the European Union has been debated heavily over the past decade, with the debate heating up even more from the current European Sovereign Debt Crisis. Recent polls of the UK population showed that around half of the UK’s citizens would vote to pull out of the EU if it went to referendum. However, after all of the economic, political, and social advantages of being a member of the EU are considered, it remains clear that leaving the EU is not in the UK’s best interest. Economically, it does not make sense for the UK
The ‘standard version’ of the democratic deficit formulated by Weiler, consisting of the increased role of the executive Commission in matters of legislation, the weakness of the European Parliament (hereafter the EP), the lack of ‘European’ elections, EU distance to public scrutiny and voters, and finally ‘policy drifting’ by the executive non-compliant to voter interests, has and continues to be a major target of criticism within the field of European Union (the EU) law. The matter is of utmost importance
Firstly, there is democratic deficit as the Commission is not democratically elected but appointed by the Member States’ governments and it has the monopoly of initiating laws. It may alter its proposal during law-making process as long as the council has not amended the proposal. However, EU citizens do not elect this powerful body and thus it lacks legitimacy as it is much too powerful for an institution that is not democratically representative of the EU citizens. It is only accountable to the European Parliament and the Council. It can be argued that the Commission does not represent the interest of the EU as a
Evidently, the EU is an entity that warrants careful observation, due to its enormous size, population, and economy, as well as its role in international relations.
Simon Hix is a well-known academic, who researches the European Union and has written a variety of books on the European Union. He addresses how it functions and the problems that are associated with it. Some interests of his that he researches are, ‘European Union Politics and Policy, The EU legislative process and the European Parliament, Parties and elections and Rational choice theory’ (LSE, 2014). His primary aim when writing this book was to give readers an understanding of how the European Union, as a political system works and how the institutions within it function and why they function in the way that they do and this is the general field of the book.
European Union represents economic and political partnership of 28 states, with population more than 500 million people who can travel within its territory without considering internal borders. It operates as a single market with standardized laws and guaranteed freedom of movement of people, goods, services and capital. As such, European Union is attractive destination for all kind of immigrants, from people in search of a better life from unfortunate and unstable regions to highly qualified work force who are looking for greater business opportunities. As European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said in an interview for Time Magazine (Oct. 24,2007) “Europe is an
The European Union (EU) is not a typical international organization. The mix of intergovernmental and supranational institutions makes the EU a unique, distinctive political, and economic system. As Europe has spiraled from one crisis to the next, difficult discussions haves arisen about how much more power should be delegated to Brussels. Even though the EU advocates for “ever closer union”, through increased integration, states are becoming hesitant to relinquish power to the EU. This is due to the fact that state sovereignty has become threatened; it is being compromised by a combination of the lack of effective democratic institutions and the loss of states have lost control of law-making to legislation power to EU institutions. Euroenthuthiasts argue that state sovereignty is enhanced, not threatened, by reallocating power to EU institutions. However, Eurosceptics dispute that too much control has seceded to the EU making is a threat to state sovereignty. My position aligns with Eurosceptics, for the EU has weakened state sovereignty do to increased centralization of power in EU institutions that lack legitimacy. The European Project has obtained a copious amount of jurisdiction from states and eroded a basic fundamental freedom of the modern state- sovereignty. Since the EU has with goals to deepen and widen integration it’s clear that forfeiting state sovereignty will only intensify. My essay will start with a brief history of the European Union and a short
In this essay I will discuss why and how the European Union (EU) was set up and the advantages and disadvantages of membership. The EU was set up after World War II in 1939- 1945, bringing harmony and peace among the EU. I will also explain and evaluate the political and economic situation between Post War Europe and understand the historical development of the European Union.
People have created unions many times but not all of them were successful, specifically when we consider alliances among number of countries with different economics, political systems and culture. For instance, last century brought both the biggest collapse and the most promising union in the modern history. Although U.S.S.R has disappeared from geographical maps, some of its members joined another alliance. The European Union (EU) is an economic and political partnership that united 28 countries on the European part of Eurasia and represents a unique form of cooperation among members today.
The European Union (EU) was established in order to prevent the horrors of modern warfare, experienced by most of Europe during the World Wars of the 20th century, from ever ensuing again, by aiming to create an environment of trust with the countries of Europe cooperating in areas such as commerce, research and trade (Adams, 2001). The EU has evolved into an economic, trade, political and monetary alliance between twenty-eight European Member States. While not all Member States are in monetary union (i.e. share the currency of the euro), those that are form the ‘Euro-zone’ (Dinan, 2006). The EU can pass a number of types of legislation, with a regulation, act, or law, being the most powerful. Its ‘tricameral’ (European Union, 2007)
EU does is about bringing people in Europe closer together. It tries to make it easier for Europeans to buy and sell things to each other. This is done by changing the rules that control trade. The Union is founded on the values of respect for human dignity, liberty, democracy, equality, the rule of law and respect for human rights, including the rights of persons belonging to minorities. Moreover, the societies of the Member States are characterised by pluralism, non-discrimination, tolerance, justice, solidarity and equality between women and men. These values play an important role, especially in two specific cases.