Contemporary Benefits of the European Union

The European Union was created on the notion of peace and prosperity. But has it really lived up to its promise? Tensions are brewing. Maybe it’s time to leave the EU once and for all. The EU originated after the Second World War, with only a few countries within it, but it has grown over many years and now has twenty-eight different countries. They share a national anthem that binds them through the power of music. The EU now presents more disadvantages than advantages, the countries participating have their cultural diversity being limited, their own countries laws are being superseded by those of the EU, and their economy’s are too dependent on one another.

The European Union established after the Second World War was meant to give Europeans a common sense of urgency or direction. As time went on and different treaties were enacted the EU went from a trade agreement between six nations that were meant to help stabilize to a union where countries are becoming almost inseparable from the union itself due to the lack of autonomy and dependence.

A few European countries (17) came together to form EU on 1st January 1999 establishing common currency for all the EU nations i.e. Euro.

The common currency is called “euro”. Euro is not used by all members; only 19 countries out of 28 are in the monetary union. A euro as currency was for a first time used in 2002.

Beginning with the systems’ purposes, the Euro was founded in 1992 with the signing of the Maastricht Treaty. It was meant to act as a store of value and helps facilitate financial transactions across the European borders. Developed after WWII,

For the last decade the European Union has struggle to hold itself together against multiple crisis and national rivalries of its member nations. The European Union (EU) has time and time again overcome these union breaking threats. However, since the American recession of 2008, the EU faces its greatest challenge of its short existence: the Eurozone crisis. The Euro, the monetary unit of the EU, is falling due to the fiscal policies of the so called PIIGS nations: Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain. Even with the support of the heavyweights of the European Union (France and Germany) the nations of PIIGS is suffering heavily from economic depression; this economic depression is causing fractures between the nations that make up the European Union. Situationally, the issue has almost past the limit of no return and causing nations like Italy and Greece thinking about withdrawing from the European Union. If any of the PIIGS nations actually withdraw from the European Union, it would be the first step to the dissolvent of the European Union. The repercussion of a dead EU would be disastrous for the entire continent; one has to remember that the European Union was created to prevent a Third World War from ever erupting. Most Americans would not care what happens to the nations of Europe in this day and age however, the nations of Europe are among America’s greatest allies politically, economically, and militarily. If the EU fails and the continent erupts into war once

The European Union has aims which are to promote peace, maintain its values and maintain the wellbeing of the people. Even though there are other organisations which also aim to do this, the EU is unique as it has to balance the national interest, common interest of the EU, democratic representation and also geographical representation. The EU has executive bodies which enable it to make decisions throughout the process: the Commission, Council of Ministers and the European Parliament.

The European Union was formally created in 1993, but its roots reflect back all the way to the end of World War II. Its first priority was to form an economic union that consisted of members dependent on each other for trading purposes to avoid potential conflict. Now this political and economic union has developed into a representative democracy aimed to govern its current members (“The EU in brief” n. pag.).

Considered to be one of the most advanced forms of regional economic integration, the European Union (EU) is an assemblage of 27 countries that share a common goal of mutual prosperity, cooperation and peace. There is no other such union in the world, although it in many ways serves as a model of integration that has so far has not been successfully replicated. Being part of the EU has many advantages and disadvantages for countries. The advantages include access to SEM; funds that aid in infrastructure building; and world representation by a larger entity that has more power than a small country alone. Among the disadvantages however, is having to give up a degree of sovereignty that sometimes impedes a country from

The viability of Euro as a common currency here will explicate the financial crisis in the Eurozone countries to prove that the EU has failed. Before World War II, doing trade across borders is difficult. Countries need to pay a fee to exchange currencies, before a tariff fee is then executed when trade between companies of two different countries are involved. This eventually had stifled the economic growth. After WWII has ended, the situation among the European countries is so dire that they have to call for a unification process in order to hasten the

Introduction: Since the enlightenment, Europeans have called for a stable and united Europe. Even though there have been many setbacks to a united Europe, including WWI, WWII, and the Cold War, the realization of a united Europe became a reality with the signing of the Maastricht Treaty in 1992 creating the European Union (EU). Furthermore, the progression towards a fully united Europe took another step with the introduction of the Economic and Monetary Union of the European Union (EMU), which introduced a common currency, the euro (Bordo). Both of these institutions have had an immensely positive impact on Europe, both socially and economically. Today, the European Union is considered the world’s largest economy, or second largest,

The European Union (EU) was established back in (REFERENCE) with the aim of (REFERENCE peace and economic prosperity). Since then, much has happened, and the EU is now considered more than just an economic collaboration. This brings along both new challenges and new opportunities when considering the future EU. Recent developments has shown an increasingly worry about the economic situation in the EU (REFERENCE GREECE AND SPAIN), which challenges the legitimacy of the EU as solely an economic union – if the internal economy is falling apart, how can we then justify the upholding of the union? This has become a major concern to several EU countries. One example is the United Kingdom,

The European Union (EU) was founded in 1957 and is constructed of 28 member countries comprising a total population of half a billion people with a collective currency – the Euro, and economy worth £11 trillion . With 21 million companies operating in the EU by 2012 the magnitude of the EU’s global presence spans immensely from economic and political policy to health, safety and regulations – both as an enterprise and an individual, human rights legislations, and trade, but mainly through the 70 years that the world has been free from war. However, understanding and analysing the complexity, its growth, its aims and

The euro has been in existence for years, and is the official currency used by 18 of the 28 EU member states and regions outside the EU. After the US dollar, the euro is the most traded currency. When the EMU was formed the euro was able to be exchanged and lock in exchange rates against other currencies. According to BBC News, “the first plan for a single currency was drawn up in 1991. The members of the EU meet in Maastricht and agreed to set up a single currency, which partly aimed the drive towards the Economic and Monetary Union.” (2001). The 18 countries that are in the Eurozone include Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Spain. The other countries do not participate in using the euro either because they do not want to use it as their currency or they do not

Single currency – In 1999 the European Union introduced a single currency. This is called the euro. The euro became the legal currency of 11 EU states; however, the UK and Denmark opted out. Of the 27 EU members, 16 of them have the euro as