Differentiation in the European Union Integration Process

Since 1950 European Union (EU) was created it has promoted peace, prosperity and values among the member nations and its neighbouring countries. EU’s influential tools, has helped transform many European states into functioning democracies and prosperous countries. EU’s membership has grown from 6 to 28 countries (Enlargement, 2014), satisfying a historic vow to integrate the continent bringing in most states of Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) by peaceful ideals.EU has anticipated the enlargement as an extraordinary opportunity to endorse political strength and economic success in Europe. EU’s extension policy is open to any European state that fulfils the EU’s political and financial criteria for membership; still the political process of inclusion of new state requires a unanimous agreement from all the existing 28 member states. Europe is considered to be more flourishing and safer place due to the promotion of democracy, anti-corruption policy and the single market policy.

When the EU takes on more countries, the differences between the nations and the people in them become more expansive. WIth more cultures and countries to work with, cooperation between the EU becomes difficult. This can be easily shown in the quote, “With all this unifying going on, one of the more delicate issues facing the new Europe is how to create a common foundation without carpeting over the continent’s rich tapestry of peoples, languages, cuisines, and cultures (Doc F).” The EU is struggling with uniting the EU as a whole, while maintaining the properties of that country that make it so unique. This can be a problem in keeping the identity of these countries. Another piece of evidence is the quote “European culture is a bouquet de fleurs,’[bouquet of flowers]...’Together they are beautiful. But the rose is still a rose, and the tulip is a tulip. This must be preserved (Doc F).” Herr Eisenhauer meant by the quote, that Europe is beautiful together, but each country must maintain its own

Europe now, for the first time in modern history, is a partnership sharing common values and a commitment to harmony and cooperation. The dream of European integration, shared by the United States, is now being realized, leaving behind us the wasteful era of wars, hostility, and inequalities. We are on the road to a Europe enjoying a unity and

Part of the exceptional nature of the EU stems from the notion that nothing like it has ever been attempted successfully before. The European Union is an international institution with a single market and shared currency. It strives to maintain singular goals and make its way towards being an “ever closer union”. Today, the European Union has expanded to include twenty-eight member countries with an influence that reaches every continent. This institution has had an impressive history, but it has reached a point of concern. The golden years which held high hopes of a united supranational Union are long over. The EU faces destructive problems today, which could ultimately end their impressive era of cooperation. The Union has come

This is feared to possibly lead towards cultural homogenisation, as member countries begin to lose their identities certainly politically, as the EU becomes a supposed super-state. While others will argue that this social grouping allows for a more peaceful situation between all member countries, this was especially true following World War 2; which in itself lead to the creation of the EU. As well as arguing that the EU allows for more accessible travel, allowing European citizens to discover different cultures and live in better harmony.

Collective security is the cooperation of multiple states to ensure their shared security. When joining the European Union, there is an instant alliance between the affiliated states. If one state is attacked, the other states within the union are obliged to help and vice versa. This will advocate trust and unity, by using reciprocity because states may depend on other states. Each country part of the union will pitch in and help out the state in need. If the state was not in the union, the would get little help since they aren’t considered allies with the other

     In the event of an integrated Europe, constructivists recognize that to completely avoid conflict, each state will have to succumb to a “European identity” and all individual identities will have to become merely “cultural gems” within the European system. This, they argue, can be achieved with the success of several steps including economic, judicial, and security integration . The first step has already been attempted with the establishment of the Euro, the common European currency, which has been outperformed by its monetary competitors. A great amount of trust will have to be secured between states before a common court or army can be established, and most likely with as little success as the common currency. So, even by these simplified guidelines the outlook for the creation of a new “European

In order to fulfill this task is considered necessary for Europe to drag out mechanisms of socialization that could push member states to coordinate their policies and to comply with EU decisions in the long run. The EU cannot

leading countries in European stay together avoid going to war with each other. The union’s

When the European Union was established the cause was rooted in European peace. After the Second World War, many European countries found themselves in ruin and saw an emerging superpower in the east in the U.S.S.R. Countries in Europe decided it was in their best interest to form a federation of European countries in order to promote a more safe and secure Europe. For the most part, it has worked, “It is no coincidence that the longest period of peace in written history in Europe started with the formation of the European Communities”(Juncker 2016). Europe quickly started signing economic treaties to help promote better trade between countries and this gradually expanded

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.

However, the author differs with this concept because he understands form his personal experience and of what he is seeing that the people will loose their identity. These examples given by the author make the audience believe in them because they come from his personal experience with the subject. Most of these examples affect the reader of the article in the way that it is a subject that deals with their life and affects them in a negative way. This people know that they will loose a big part of their culture and personality among other things if they become part of the European Union. The European Union may seem as the best example to unite people in Europe and even maybe in other parts of the world. However, the truth is that it is very difficult to unite these different types of characteristics and in fact is more credible to see this countries disagreeing, rather than to see them come into an agreement.

The first evidence of the attempts to emulate the EU can be traced back to the post-Soviet Economic Union back in 1993. This project was driven by post-Soviet Russia, as an attempt to reengage with the CIS member-states as a reaction to criticism and growing domestic discontent with its role in the “near abroad”.

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)

The next chapter represents an attempt to develop new understandings of the problems related to the European process of integration. More specifically, the aim of this section is to outline the possible mechanisms that, in being conducive of socialization, can push member states to ‘work together’ and to think in terms of ‘common problems’ and ‘common concerns’.