European Union: Benefits of a Free Market, Borderless Economy

 Economic interdependence means lesser escalation of political conflicts.     Impediments to Integration   Inefficient industries lose out (e..g US steels, and textiles) however, if a country  protects these inefficient industries, this in turn will make other industries become less  internationally competitive, due to the high cost of imports.    Governments are forced to compromise some degree of national sovereignty.    National interests may not equal regional instruments    Political/industrial interest groups (need to be overcome).    Third largest population of 500 million (after China and India), 340 million high income  consumers.    World largest economy in terms of GDP    Reasons for formation of this union:   o Avoid future political conflict   o Gain size, scope and efficiency advantages that allow European nation state to  compete with the US and Japan.

Europe has been quite successful in integrating its economies because of the various geopolitical and economic activities. The first and foremost reason is that these countries are small and the economy of the one country can be integrated with the economy of the other country. Their integration has been made possible because the aspiration and believe of the different countries are very much similar. Moreover, their cultural and economic history is moreover same. European Union as it has been called now has been the most developed model of the regional integration though challenged by economic crisis now a days.

EU attempts to streamline directions for all nations partaking in the Union, which can make it intense for worldwide associations to adjust to and stay aware of. Economic Factors By making an environment and culture that embraces worldwide market exchanges, EU has offered help for temperate development. Social Factors There is a wide mix of cultures and backgrounds that make a receptive domain that acknowledges change and grasps what is

The European Union’s role in the international sphere, as well as the aim to improve its external actions, have been considered to be the two most important features of the Lisbon Treaty. Within the Lisbon Treaty, the combination of the provisions on mutual assistance and solidarity created new pressures on member states to assist one another in cases of armed attacks, disasters being it natural or man-made and crisis on EU territory.

Europe had dominated the global trade, banking and finance, its empires had stretched across the word and its military powers had been unquestioned. From this high Europe was brought down to lows of the devastation of the Second World War; a war that left 40 million people dead. It destroyed countries, cities were left in ruin and agricultural production halved, leaving many people to rationing their food. This all meant terrible news for Europe’s global influence and power leading to the emergence of two huge superpowers the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic. This is what gave birth to the European Union, an idea conceived by Jean Monnet.

The creation of the European Union is rooted at the very beginning, for most of Europe history countries had always been at war. This caused a decline in trading since Europe had always been a continent with trade barriers, tariffs and

Together, the countries of the EFTA and the EU make up the European Economic Area (EEA). This group allows for the following four freedoms, the movement of goods, services, persons and capital through the 30 member states. As well as allowing for the aforementioned freedoms, the EEA has agreed to cooperate with each other with “…research and development, education, social policy, the environment, consumer protection, tourism and culture, collectively known as ‘flanking and horizontal’ policies (Baur).” While they do have many benefits, the EEA does not share common fishing and agricultural policies, customs union, common trade policy, common foreign and security policy, justice and home affairs, or monetary union (Baur). This makes it so there are many benefits to both the EU and the EFTA, but the benefits are not as good as the ones they enjoy within their own groups.

EU enlargement is the most ambitious project that is often presented as the historic mission of reunification of the European continent (Kok, 2003). Since the foundation of European Coal and Steel Community in 1951, its membership has grown from 6 to 28 countries that together cover much of the continent, with the aim to bring prosperity, peace and freedom among the union members . On 1 January 2014, the population of the EU28 was estimated at 507.4 million, which accounts for over 7% of the world’s population (World Population Status, 2014). The European Union has long view the enlargement process as an extraordinary chance of promoting political stability and economic prosperity within the region (Archick, 2014). Past enlargement has brought several benefits to the region, such as transforming EU into a more influential global actor with more economic and political power, spread prosperity throughout the region though expanding the single market, enhance the regional securities and etc.(Politics UK, 2011). However, the past enlargement has also brought challenges to the EU both internally and externally; such as weaken its legitimacy, Central and Eastern Europeans migrating to older member states and direct linkage with new neighbors. Thus this assignment would evaluate the impact of past enlargement on the European Union by mainly focusing on the challenges rather than opportunities; as analyzing challenges from the past enlargement could possibly

The European Union (EU), which began through the integration of six member states in 1951, welcomed its latest member, Croatia, in 2013, effectively bringing its total to twenty-eight members (Verdun, July 23, 2015). The first EU enlargement occurred in 1973, when the UK, Ireland, and Denmark joined the union. Since then, four major enlargements have taken place, despite the long-existent controversies regarding the possible value or downfalls of the expansion of the union. With over twenty more countries within the continent as possible candidates, especially as many express interest of joining, it is highly possible that efforts for further enlargement may be made in the future. The question, however, is whether EU

The European Union (EU) is the most successful supranational organization in the world to promote and spread democracy. Without the values and result-based monitoring systems structured through this organization, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), and ultimately the entire world would be a significantly different place. The EU’s uniqueness and undeniable success stems from its strategic use of integration as key to enlargement and the effective ‘Europeanization’ of countries. Though there are dissenters who would argue the European Union’s lack of effectiveness in the enlargement process since 1989, there is value in noting that enlargement is an on-going phenomenon and not an entity with an expiry date.

According to the assistant professors, the problem with cooperation rests in the cost and manipulative nature of asymmetrical partnerships. Entering economic trade agreements require a state to restructure its internal systems in order to maximize its gains (Baccini, Poast & Urpelainen 5). Weaker states that undergo costly restructuring are at risk of being exploited by the more powerful partners (Baccini, Poast & Urpelainen 2). A weaker state will also find it substantially more difficult to withdraw from a partnership the more it

As the planned economy experiment of the Soviet bloc failed so it left scars in the economy of the CEECs. The average GDP of the candidates was only 40% of the average member state GDP, while representing approximately a third of EUs population and size. Comparatively, Spain’s and Portugal’s GDP was 70% of that of Member states upon entering (Nugent, 2004). Such a divide in income is troubling, to say the least, as the cost of development would now be shared among all member states, leaving the older members to pick up the tab.Furthermore, the EU budget would come under heavy strain, especially the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The CEECs had a fairly undeveloped industry, seeing a large amount of the population employed in the primary sector. The numbers here are quite staggering, the percentage of the population employed in the EU in agriculture went from 5% to 12% after the enlargement (numbers taken from Eurostat data). To deepen the problem,

As a result, integration allows Europe to increase their economic output, because as Hansen and Jonsson (2014) argue West Europe lacks the natural resources necessary to become a viable economic power to compete globally. The Schengen agreement of 1995 therefore facilitates trade, transnationalism and Europeanisation because it enables workers, particularly lorry drivers, to move easily across the continent.

The EU’s foreign policy options include diplomacy, foreign aid, and military force. In terms of diplomacy, the EU affords itself many advantages through its multilateral decision-making. These advantages allow the EU to use what Ernest J. Wilson III calls smart power, “the leadership of the (PRC), has deployed power resources strategically. The individual policy choices made have reflected a sophisticated analysis of the world as it is; and they have deployed a balanced,

After the European Economic Community turned into the European Community in 1967, other countries soon joined. In 1973, the European community ‘opened up’ and let in a few more countries such as the United Kingdom, Denmark and Ireland (see illustration). The small group of six countries was slowly growing.