European Unions And The European Union

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 United Kingdom initially joined the European Union in 1973 for economic reasons hoping to promote trade and form relationships with other states in the Union. In 1975 the UK held its first national referendum on withdrawal from the European Economic Community. According to the poll,” 67 % of Britons voted to stay in the EEC and 32 % voted to leave the union” (GYE). Because of this result the UK stayed in the EU in 1975. Over the past 40 years the European Union has been through a lot of change, many more countries have joined the organization and the EU has extended its control over more aspects of daily lives. These changes have sparked a lot of controversy coming from both the UK public and

This report will look at the benefits and issues surrounding the UKs decision to remain as a member state of the E.U. It will consider the pros and cons of membership, and the various viewpoints of those who remain in the E.U. and those who wish to exit from it. The report will conclude with a comprehensive discussion of results and findings.

The UK joined the European Economic Community in 1973. When the EU was formed in 1993, the European Economic Community was renamed the European Community and added into the EU’s systems. There was never a formal vote on whether or not the UK should join the EU, but any sort of polling having to do with it yielded support for the movement.

Throughout history, countries have made agreements and alliances in order to improve their economy, their government, and their international trading. Countries must decide whether an agreement will be beneficial for the country in the long run or if it will have more of a negative effect on their economic and trade relations than a positive one. Two of the most significant international agreements that have been made in history are the European Union and the North American Free Trade Agreement. These agreements are two examples of how international agreements positively affect countries and their economic status. The EU is a political and economic union of 28 European members of state, which the United Kingdom is currently departing from.

In addition, membership of EU Allowed Britain to have a direct say in drawing up trading rules. As a member state, Britain also benefits from trade deals between the EU and the rest of the world. The EU is currently negotiating with the US to create the world’s biggest free trade area. This could have been highly beneficial to British businesses. However, Britain now risks losing that negotiating power by leaving the EU. But, Britain would be free to establish its own independent trade agreements.

First with western Europe, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, with the east as well. Many of these attempts were successful. One of the first of these attempts was the Marshall Plan which was used as an instrument to restore the economies of western Europe and to establish democracies. The plan would provide economic aid to fight the post war affects of poverty and in return expected cooperation for mutual benefit. The plan strengthened western Europe not as allies with each other and not against anyone. Another internal cooperation efforts was the formation of the European Economic Community(or Common Market) in 1957. The six original members were very successful and managed to eliminate all tariffs within their countries. After seeing this success, other nations applied for membership and EEC became what is presently know as the European Union. The European Union has been very successful in its endeavors to mutually help the member economies. One of these successful endeavours was the implementation of a common currency. As of 2002, seventeen countries now share the euro as their currency. This unifies where language and culture are barriers but money is not. Another major success in unification was the addition of ten members of the European union in 2004. Most of these additions were former Soviet bloc countries who had just a little over a decade free from Soviet influence. While this was a

“Whatever happens, Britain will surely require vast new numbers of bureaucrats, people to work on the new arrangements and people to enforce them. It will almost certainly turn out that Britain saved money by being part of Europe, because economies of scale made regulation much cheaper. It will almost certainly turn out that Britain was more powerful — with more sovereignty — when it was part of a large organization with international clout. Many of the other parties to those 759 deals will seek to take advantage of an isolated country with far fewer allies. British consumers, workers and entrepreneurs will pay the

During the Second World War, Europe suffered huge loss due to the destruction of properties and infrastructure that as a result led to the collapse of their economy. Besides that, a lot of the European countries were very much against Germany, which was the country that started the war under Hitler’s rule. Thus, after the war ending, the mutual relationship that had existed between Germany and its neighbors especially France was imperative (Wilkinson, 2016). Ultimately this led to the creation of the new movement aimed at creating unity, later the movement resulted in the formation of European Union. Thus, since its formation, the union has helped a lot in bringing the European nations back to their feet especially those that terribly attacked.

The European Union (EU) is an economic-political union of 28 member states that are located primarily in Europe. It operates through a hybrid system of supranational and intergovernmental decision-making.

For the vast majority of the time since then, the UK has flourished in the EEC, and then the EU, benefitting from the increased trade

Britain’s membership of the European Union (EU) has produced a well-documented history of aloofness, vetoes, opt-outs, referenda as well as intensely contested domestic political debates. (Pilkington & Watts 2005; Gowland & Turner 2000; Wall 2008) It has been described as the ‘awkward partner’ (George, 1998) and a ‘stranger in Europe’ (Wall, 2008) and has long been cautious of European integration. It is widely anxious about threats to national sovereignty and identity, and its relationship with the EU has become a political football between parties who exhibit signs of pro-European attitudes. (Wall, 2008) As Andrew Marr (2001, 1) points out, when Britain’s are talking about Europe they are talking about “Britain’s future as a self governing state, Britain’s economy, Britain’s status as a European power, Britain’s currency and even Britain’s survivability.” Above all else, Britain sees itself as an exceptional power in Europe but not ‘of Europe.’ (Churchill 1930)

“We are with you, but not of you,” the famous quote by Winston Churchill in 1948 what unofficially stated Great Britain’s political position towards Europe. Great Britain has been an awkward partner in Europe for a long time. Non-willingness to be described as a part of Europe, the refusal to join European Coal and Steel Community in 1951 (predecessor of the European Community and European Union), the willingness to go ‘only wider, but not deeper’ in case of European Union expansion, and the fear of losing her national identity and becoming a

The roots of the European Union can be traced back to the early 1950’s when a small number of countries made a decision to join together as a way to resolve any potential conflict nurture economic growth and common values across the continent. There was a desire to promote common values and membership was opened to all European countries. Since the inception the number of members has grown from a founding six countries to what we now know as the modern day EU with a current total of 28 countries with a further 8 countries under application review. In 1992, what was then a group of twelve countries, joined together to form the Customs Community Code which was eventually introduced in January 1993. The code effectively merged the individual customs regulations in to a single customs union.

The European Union is a political community constituted as an international organization whose aim is to promote integration and a common government of the European people and countries. According to the Article 3 of the European Union Treaty, Union’s aim is to promote peace, its values and the well-being of its peoples. It is based on the values of freedom, democracy, equality, law enforcement and respect for human rights and dignity.