Impact Of European Integration On The European Nations

After the bloodshed and devastation of the ww2 the unity of Europe was needed more than ever people were broken and needed hope of a better world without hatred and war. Through the actions of a few brave statesmen, who include Winston Churchill, Robert Schuman, Konrad Adenauer and Alcide de Gasperi they came to set a goal, and that was for the unification of Europe. The aims were to achieve political goals through economic cooperation and to have the industries that were destroyed and countries bankrupted from ww2, thriving once again. In 1950 Robert Schuman, with an idea originally conceived by Jean Monnet proposed that a European Coal and Steel community to be established under a common high authority. After the Second World War tensions were high between The Soviet Union and the US, the capitalists led by the US the communists by the Soviet Union, a

The European Economic Community was an organization started in 1957 by France, West Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, and Luxembourg, in post War World II torn European. This organization was a union between the Steal and Coal Community and The European Atomic Energy Community. The goal of the organization, heavily influenced by John Monnet one of its founders and National Liberation Committee member at the time, was to build a stronger cohesive Europe through collaboration and economic ties to bring mutual prosperity. This organization and its ideals developed into the well know European Union of today, that currently sits with 28 members. However, one controversial possible membership has increased in importance over the years.

The European Union (EU), since the initial foundation in 1952 as the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) and throughout periods of development, has been considered one of the most advanced forms of regional integration. It, based on numerous treaties and resolutions, has strived to promote values such as peace, cooperation or democracy, and in 2012 was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for having “contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe” (Nobel Media AB, 2012). Despite its struggle for promoting democracy, the EU itself has long experienced scholarly criticisms that it suffers the democratic deficit, from which its democratic legitimacy is undermined by observable problems in

The end of the Cold War meant change around the world, mainly in Europe. We have since seen the unification of Germany, the work of unity within other countries and possibly a balance of power. Our relations with other nations may have continued to develop or diminish but the Cold War had changed Europe’s future. Many had questioned what role the EU would have in international politics, whether the formation would succeed and what this meant for the transatlantic relationship? The US and EU relationship is a complicated one. The EU has always been seen as a loyal ally of the US but it has also been seen as one of the US’s many competitors. Witnessing the relationship change

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 the European Union. Thus, since its formation, the union has helped a lot in

The prospect of accession to the European Union, backed by European Union money and membership-driven reforms, has helped turn a dozen former communist countries from Estonia to Albania into full democracies. Since the end of the Cold War, ten of them have joined the European Union and NATO. To qualify for membership in both organisations, the new members buried old conflicts and embarked on economic reforms that made them richer. Europe as a whole has benefited because trade with the fast-growing economies of Central and Eastern Europe has made western member-states wealthier and stabilised the European Union’s borders.

Apart from the new member states reaping benefits from the newly integrated economy, incumbent members also benefited from access to a bigger internal market, a great potential supply of labour and more foreign direct investment and trade with the new members (EC 2007, EC 2009, Neueder 2003). While it has been documented that old state members also gained considerably from the enlargements, some member states reaped more benefits from others, raising concerns amongst skeptics of multi-speed economic progress that may threaten to affect the future of the EU’s economy (EC 2009, Neueder 2003). Not long after the fifth enlargement took place, the EU experienced a recession in 2009 (Mulle et al. 2013, Ross 2011) – however, instead of further worsening the economy, the entry of new members has been proven to be of a stabilizing factor in helping the EU deal with the economic downfall (EC 2007, Mulle et al. 2013). This goes to show that the accession of new states to the Commission has generally proven beneficial to the EU’s economy by presenting new economic opportunities and stabilizing it despite economic turmoil in 2009 (Mulle et al. 2013), which thus increases the prospects of a more prosperous and competitive EU in the future. Whether or not future enlargements will sustain this optimism remains to be seen.

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

When the United Kingdom (UK) officially leaves the European Union (UK) on the scheduled date, 29 March 2019, there could be widespread consequences to many infrastructural industries. Research of trade law and international relations has suggested that the UK's growth aspirations could exacerbate energy and consumption problems following the exit from the union (Wadsworth et al., 2016). There are many issues that are at stake that the two parties contributed to each other. A focus will be given to the impact that it has had on energy and consumption. Following the decision to exit the union, UK has had various challenges in trying to come up with an effective means of self-sustaining from the operations that it relied on other countries

Historically, attempts at unifying Europe can be traced back as far as 1464 when, after the fall of Constantinople, King George of Podrebady suggested that a “league of Christian Nations” should be formed (Wen, 2013). However, it was only after 1945 that the process for European integration, a process “whereby sovereign states partially relinquish, or pool, national sovereignty to maximize their relative power and interest” began (Kenealy et al., 2015). The theorization European integration started within the political subfield of International Relations (Pollack, 2001). However, the European Union is a complex and unique international organization. Are International Relations (IR) theories able to account for the origin, development and future of European integration?

Over the years as the European identity developed, it inevitably came across the issue of justice and home affairs (JHA) and to what extant it had dictation over its member states’ borders. As the European Community and later the European Union established and expanded its policies over issues such as asylum, immigration and police, judicial cooperation, many began to criticize the European Union saying it was relinquishing the sovereignty of its member states. As the mandate over justice and home affairs moved from the national level to the European level, the EU had to figure how much jurisdiction they could have over member states’ borders without imposing on the national governments or living up to its reputation as ‘Fortress Europe.’

After the Second World War ended, European politicians and citizens had a vision to make Europe’s future certain that a conflict of such magnitude would never arise again in fear of a new extreme nationalistic regime would appear once more. In 1952 progress was made by the establishment of the European coal and steel society and by 1957 the European economic union was created. Foundation for the Europe we live in now came after the treaty of Maastricht which was signed in 1993. Two decades on and the EU has become the largest political and economic union of the modern world, with a total population of over 500 million and is now the second largest economy of the world, behind only the US. First attempt for UK to become a member of the customs union was in 1961 which was unsuccessful and was vetoed, in 1963, by the French president Charles de Gaulle because he argued that the Brits did not share the same vision for European integration as the other member states. However, ten years on in 1973 the UK was successful in becoming a member along with Ireland and Denmark. Nevertheless, ever since the UK became a member, it has been a complicated and intense relationship between the UK government and main European bodies. Eurosceptics argue that things have dramatically changed in the last 40 years and the UK is no longer dependant on Europe to prosper.

The European Union is a fortress of commerce, development, groundbreaking environmental initiatives, proactive human rights champions, and embodies the new era of integration efforts in the post-modern world. Europe is the recipient of global admiration as a prime destination for travelers who seek luxury, elegance, varying cultural experiences, and immersed in ancient history. European integration has produced the almighty EU that is considered to be one of the most respected, notarized, stable and secure intergovernmental and supranational bodies in the world. The appeal of Europe has reached an all time high as increasing global instability rises in neighboring countries surrounding the EU. Immigrants, migrants,

In the last decade, Western Europe has rapidly transformed into a hub for immigration. Whether this is in relation to the Roma, or more recently Middle Eastern, African and South Asian refugees, Western Europe has been forced to adopt policies surrounding human rights, migration and asylum to manage this demand. At the same time as the European Union (EU) experienced a great influx of immigration into its territory, it has been working towards developing closer ties between member states and the people of Europe. The migration crisis has created a tension, however, between the member states. Where there needs to be a predisposition toward integration this has migrated to one of disintegration. With border crossings heavily regulated and

As secretary-general, you are in charge of the overall coherence of the Commission’s work, and therefore you are quite well placed to evaluate. So, what would you say are the achievements up to now, and what are the areas for improvement?