Strengths And Weaknesses Of The EU

In order to understand the evolvement of the Single Market of the European Union, one has to take the general background into consideration. Therefore, it is important to have a look at the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty) which gave birth to the creation of the Single Market. Having been the Common Market before the Maastricht treaty, the European Economic Community (EEC) Treaty already clarified the objective of cooperation between member states. Throughout the Single Market, those objectives should be transformed into reality.

The European Union (EU) is a unique economic and political partnership between 28 different countries. It consists of about half a billion citizens, and its combined economy represents about 20 percent of the world’s total economy (Briney, 2015). Today The European Union works as a single market, with free movement of people, goods and services from one country to another. There is a standard system of laws to be followed, and since 1999 many countries share a single currency called the Euro (Europa.eu, 2015). This essay will explore the background history of the European Union and the benefits and drawbacks of the European Union.

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

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.

     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

many nation’s political leaders. Europe was in ruins following the war, and the funding received through the Marshall Plan was crucial in the recovery of Europe. Although Integration began following the war, it truly went in motion following the signing of the Treaty of Rome.

If considering the European last decades, it is undeniable that, although it still represents one of the largest economies in the world, its role of trustworthy political integrated community has been deeply undermined because of its inability to face external shocks mostly due to its incapacity to deal with itself. It is therefore envisaged for the European Union the mandatory duty to rediscover itself and to make the world aware of its potential.

This story is enlightening due to a clear overview of how a single currency with the ultimate goal of union and growth results idealistic as differences, not only regarding cultural and social backgrounds but also political ones, makes it very difficult for the Eurozone as a whole to have the same objectives and interests.

Europe was a politically and fragile continent after the Second World War that claimed millions of lives. It is in that background, that the first steps to European integration were taken with the establishment of the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC). The celebrated Schuman Plan, laid the foundation for the first real supra-national economy in the world, that is, the ECSC. The European integration continued through the decades with the establishment of the European Economic Community (ECC) and the European Union (EU). In the recent period, the EU has come under intense questioning with the economic crisis in Europe starting 2007. The recent Brexit vote has put further questions on the future of the EU. This essay considers the process of European integration through the decades and also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of the union.

The establishment of the European Union (EU) has its foundations of integration belonging to an economic community: the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC) 1950.1 There has been a cycle of support, peaking in the 1990 at 71% and the lowest of 48% in 2004, as measured by the Eurobarometer 2. There is a clear divide between people who support the EU and Eurosceptics. Support for the EU can be

When the Eurozone was founded on January 1, 1999, it was with the intention of further integrating and strengthening the nations of Europe, both economically and politically. Until recently, it was believed that the euro provided a stable currency with low inflation and low interest rates and encouraged sound public finance. That the use of a single currency increases price transparency, eliminates currency exchange costs, oils the wheels of the European economy, facilitates international trade, and gives the European Union a more powerful voice in the world. That the size and strength Eurozone would better protect it from external economic shocks, and provide the EU’s citizens a tangible symbol of their European identity, of which they can be increasingly proud as the euro area expands and multiplies these benefits for its existing and future members (European Commission).

Europe is one of the largest economic zones in the world and has tremendous influence within global economics and politics. The European Union was created to promote peace throughout a region that has been plagued by wars for all modern and ancient history. There is growing discontent towards the Union in recent years, the United Kingdom has voted to leave the Union through efforts from and candidates in member countries have pledged to leave the Union once in power. The future of the Union is in jeopardy so the question is, whether the E.U. should remain as one or dismantle entirely, and what problems to both paths lead to? The European Union should remain because all member countries benefit economically and socially through unity, however the Union needs to agree more on policy instead of populism.

Thus, the establishment of economic and monetary union and the introduction of the single currency and the ECB have become a part of an ambitious project, which, however, has never been completed due to lack of fiscal union. Also, one of the main reasons for a permanent disproportion in development is the unwillingness of Member States to transfer their own sovereign powers for creating a single supranational independent institution for the purpose of a single economic policy. In fact, the EU combines the different types of economy, which remains independent and managed by Member States. In the context of the existence of a single supranational monetary policy pursued by an independent institution - the ECB - the state, first of all, denied the so-called monetary mechanism allowing both the strengthen of the economic reforms effects, and the reducing of their imperfections. At the same time the single monetary policy is conducted without regard to differences in levels of development and in the economy structures of the euro area countries. One of the consequences of such political incoordination was the accumulation of public debt and growing fiscal deficits within the euro area, which average index has increased from 83.8 % in 2011 to 92.0% in

With the effect of the Single European Act on 1st July 1987, the emergence of European Union (EU) as a common market has essentially been created. The benefits of this act are substantial to European firms, economies, and workers. It eliminates conflicting national regulations and trade barriers, as well as offering firms opportunity to sell their goods to all other EU members (Griffin & Pustay 2005).