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) …show more content…
However, some of the smaller states, such as the UK, receive more votes than is actually justified by population size.
The European Commission is the Executive (governmental) body of the EU, initiating legislative proposals and also managing the EU’s budget (Europa, 2007). Each commission operates for a five-year period, with meetings taking place in Brussels every Wednesday. The Commission consists of a President of the Commission and twenty-eight commissioners (some vice presidents). Employees of the Commission are organised according to department (Directorates-General) and answer to a Commissioner. The Commission exists in order to represent the interests of the whole of the EU (thus arguably the whole of Europe), as opposed to individual Member States. The Commission represents the EU on a global basis and is the main participant in negotiations in areas such as trade. The appointment of Commissioners is the responsibility of the Parliament, with all having previously assumed senior positions in politics in their own country, usually within its national government. Proposals are drafted by the senior civil servant (Director-General. A proposal may be adopted if more than half of the Commissioners decide to adopt it. Once agreed, all Commissioners must give their unconditional support – similar to the collective responsibility held by the Scottish executives and the UK. The Commission works closely with both
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.
have to agree on one issue. There is also a financial cost of being a
The EU, with representatives from its 28 member states, enacts a broad set of policies and guidelines that local laws are supposed to be consistent with. Often considered
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 institutional framework of the EU has been significantly altered. The need for transparency, better democratic accountability and enhanced judicial scrutiny has led to some important improvements in the EU’s institutional make-up. There are now seven EU institutions which are listed in Article 13 of the TEU. These are : the European Parliament; the European Council; the Council; the European Commission; the Court of Justice of the European Union (formerly the ECJ); the European Central Bank; and the European Court of Auditors.
In the course of fifty years, the European Union has expanded from six countries united under economic treaties to a large collective of twenty-five sovereign nations. Maintaining the union within such a large group has grown more difficult as numerous treaties have been drafted to control the governance of the European Union. To reduce the number of treaties in the union, the convention decided to draft a Constitution, which now moves through the process of ratification in each of the sovereign nations. The Constitution works to set up a basis for the expansion of the Union and the requirements that need to be met when a country seeks entry into the Union. But with the greater controls the EU seeks to place on the
The main contribution the book is making is that the European Union can be easily understood by analysing each aspect of it. ‘The main argument of this book is that to help understand how the EU works, we should use the tools, methods and cross-systematic theories from the general study of government, politics and policy-making’ (Hix, 2005 p2). The book is split into different parts and each part assesses certain bits of the European Union, which is what this review will do. For example in one part, the focus is on the legislative branch of the European Union, the executive branch and the judicial branch. In another part the focus is on the political side of the European Union and looks at for example how the interests of citizens are represented to and throughout the European Union in addition to how democratic the
The European Union (EU) has been proactive in establishing environmental, health and safety regulations and fostering industrial exploitation of R&D on nanotechnology by bringing together stakeholders to discuss best practices for commercialization, the societal, political and psychological barriers to entrepreneurship in Europe and license arrangements between industry and R&D organizations. Several European-wide initiative have been discussed a collaborative effort to promote the R&D nanotechnology for security purposes. In 2008, eleven EU member states invested €15.5 million for emerging defensive technologies, including nanotechnologies. However, the EU’s nanotechnology R&D focuses on the growth of a diversified nanotechnology market in Europe and promotes innovations critical for both economic growth and regional defense and stability. However, German government officials emphasize the importance of international regulatory regime over domestic governance strategies to address the potential issues of nano-security. Germany does not fund the nanotechnology R&D for military applications, even for defensive purposes. In contrast to Germany, the United Kingdom has a strong sense of international security responsibility. It has been funding in military nanotechnology R&D for security, allocating approximately £1.5 million annually. In Sweden, government authorities in charge with science policy are investing €11M over five years in nanotechnology activities. Funds
The seat of the commission is in Brussels and also has an office in Luxemburg. In addition, the commission has representation in all member states and a delegation in most countries around the world. The commission consists of one commissioner from each country that is 28 commissioners in total. The commission’s president is elected by the government of member states after consultation with the European Parliament (Step4All Consortium, 2014). In addition, each member state’s government should elect commissioners. However, it is up to the parliament either to approve or refuse each commissioner’s appointment. One term of the commissioner that includes the president is 5 years. Each commissioner has a cabinet under him/her and organized
The European Union (EU) is a politico-economic partnership between 28 European countries, created in the aftermath of the Second World War. Its main purpose was to stimulate economic cooperation because it is thought that countries that trade with each other become economically interdependent, therefore conflicts are more likely to be avoided. As a result, the European Economic Community was established in 1958, originally to increase economic collaboration between six countries – France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. A large single market has been created and continues to develop towards its full potential ever since.
The missions and visions for the European Union we seek is really the big picture of the Union that we have in our mind for the future of this organization. Thus we need to come together and look out for what the picture is like and where does the overlapping occur.
European Commission : Considered as the “Guardian of the European Union”, the commission represents the interests of EU, is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the EU, initiates legislations, draws budget, is accountable for the goals set by the treaties and it can also begin conversations. With the help of the ECJ, the Commission can also take warn and take proper steps against respective states who have disobeyed the regulations, decisions or directives set by the EU. It is said to be EU’s “politically independent executive arm”. The members are 28 in number, each from each member country, being headed by the President. The President is first selected by the European Council, and then he has to pass the by majority vote in the
Location of Austria (dark green)– in Europe (green & dark grey)– in the European Union (green) – [Legend]
Formally established in 2009, the European Council is not a branch of the United Nations, but a branch of the European Union, a 28-member political and economic union based in Europe. The goal of the European Council is to define the European Union’s, or EU’s, overall political direction and priorities. It is not a legislative body of the EU and therefore does not negotiate or adopt EU laws. Alternatively, the European Council defines the EU’s policy agenda, traditionally by espousing “conclusions” during European Council meetings. These conclusions identify issues of concern and recommend actions to take in order to resolve
The European union (EU) is an economic and political partnership involving partnership of 28 European countries (Austria , belguim ,Bulgaria , Croatia ,Cyprus , Czech republic ,Denmark ,Estonia ,finland ,france ,germany ,Greece ,hungary ,Ireland ,Italy,Latvia ,Lithuania ,Luxembourg ,malta ,Netherlands ,Poland ,Portugal ,Romania ,Slovakia ,slovennia ,spain ,Sweden ,united kingdom) which began after world war 2. The main idea of the union was that countries which trade together are most likely avoid going to war with each other.