EU Consumer

EU Consumer

European Union

The European Union (EU) is a supranational and intergovernmental union of 25 independent, democratic member states. The European Union is the world's largest confederation of independent states, established under that name in 1992 by the Treaty on European Union (the Maastricht Treaty). However, many aspects of the Union existed before that date through a series of predecessor relationships, dating back to 1951.

The Union currently has a common single market consisting of a customs union, a single currency managed by the European Central Bank (so far adopted by 12 of the 25 member states, by 2007 13 of the 27 member states use the euro), a Common Agricultural Policy, a common trade policy, and a Common Fisheries Policy. A Common Foreign and Security Policy was also established as the second of the three pillars of the European Union. The Schengen Agreement abolished passport control for some member states, and customs checks were also abolished at many of the EU's internal borders, creating to some extent a single space of mobility for EU citizens to live, travel, work and invest.

The most important EU institutions include the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, the European Court of Justice, the European Parliament, the European Council, and the European Central Bank. The European Parliament's origins go back to the 1950s and the founding treaties, and since 1979 its members have been elected by the people they represent. Every five years elections are held in which registered EU citizens may vote.

The European Union's activities cover most areas of public policy, from economic policy to foreign affairs, defence, agriculture and trade. However, the extent of its powers differs greatly among areas. In some the EU may resemble a federation (e.g. on monetary affairs, agricultural, trade and environmental policy, economic and social policy), in others a confederation (e.g. on home affairs), and in yet others an international organisation (e.g. in foreign affairs).

Status

The members of the European Union have transferred to it considerable sovereignty, more than that of any other non-sovereign regional organisation. As has been mentioned, in certain areas the EU begins to take on the character of a federation or confederation. However, in legal terms, member states remain the masters of the Treaties, which means that the Union does not have the power to transfer additional powers from states onto itself without their agreement through further international treaties. Further, in many areas member states have given up relatively little national sovereignty, particularly in key areas of national interest such as foreign relations and defence. Because of this unique structure most simply classify the European Union as a sui generis (unique) entity and leave it at that.

On October 29, 2004, EU member state heads of government and state signed the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. This was later ratified by 13 member states. However, in most cases ratification was based on parliamentary action, rather than popular vote, and the process faltered on May 29, 2005 when French voters rejected the constitution 54.7% to 45.3%. The French rejection was followed three days later by a Dutch one, in which 61.6% of voters refused the constitution as well.

The current and future status of the European Union therefore continues to be subject of political controversy, with widely differing views both within and between member states. For example, in the United Kingdom one poll suggested that around 50% of the population are indifferent to the European Union and 20% voted for parties that wanted to withdraw from the EU in the 2004 EU elections. Public opinion in Denmark and Austria is similarly Eurosceptical. However, other countries are more in favour of European integration — soon after the Netherlands and the French voted "no" on the constitution, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg voted "yes." What the term "European integration" itself means is also the subject of much debate.

Current issues

Issues currently facing the EU cover its membership, structure, procedures and policies. They include the status and future of the constitutional treaty; enlargement to the south and east; problems of financial probity and democratic accountability; relative economic viability; revision of the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact; and the future budget and the Common Agricultural Policy.

At the December 2005 European Council, which is a semi-annual meeting of the heads of state and government of the EU member states, a decision was taken on how it should allocate the EU budget for the next seven years (2007–2013). Also, the "Financial Perspective" was defined as EU members agreed to fix the common budget to 1.045% of the European GDP. UK Prime Minister Tony Blair agreed to review the British rebate, negotiated by Margaret Thatcher in 1984, despite a promise to the contrary made to the UK Parliament. French President Jacques Chirac declared that this increase in budget will permit Europe to "finance common policies" such as the Common Agricultural Policy or the Research and Technological Development Policy. However, France's demand to lower the VAT in catering was refused.

Issues controversial during budget debates include the British rebate, France's benefits from the Common Agricultural Policy, Germany and the Netherlands' large contributions to the EU budget, reform of the European Regional Development Funds, and the question of whether the European Parliament should continue to meet once a month in Strasbourg.

Many commentators believe that these debates represent a major split between governments such as France and Germany, who call for a broader budget and a more federal union, and governments such as that of the UK, who demanded a slimmer budget with more funding transferred to science and research (and whose watchword is modernisation).

The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE), commonly referred to as the European Constitution, is an international treaty intended to create a constitution for the European Union. The failure of the constitution to win popular support in some member states (France and Netherlands) caused other countries to postpone or halt their ratification procedures, and the Constitution now has an uncertain future.Had it been ratified, the treaty would have entered into force on November 1, 2006. However, as of May 2006, Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain had ratified the constitutional treaty.The two countries due to join the European Union in 2007, Bulgaria and Romania, have already accepted the constitutional treaty too, ratifying their accession treaty.

Origins and history

Attempts have been made to construct a prehistory of Europe which supports claims of the existence of a European national identity. The Mediterranean-centred Roman Empire is perhaps not a good analogue for the European Union for a number of reasons. These two political institutions did not share the same geographical area: the Roman Empire included parts of Africa and Asia, and excluded much of Germany, all of Ireland,Scandinavia, Scotland and eastern Europe. The Roman Empire spread by the use of force, was controlled by a central state and shared few of the ideals or structures of the EU. The Frankish empire of Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire united large areas under a loose administration for hundreds of years. The 1800s customs union under Napoleon is perhaps a better comparison.

Given Europe's collections of languages, cultures and ethnic groups, these attempts usually involved military subjugation of unwilling nations, leading to instability; others have lasted hundreds of years and promulgated large spells of peace and economical and technological progress as in the Roman Empire's Pax Romana. One of the first proposals for peaceful unification through cooperation and equality of membership was made by the pacifist Victor Hugo in 1851. Following the catastrophes of the First World War and the Second World War, the impetus for the founding of (what was later to become) the European Union greatly increased, driven by the determination to rebuild Europe and to eliminate the possibility of another war. This sentiment eventually led to the formation of the European Coal and Steel Community by (West) Germany, France, Italy and the Benelux countries. This was accomplished by the Treaty of Paris, signed in April, 1951, and taking effect in July, 1952.

The first full customs union was originally known as the European Economic Community (informally called the Common Market in the UK), established by the Treaty of Rome in 1957 and implemented on 1 January 1958. This later changed to the European Community which is now the "first pillar" of the European Union created by the Maastricht treaty. The EU has evolved from a trade body into an economic and governmental partnership. As president of the Convention on the Future of Europe, the former French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing proposed to change the name of the European Union to United Europe, though this proposal was rejected.

Demographics

The European Union is a densely populated, culturally diverse union of 25 member states, constantly expanding and developing. Over the next two decades the total population of the EU25 is expected to increase by more than 13 million inhabitants, from 456.8 million on 1 January 2004 to 470.1 million in 2025. Population growth in the EU25 until 2025 will be mainly from net migration, since total deaths in the EU25 will outnumber total births from 2010. The effect of net migration will no longer outweigh the natural decrease after 2025, when the population will start to decline gradually. The population is estimated to be 449.8 million in 2050 - a decrease of more than 20 million inhabitants compared to 2025. Over the whole projection period the EU25 population will decrease by 1.5%, resulting from a 0.4% increase for the EU15 and a 11.7% decrease for the ten new Member States.

Member states and enlargement

Current member states and dates of entry

The European Union's 25 member states cover an area of 3,892,685 square kilometres (1,503,000 sq mi) and have approximately 460 million inhabitants as of December 2004. The European Union's member states if combined would represent the world's largest economy by GDP, the seventh largest territory in the world by area and the third largest by population. The EU describes itself as a "a family of democratic European countries". The member states of the European Union have land borders with 22 other nations.

On 23 July 1952 six founding members formed the European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC), which was transformed into the European Community, later renamed to European Union in waves of accession as follows:

Future enlargement and close relationships

Bulgaria and Romania are scheduled to become full members of the European Union on 1 January 2007.

Croatia is an official candidate country to join and started accession negotiations in October 2005. In June 2006, the EU officials projected that the accession of Croatia would likely happen in 2010. The closure of negotiations for all chapters of the acquis communautaire is expected in 2008 or 2009, while signing the Accession treaty would happen in the year after.

Turkey is an official candidate to join the European Union. Turkish European ambitions date back to 1963 Ankara Agreements. Turkey started preliminary negotiations on 3 October 2005. However, analysts believe 2015 is the earliest date the country can join the union because of the plethora of economic and social reforms it has to complete, and because the 2007-2013 budget takes no account of the considerable costs Turkey's accession will involve. Another issue is Turkey's geographic setting, as only 3% of its territory lies on Europe. However, the Copenhagen criteria do not impose strict geographic conditions. There are also worries about Pope Benedict XVI's view about the "European Identity", as in a cultural continent based Christianity, historically opposed by the Ottoman Empire, specially since he was designated as Pope. Lately, there have been reports on growing differences between the EU and the Turkish government,including a discontent on the side of the Turkish because they feel as though they are capitulating to the demands of the EU while receiving nothing for their efforts. The latest controversy has to do with the Cyprus situation, as the Turkish feel that's a matter of the Greek-Cypriots, who opposed the Annan plan for reunification and still demand from the Turkish the opening of ports and airports.

The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has been given official candidate status as of December 2005.

The EFTA states of Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein are members of the European Economic Area which allows them to participate in most aspects of the EU single market without acceding to the EU. Switzerland, the fourth EFTA state, rejected EEA membership in a referendum; however, it has established close ties to the EU by means of various bilateral treaties.

Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia are officially recognized as potential candidates.

Context (rationale for enlargement and future prospects)

Supporters of the European Union argue that the growth of the EU is a force for peace and democracy. They point out that the wars which were a periodic feature of the history of Western Europe have ceased since the formation of the European Economic Community (which later became the EU) in the 1950s.

Others contend that peace in Europe since World War II is the product of other causes, such as the moderating influence of the U.S. and NATO, the need for a unified response to the threat from the Soviet Union, the need for reconstruction after World War II, and a collective temporary tiring of waging war, and that the dictatorships cited came to an end for entirely different reasons.

In more recent times, the European Union has been extending its influence to the east. It has accepted several new members that were previously behind the Iron Curtain, and has plans to accept several more in the medium-term. It is hoped that in a similar fashion to the entry of Spain, Portugal and Greece in the 1980s, membership for these states will help cement economic and political stability.

As the EU continues to extend eastward, the candidate countries' accessions tend to grow more controversial. As previously explained, the EU has completed its accession negotiations with Romania and Bulgaria and set an entry date for the two countries in 2007. However, the rejection of the EU Constitution by France and the Netherlands, together with the EU's slow economic growth, have cast doubt on whether the EU will be ready to accept new, far poorer members after 2007. The prospect of large-scale economic migration from Romania and Bulgaria into the major EU economies such as the UK, Germany, Italy and France has also reared its head. These countries have only just begun to manage the major influx from the 2004 accedant member states such as Poland and the Czech Republic (especially in the UK and Germany). It is feared by these economies that they will be unable to cope with additional economic migrants which are projected to number in the hundreds of thousands from 2007 to 2010 alone. Both Romania and Bulgaria also fear that they will suffer a national 'brain drain' of their skilled and specialist workforce, similar to what the 2004 member state entrants are experiencing now.