EU

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Created by
Petra K

Cards (26)

  • -            27 member States of the European Union
  • FIRST UNIONS
    -            1951, The European Coal and Steel Community
    o   Six Western European countries(Benelux, Germany, France, Italy)
    -            1957, the Treaty of Rome
    o   The European Economic Community (EEC), or ‘Common Market’.”
    -            The EU
    o   1993, the Maastricht Treaty
    o   The EU was created reflecting the evolution from a purely economic union into an organisation that shares different policy areas from climate, environment and health to external relations, security, justice and migration
  • The big enlargement: uniting east and west
    -            1989. – Fall of the Berlin Wall – end of Communism. The EU economic help begins: The Phare programme
    -            1992. – Criteria set for a country to join the EU:
    o   democracy and rule of law
    o   market economy
    o   accept the acquis
    o   communautaire (rights and obligations of the EU)
    o   ability to harmonize with and implement EU laws
  • THE ENLARGEMENT PROCESS
    -            2004 = Ten new EU members: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia
    -            2007 = Bulgaria and Romania joined
    -            2013 = Coatia joined on 1 July
    -            2020 = BREXIT
  • The largest wave of enlargement took place at the beginning of the 21st century.
    The EU powers are based on treaties.
    Some people think that integration represents danger to the independence of their countries.
    Before joining the EU, the harmonization of law is required from new member states.
    Member countries have to accept the acquis communautaire (the whole body of EU rights and obligations.
  • How is the EU governed and what are the systems of government?
    Both by:
    -            Supranational entity – in specified areas , EU institutions have authority above governments of the Member States
    And in other areas:
    -            Intergovernmental organization – cooperation is achieved by consensus of governments
    -            Representative democracy - citizens represented directly in the European Parliament
    -            Member States represented in the European Council and the Council of the EU
  • What is the EU today?
    -            a supranational entity
    -            in some areas EU institutions have executive authority
    -            an intergovernmental organization
    -           in other areas, cooperation is achieved by consensus of member countries.
  • The European Parliament
    -            voice of the people
    -            Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament
    The European Council and the Council
    -            voice of the Member States
    -            Charles Michel, President of the European Council
    The European Commission
    -            promoting the common interest
    -            Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission
  • THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT
    -            representing the people of Europe
    -            located in Strassbourg and Bruxelles
    -            Decides EU laws and budget together with the Council of Ministers
    -            Democratic supervision of all the EU’s work
  • EUROPEAN COMMISSION
    -            European Commission – promoting the common interest
    -            27 independent members, one from each EU country
    -            Proposes new legislation
    o   Executive organ
    o   Guardian of the treaties
    o   Represents the EU on the international stage
  • THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
    -            Members - government ministers from each EU country, according to the policy area to be discussed
    -            It negotiates and adopts legislative acts in most cases together with the European Parliament
  • Values that we share
    -            Freedom of press
    -            No death penalty
    -            Right to protest against the government
    -            Regular democratic elections
    -            Protection of minorities
    -            Human rights
    -            Equality...
  • The EU Charter of Fundemental Rights
    -            Biding for all the EU's activities
    -            54 articles under 6 titles :
    o   Dignity
    o   Freedom
    o   Equality
    o   Solidarity
    o   Citizen's rights
    o   Justice
  • WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR YOU?
    -            Peace and prosperity
    -            Erazmus
    -            Free roaming
    -            Travel with no passport
    -            Health insurance abroad
    -            Working abroad
  • Four freedoms of movement within the single/common market:
    -            Goods
    -            Services
    -            People
    -            Capital
  • ‘the Schengen Area’
    -            No police or customs checks at borders between most EU countries (22 EU members + 4 non-EU countries –Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein)
    -            Controls strengthened at the EU’s external borders
    -            More cooperation between police from different EU countries
    -            Buy and bring back any goods for personal use when you travel between EU countries
  • Erasmus+
    -            Every year, more than 400 000 young people study or pursue personal development in other European countries with the support of the EU’s Erasmus+ programme for education, training, youth and sport.
  • HOW DOES THE EU HELP THE ECONOMY?
    -            THE EURO – a single currency for Europeans
    -            BENEFITS
    o   No fluctuation risk and foreign exchange cost
    o   More choice and stable prices for consumers
    o   Closer economic cooperation between EU countries
    -            used by 20 member states (“the EUROZONE”)
    -            Along with the Eurozone, these countries make part of a MONETARY UNION
    -            Coordinated economic and fiscal policies
    -            Common monetary policy
  • The single market
    -            customs union
    -            common trade policy
    -            common agricultural policy
    -            significant reductions in the price of many products and services, including airfares and phone calls
    -            more choice for consumers
    -            2.8 million new jobs
  • EASIER TO DEAL WITH PROBLEMS TOGETHER
    -            2008: Worldwide financial crisis starts in the United States.
    -            Coordinated response from European leaders
    -            European Stability Mechanism: fund to help countries in extraordinary economic difficulties
    -            Banking Union: EU-wide supervision of banks and a mechanism to close down failing banks
    -            European Semester: annual procedure to coordinate public budgets
    -            THE EU COVID response
  • And internationally…..
    -            The EU – an important political and economic bloc (compared to the US and China)
    -            Being a member of such an influential bloc provides benefits instead of negotiating individually
  • The EU Challanges
    • Feeling that Member States tend to lose their sovereignty (independence) in the integration process – consequence is a rise of nationalist and populist parties
    • Introducing the Euro, Member States need to adjust their monetary and fiscal policies to each other, thus, smaller economies may lose some of their economic independence
    • Migration from poorer to richer countries – make services and goods cheaper but puts pressure on job markets by increasing unemployment figures
  • The EU Challanges
    -            Immigration from the developing and under-developed countries from other continents
    -            Ordinary citizens may feel that they have a too little say in the decision-making processes and that it lacks even more transparency
  • DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGES
    -            Aging population
    o   people live longer, a growing number of those who receive pensions and fewer babies are born
  • The European Green Deal
    -            CLIMATE CHANGES
    -            An issue that needs to be tackled in order to avoid the dramatic consequences of higher average temperature, which could make certain areas of the globe uninhabitable, stop food production and access to water
    -            The Green Deal aims to make Europe the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050, cut pollution and support clean industries
    The Green Deal costs
    -            25% of the total budget is planned for spending on climate action
  • Fill in
    A) European council
    B) European Commission