Misplaced Pages

European Union

Article snapshot taken from Wikipedia with creative commons attribution-sharealike license. Give it a read and then ask your questions in the chat. We can research this topic together.

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Slaciner (talk | contribs) at 09:04, 26 March 2006 (→Further reading). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Revision as of 09:04, 26 March 2006 by Slaciner (talk | contribs) (→Further reading)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
European Union
Flag of the European Union
European flag
Motto: In varietate concordia
(Latin for Unity in diversity)
Anthem: Ode to Joy (orchestral)
Capital Brussels (de facto)
Member states 25 member states.
Official languages 20 official languages.
Working languages English, French, German
Presidencies
European Council Wolfgang Schüssel
Council of the EU Austria
European Commission José Manuel Durão Barroso
European Parliament Josep Borrell Fontelles
History
Europe Day 9 May, 1950
Formation as EEC
 - Signed
 - Enforced 		Treaty of Rome
 - 25 March, 1957
 - 1 January, 1958
Formation as EU
 - Signed
 - Enforced 		Maastricht Treaty
 - 7 February, 1992
 - 1 November, 1993
Statistics
Area
 - Total 		Ranked 7th
3,976,372 km²
Population
 - Total (2005)
 - Density 		Ranked 3rd
459,500,000
115.6 people/km²
GDP (PPP, 2005)
 - Total
 - per capita 		Ranked 1st
$12,329,110 Template:Fnmillion
$26,900
Other information
Currencies Euro (EUR or €)

Other currencies:
British pound (GBP or £),
Cyprus pound (CYP or C£),
Czech koruna (CZK or Kč),
Danish krone (DKK or kr),
Estonian kroon (EEK or kr),
Hungarian forint (HUF or Ft),
Latvian lats (LVL or Ls),
Lithuanian litas (LTL or Lt),
Maltese lira (MTL or Lm),
Polish złoty (PLN or zł),
Slovak koruna (SKK or Sk),
Slovene tolar (SIT),
Swedish krona (SEK or kr)

Time zone UTC 0 to +2
Internet TLD .eu
Calling codes Not standardized
Template:Fnb See other official names
Template:Fnb If counted as a single unit
Template:Fnb Used by Eurozone members and EU institutions
Template:Fnb +1 to +3 during DST; French overseas départements, UTC –4 to +4
Template:Fnb Plans for a EU-wide +3 prefix were abandoned. The European Telephony Numbering Space, +388 3 is somewhat similar. Current members' codes begin with either +3 or +4.
Template:Fnb According IMF Estimations & Reports for 2005
"EU" redirects here. For other uses, see EU (disambiguation).

The European Union (EU) is an intergovernmental and supranational union of 25 democratic countries known as member states. The European Union was 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 has today a common single market, consisting of a customs union, a single currency (the euro) managed by the European Central Bank (adopted by 12 of the 25 member states), a Common Agricultural Policy, a common trade policy, a Common Fisheries Policy, and a Common Foreign and Security Policy. Passport and customs checks were abolished at most of the EU's internal borders, creating a single space of mobility for EU citizens to live, travel, work and invest.

The most important EU institutions are the Council of the European Union, the European Commission, the European Court of Justice and the European Parliament. The European Parliament (EP) is elected by the citizens of the European Union to represent their interests. Its origins go back to the 1950s and the founding treaties, and since 1979 its members have been directly elected by the people they represent. Elections are held every five years, and every EU citizen who is registered as a voter is entitled to vote. The Parliament thus expresses the democratic will of the Union's citizens (more than 455 million people), and it represents their interests in discussions with the other EU institutions.

The European Union's activities cover all areas of public policy, from health and economic policy to foreign affairs and defence. However, the extent of its powers differs greatly between areas. Depending on the area in question, the EU may therefore resemble:

Status of the European Union

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. This unique structure means the European Union is perhaps best seen as a sui generis entity.

On October 29, 2004, EU member state heads of government and state signed the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. This has been ratified by 13 member states and is currently awaiting ratification by the other states. However, this process faltered on May 29 2005 when the majority of French voters rejected the constitution in a referendum by 54.7%. The French rejection was followed three days later by a Dutch one on June 1 when in the Netherlands 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. 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

Major issues currently facing the European Union cover its membership, structure, procedures and policies; they include the adoption, abandonment or adjustment of the new constitutional treaty, the Union's enlargement to the south and east (see below), resolving the Union's problematic fiscal and democratic accountability, revision of the rules of the Stability and Growth Pact, and the future budget and the Common Agricultural Policy.

At the December 2005 Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), which is a semi-annual meeting of EU member states' heads of state and government, EU member states decided 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 upcoming budget debates were the British rebate, France's benefits from the Common Agricultural Policy, Germany and the Netherlands' large contributions to the EU budget, and reform of the European Regional Development Funds. Many commentators have envisaged these debates to yield 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).

A 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 sates (France and Netherlands) caused other countries to postpone or halt their ratification procedures, and the Constitution now has a highly uncertain future. Had it been ratified, the treaty would have entered into force on November 1, 2006.

File:Rometreaty.jpg
Signing ceremony of the Treaty of Rome, 1957

Origins and history

Main article: History of the European Union

Attempts to unite the disparate nations of Europe precede the modern nation states; they have occurred repeatedly throughout the history of Europe. Three thousand years ago, Europe was dominated by the Celts, and then conquered and ruled by the Mediterranean centred Roman Empire. These early unions were created by force. The Frankish empire of Charlemagne and the Holy Roman Empire united large areas under a loose administration for hundreds of years. More recently the 1800s customs union under Napoleon and the 1940s conquests of Germany had only transitory existence.

Given Europe's collections of languages and cultures, these attempts usually involved military subjugation of unwilling nations, leading to instability, others have lasted hundreds of years and 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. The EU has evolved from a trade body into an economic and political partnership. For more details, please see History of the European Union. 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 but it was not adopted.

Member states and enlargement

Main article: ]

The European Union has 25 member states, an area of 3,892,685 km² and approximately 460 million EU citizens as of December 2004. If it were a country, it would be the seventh largest in the world by area and the third largest by population after China and India. The EU describes itself as a "a family of democratic European countries" , though the extent of "European" has been a matter of debate, especially in relation to the possibility of the accession of Turkey.

The European Union has land borders with 20 nations and sea borders with 31. (See countries bordering the European Union)

Map of EU member states, 2007 admissions and candidate countries
Map of EU member states, 2007 admissions and candidate countries

Since its inception with six countries, nineteen further states have joined in successive waves of enlargement:

Date Countries
23 July 1952 Belgium, France, West Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands (founding members)
1 January 1973 Denmark, Ireland, United Kingdom
1 January 1981 Greece
1 January 1986 Portugal, Spain
3 October 1990 East Germany reunites with West Germany and becomes part of the European Community
1 January 1995 Austria, Finland, Sweden
1 May 2004 Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia

Notes:

Future enlargement and close relationships

Main article: Enlargement of the EU
  • Romania and Bulgaria are scheduled to become members on 1 January 2007, provided that they meet the conditions for membership and that the Treaty of Accession for the Republic of Bulgaria and Romania is ratified by parliaments of member states. The treaty was signed by representatives of the EU Member States at the Abbaye de Neumünster in Luxembourg on 25 April 2005. As of 2005, member state parliaments are taking forward its ratification.
  • 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 due to the plethora of economic and social reforms it has to complete. Since it has been granted official candidate status, Turkey has implemented permanent policies on human rights, abolished the death penalty, granted cultural rights to its large Kurdish minority, and taken positive steps to solve the Cyprus question. However, due to its religious and cultural differences, Turkey faces strong opposition from governments of some member states, including France, Germany, Austria and Cyprus. The Greek government has supported the Turkish candidacy, while linking its progress with the resolution of the long standing Cyprus dispute. Pope Benedict XVI, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, also opposes Turkey becoming a member state, citing its cultural differences with Western Europe.
  • Republic of Macedonia has been given official candidate status as of December 2005 under the name "former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia".
  • The EFTA states of Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway are members of the European Economic Area which allows them to participate in most aspects of the EU single market without joining 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 bilateral treaties. Generally speaking, the EU would be happy if Iceland, Norway and Switzerland were to become full members (Liechtenstein poses an issue due to its small size); but the majority of the population of each of these countries opposes membership at present.

See also:

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 argue 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. They also claim that in the early 1970s, Greece, Portugal and Spain were all dictatorships, but the desire of the business communities in these three countries to be in the EU created a strong impetus for democracy there. Others argue that peace in Europe since World War II is more due to other causes, such as the need for a unified response to the threat from the Soviet Union, a 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 totally 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 enlarge eastward, the candidate countries' accessions tend to grow more controversial. As previously explained, the EU has finished accession talks with Bulgaria and Romania, and set an entry date for the two countries in 2007. However, the rejection of the EU Constitution by France and the Netherlands, and the EU's slow economic growth, have cast some doubt on whether the EU will be ready to accept new members after 2007, when Romania and Bulgaria are set to join EU (in early 2005 they signed the Accession Treaty). A further point of contention for EU members is the accession of Turkey. Accession preliminary talks between Turkey and the EU began in early October 2005. Turkey's Government, led by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has enacted many legal reforms to meet the EU's entry requirements. However, some member states, especially Austria , repudiate Turkey joining the EU, and the possible economic, immigration and cultural implications that may bring. It is also noted that the vast majority of Turkey's territory lies outside of what is commonly considered the continent of Europe, and many Europeans base their opposition of Turkish membership on the fact that Turkey only holds a small proportion (3%) of its total land area on European soil, albeit that that land area is larger than some existing EU member states.

Institutions and legal framework

EU institutions

The functioning of the European Union is supported by several institutions:

There are several financial bodies:

There are also several advisory committees to the institutions:

There are also a great number of bodies, usually set up by secondary legislation, which exist to implement particular policies. These are the agencies of the European Union. Examples are the European Environment Agency, the European Aviation Safety Agency and the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market.

Lastly, the European Ombudsman investigates complaints of maladministration by EU institutions.

Location of EU institutions

The EU has no official capital and its institutions are divided between several cities:

Legal framework

File:452px-EGKS.png
Founding members of the European Coal and Steel Community

European Union law comprises a large number of overlapping legal and institutional structures. This is a result of its being defined by successive international treaties, with each new treaty amending and supplementing earlier ones. In recent years, considerable efforts have been made to consolidate and simplify the treaties, culminating with the final draft of the Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe. If this proposed treaty is adopted, it will replace the set of overlapping treaties that form the current constitution of the EU with a single text.

The earliest EU treaty was the Treaty of Paris of 1951 (took effect in 1952) which established the European Coal and Steel Community between an original group of six European countries. This treaty has since expired, its functions taken up by subsequent treaties. On the other hand, the Treaty of Rome of 1957 is still in effect, though much amended since then, most notably by the Maastricht treaty of 1992, which first established the European Union under that name. The most recent amendments to the Treaty of Rome were agreed as part of the Treaty of Accession of the 10 new member states, which entered into force on 1 May 2004.

The EU member states have recently agreed to the text of a new constitutional treaty that, if ratified by the member states, would have become the first official constitution of the EU, replacing all previous treaties with a single document. Although accepted by many countries, this document was rejected in a French referendum with a 55% majority on May 29 and in the Dutch referendum with a 62% majority on June 1.

If the Constitutional Treaty fails to be ratified by all member states, then it might be necessary to reopen negotiations on it. Most politicians and officials agree that the current pre-Constitution structures are inefficient in the medium term for a union of 25 (and growing) member states. Senior politicians in some member states (notably France) have suggested that if only a few countries fail to ratify the Treaty, then the rest of the Union should proceed without them, possibly creating an "Avant Garde" or Inner Union of more committed member states to proceed with "an ever-deeper, ever-wider union".

See also: EU treaties and Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe

The role of the European Community within the Union

European Communities: European Community plus Euratom

The term European Communities refers collectively to two entities -- the European Economic Community (now called the European Community) and the European Atomic Energy Community (also known as Euratom) -- each founded pursuant to a separate treaty in the 1950s. A third entity, the European Coal and Steel Community, was also part of the European Communities, but ceased to exist in 2003 upon the expiration of its founding treaty. Since 1967, the European Communities have shared common institutions, specifically the Council, the European Parliament, the Commission and the Court of Justice. In 1992, the European Economic Community, which of the three original communities had the broadest scope, was renamed the "European Community" by the Treaty of Maastricht.

European Union: European Communities plus CFSP and PJCC

The European Communities are one of the three pillars of the European Union, being both the most important pillar and the only one to operate primarily through supranational institutions. The other two "pillars" – Common Foreign and Security Policy, and Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters – are looser intergovernmental groupings. Confusingly, these latter two concepts are increasingly administered by the Community (as they are built up from mere concepts to actual practice).

Effect of Constitutional Treaty

If it is ratified, the proposed new Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe would abolish the three-pillar structure and, with it, the distinction between the European Union and the European Community, bringing all the Community's activities under the auspices of the European Union and transferring the Community's legal personality to the Union. There is, however, one qualification: it appears that Euratom would remain a distinct entity governed by a separate treaty.

Evolution of the structures of the European Union.
Since the end of World War II, sovereign European countries have entered into treaties and thereby co-operated and harmonised policies (or pooled sovereignty) in an increasing number of areas, in the European integration project or the construction of Europe (French: la construction européenne). The following timeline outlines the legal inception of the European Union (EU)—the principal framework for this unification. The EU inherited many of its present responsibilities from the European Communities (EC), which were founded in the 1950s in the spirit of the Schuman Declaration.
Legend:
  S: signing
  F: entry into force
  T: termination
  E: expiry
    de facto supersession
  Rel. w/ EC/EU framework:
   de facto inside
   outside 		                  European Union (EU)   
European Communities (EC) (Pillar I)
European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or Euratom)       
/ / / European Coal and Steel Community (ECSC)   (Distr. of competences)
    European Economic Community (EEC)    
            Schengen Rules European Community (EC)
'TREVI' Justice and Home Affairs (JHA, pillar II)  
  / North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters (PJCC, pillar II)

Anglo-French alliance 		European Political Co-operation (EPC)   Common Foreign and Security Policy
(CFSP, pillar III)
Western Union (WU) / Western European Union (WEU)
     
               
      Council of Europe (CoE)
Entente Cordiale
S: 8 April 1904 		Dunkirk Treaty
S: 4 March 1947
F: 8 September 1947
E: 8 September 1997 		Brussels Treaty
S: 17 March 1948
F: 25 August 1948
T: 30 June 2011 		London and Washington treaties
S: 5 May/4 April 1949
F: 3 August/24 August 1949 		Paris treaties: ECSC and EDC
S: 18 April 1951/27 May 1952
F: 23 July 1952/—
E: 23 July 2002/— 		Protocol Modifying and
Completing the Brussels Treaty
S: 23 October 1954
F: 6 May 1955 		Rome treaties: EEC and EAEC
S: 25 March 1957
F: 1 January 1958 		WEU-CoE agreement
S: 21 October 1959
F: 1 January 1960 		Brussels (Merger) Treaty
S: 8 April 1965
F: 1 July 1967 		Davignon report
S: 27 October 1970 		European Council conclusions
S: 2 December 1975 		Single European Act (SEA)
S: 17/28 February 1986
F: 1 July 1987 		Schengen Treaty and Convention
S: 14 June 1985/19 June 1990
F: 26 March 1995 		Maastricht Treaty
S: 7 February 1992
F: 1 November 1993 		Amsterdam Treaty
S: 2 October 1997
F: 1 May 1999 		Nice Treaty
S: 26 February 2001
F: 1 February 2003 		Lisbon Treaty
S: 13 December 2007
F: 1 December 2009


  1. ^ Although not EU treaties per se, these treaties affected the development of the EU defence arm, a main part of the CFSP. The Franco-British alliance established by the Dunkirk Treaty was de facto superseded by WU. The CFSP pillar was bolstered by some of the security structures that had been established within the remit of the 1955 Modified Brussels Treaty (MBT). The Brussels Treaty was terminated in 2011, consequently dissolving the WEU, as the mutual defence clause that the Lisbon Treaty provided for EU was considered to render the WEU superfluous. The EU thus de facto superseded the WEU.
  2. Plans to establish a European Political Community (EPC) were shelved following the French failure to ratify the Treaty establishing the European Defence Community (EDC). The EPC would have combined the ECSC and the EDC.
  3. The European Communities obtained common institutions and a shared legal personality (i.e. ability to e.g. sign treaties in their own right).
  4. The treaties of Maastricht and Rome form the EU's legal basis, and are also referred to as the Treaty on European Union (TEU) and the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), respectively. They are amended by secondary treaties.
  5. Between the EU's founding in 1993 and consolidation in 2009, the union consisted of three pillars, the first of which were the European Communities. The other two pillars consisted of additional areas of cooperation that had been added to the EU's remit.
  6. The consolidation meant that the EU inherited the European Communities' legal personality and that the pillar system was abolished, resulting in the EU framework as such covering all policy areas. Executive/legislative power in each area was instead determined by a distribution of competencies between EU institutions and member states. This distribution, as well as treaty provisions for policy areas in which unanimity is required and qualified majority voting is possible, reflects the depth of EU integration as well as the EU's partly supranational and partly intergovernmental nature.

Intergovernmentalism and supranationalism

A basic tension exists within the European Union between intergovernmentalism and supranationalism. Intergovernmentalism is a method of decision-making in international organisations where power is possessed by the member states and decisions are made by unanimity. Independent appointees of the governments or elected representatives have solely advisory or implementational functions. Intergovernmentalism is used by most international organisations today.

An alternative method of decision-making in international organisations is supranationalism. In supranationalism power is held by independent appointed officials or by representatives elected by the legislatures or people of the member states. Member state governments still have power, but they must share this power with other actors. Furthermore, decisions are made by majority votes, hence it is possible for a member-state to be forced by the other member-states to implement a decision against its will.

Some forces in European Union politics favour the intergovernmental approach, while others favour the supranational path. Supporters of supranationalism argue that it allows integration to proceed at a faster pace than would otherwise be possible. Where decisions must be made by governments acting unanimously, decisions can take years to make, if they are ever made. Supporters of intergovernmentalism argue that supra-nationalism is a threat to national sovereignty, and to democracy, claiming that only national governments can possess the necessary democratic legitimacy. Intergovernmentalism is being favoured by more Eurosceptic nations such as the United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden; while more integrationist nations such as the Benelux countries, France, Germany, and Italy have tended to prefer the supranational approach.

The European Union attempts to strike a balance between the two approaches. This balance however is complex, resulting in the often labyrinthine complexity of its decision-making procedures.

Starting in March 2002, a Convention on the Future of Europe again looked at this balance, among other things, and proposed changes. These changes were discussed at an Intergovernmental Conference (IGC) in May 2004 and led to the Constitutional Treaty discussed above.

Supranationalism is closely related to the inter-governmentalist vs. neofunctionalist debate. This is a debate concerning why the process of integration has taken place at all. Intergovernmentalists argue that the process of EU integration is a result of tough bargaining between states. Neofunctionalism, on the other hand, argues that the supranational institutions themselves have been a driving force behind integration. For further information on this see the page on Neofunctionalism.

Main policies

As the changing name of the European Union (from European Economic Community to European Community to European Union) suggests, it has evolved over time from a primarily economic union to an increasingly political one. This trend is highlighted by the increasing number of policy areas that fall within EU competence: political power has tended to shift upwards from the member states to the EU.

This picture of increasing centralisation is counter-balanced by two points.

First, some member states have a domestic tradition of strong regional government. This has led to an increased focus on regional policy and the European regions. A Committee of the Regions was established as part of the Treaty of Maastricht.

Second, EU policy areas cover a number of different forms of co-operation.

The tension between EU and national (or sub-national) competence is an enduring one in the development of the European Union. (See also Intergovernmentalism vs. supranationalism (above), Euroscepticism.)

All prospective members must enact legislation in order to bring them into line with the common European Union legal framework, known as the Acquis Communautaire. (See also European Free Trade Association (EFTA), European Economic Area (EEA) and Single European Sky.) See table of states participating in some of the initiatives.

Single market

Many of the policies of the EU relate in one way or another to the development and maintenance of an effective single market. Significant efforts have been made to create harmonised standards – which are designed to bring economic benefits through creating larger, more efficient markets.

The power of the single market reaches beyond the EU borders, because to sell within the EU, it is beneficial to conform to its standards. Once a non-member country's factories, farmers and merchants conform to EU standards, much of the cost of joining the union has already been sunk. At that point, harmonising domestic laws in order to become a full member is relatively painless, and may create more wealth through eliminating the customs costs.

The single market has both internal and external aspects:

Internal policies

File:Euro banknotes.jpg
Euro banknotes


  • Free trade of goods and services among member states (an aim further extended to three of the four EFTA states by the European Economic Area, EEA)
  • A common EU competition law controlling anti-competitive activities of companies (through antitrust law and merger control) and member states (through the State Aids regime).
  • The Schengen treaty allowed removal of internal border controls and harmonisation of external controls between its member states. This excludes the UK and Ireland, which have derogations, but includes the non-EU members Iceland and Norway. Switzerland also voted via referendum in 2005 to become part of the Schengen zone.
  • Freedom for citizens of its member states to live and work anywhere within the EU with their spouses and children, provided they can support themselves (also extended to the other EEA states and Switzerland). This has led to a gross anomaly whereby family related social welfare benefits are payable by the member state where an EU citizen is employed, even where the family of the worker are resident elsewhere in the Union. Opinion on this issue (Ireland)
  • Free movement of capital between member states (and other EEA states).
  • Harmonisation of government regulations, corporations law and trademark registrations.
  • A single currency, the euro (excluding the UK, and Denmark, which have derogations). Sweden, although not having a specific opt-out clause, has not joined the ERM II, voluntarily excluding itself from the monetary union.
  • A large amount of environmental policy co-ordination throughout the Union.
  • A Common Agricultural Policy and a Common Fisheries Policy.
  • Common system of indirect taxation, the VAT, as well as common customs duties and excises on various products.
  • Funding for the development of disadvantaged regions (structural and cohesion funds).
  • Use of SI strictly put on. All other using of systems of capacity, temperature, mass, and height/depth are prohibited (Troy, Customary etc.) See "Restriction Problems" on this page

External policies

  • A common external customs tariff, and a common position in international trade negotiations.
  • Funding for programmes in candidate countries and other Eastern European countries, as well as aid to many developing countries, through its Phare and Tacis programmes.
  • The establishment of a single market European Energy Community by means of the Energy Community South East Europe Treaty.

Co-operation and harmonisation in other areas

Economy

Population and GDP per capita of EU member states and candidates.
Main article: Economy of the European Union

If considered a single unit, the European Union has the largest economy in the world with a 2004 GDP of 11,723,816 million USD using PPP equivalence. The EU economy is expected to grow further over the next decade as more countries join the union - especially considering that the new states are usually poorer than the EU average, and have the capacity to grow at a high rate. The European Council published estimations on 17 November 2005 that the economy of the European Union will have grown approximately 1.5% in 2005 (1.3% in the eurozone), comparing favorably to earlier low growth predictions 1. The European Council is hopeful that the European Union will grow further in 2006 and in 2007 (2.1% 2006 2.4% 2007). Germany, the largest economy in the EU, will grow about: 0.8% 2005, 1.2% 2006 and 1.6% 2007. After extremely slow growth, it seems that the EU will grow again in the next couple of years. 2

EU member states have agreed a programme called Agenda 2010 which aims at making "the EU the world's most dynamic and competitive economy" by 2010.

GDP/Country

Below is a table and three graphs showing, respectively, the GDP (PPP), the GDP (PPP) per capita and the GDP (nominal) per capita for the European Union and for each of its 25 member states. This can be used as a rough gauge to the relative standards of living among member states. The two future members Bulgaria and Romania (set for 1 January 2007) are also included in the table, as are the official candidates and officialy recognised potential candidates. The data set is for the year 2006 and graphs are for the year 2004. All 2006 data are projections.

GDP (PPP) per capita 2006 showing countries above and below EU average
GDP (PPP), 2004
GDP (PPP) per capita, 2004
Member Countries GDP (PPP)
millions of
int. dollars 		GDP (PPP)
per capita
int. dollars 		GDP (nominal)
per capita
int. dollars
Template:EU-List 12,918,581 28,114 29,291
 Luxembourg 32,475 70,044 74,436
 Ireland 175,140 42,082 50,252
 Denmark 195,581 36,083 46,734
 Austria 279,281 34,256 38,006
 Belgium 338,130 32,469 35,310
 Finland 168,348 32,154 36,753
 Netherlands 522,853 31,990 38,321
 United Kingdom 1,910,818 31,529 36,494
 Germany 2,609,916 31,472 33,405
 Sweden 279,733 30,751 38,776
 Italy 1,769,919 30,468 29,666
 France 1,889,713 30,152 33,894
 Spain 1,081,332 26,009 28,012
 Slovenia 46,089 23,102 19,812
 Greece 247,425 22,542 20,593
 Cyprus 17,772 21,740 21,834
 Malta 8,273 20,793 13,923
 Czech Republic 210,163 20,578 12,422
 Portugal 213,331 20,260 16,664
 Hungary 172,241 17,733 11,927
 Estonia 23,875 17,672 10,252
 Slovakia 93,432 17,266 9,252
 Lithuania 53,434 15,657 8,006
 Poland 546,543 14,329 7,942
 Latvia 32,698 14,155 7,629
Acceding Countries:
 Bulgaria 76,705 9,976 3,662
 Romania 196,263 8,873 4,054
Candidate Countries:
 Croatia 59,334 13,185 8,832
 Turkey 611,572 8,393 5,115
Template:FYROM 17,140 8,293 2,509
Potential Candidate Countries:
 Bosnia and Herzegovina 24,333 6,160 2,587
 Albania 20,481 5,707 2,635
 Serbia and Montenegro 46,393 5,549 3,488

Source: CIA World Factbook
All other figures, source: IMF web site (2006 GDP PPP, 2006 per capita GDP PPP, 2006 per capita GDP, current prices).

Comparison with other regional blocs

Template:Most Active Regional blocs

See also

Lists

Other

Further reading

  • The Economist Guide to the European Union (Profile Books 2005) ISBN 1861979304
  • Europe Recast: A History of European Union by Desmond Dinan (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004) ISBN 0333987349
  • Understanding the European Union 2nd ed by John McCormick (Palgrave Macmillan, 2002) ISBN 033394867X
  • The Institutions of the European Union edited by John Peterson, Michael Shackleton (Oxford University Press, 2002) ISBN 0198700520
  • The Government and Politics of the European Union by Neill Nugent (Palgrave Macmillan, 2002) ISBN 0333984617
  • The European Union: A Very Short Introduction by John Pinder (Oxford, 2001) ISBN
  • The United States of Europe: The New Superpower and the end of American Supremacy by T.R. Reid (Penguin Press, 2004) ISBN 1594200335
  • This Blessed Plot: Britain and Europe from Churchill to Blair by Hugo Young (Macmillan, 1998) ISBN 0333579925
  • “OLD EUROPE” VS. THE EUROPEAN
  • The European Dream: How Europe's Vision of the Future Is Quietly Eclipsing the American Dream by Jeremy Rifkin (Jeremy P. Tarcher, 2004) ISBN 1585423459
  • The Great Deception: The Secret History of the European Union by Christopher Booker, Richard North (Continuum International Publishing Group - Academi, 2003) ISBN 0826471056

External links and references

    Error: please specify at least 1 portal

European Union online

Other sites

European Union history

Enlargement and partners of the European Union
Previous enlargements
Candidates
Negotiating
Screened
Pre-negotiations
Suspended negotiations
Potential candidates
Partnerships
Eastern Partnership
Northern Dimension
Customs union
Free trade agreements
Other geographically
European countries

Template:Link FA Template:Link FA Template:Link FA Template:Link FA Template:Link FA Template:Link FA

Categories: