Unit 10: The EU Flashcards
(24 cards)
Which candidates want membership to the EU?
-Turkey since 1999 but currently frozen
-North Macedonia since 2005
-Montenegro since 2010
-Albania since 2014
-Moldova since 2022
-Serbia since 2012
-Ukraine in 2022
-George in 2024
-Kosovo’s in 2022
-Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2022
What is the Copenhagen criteria?
Criteria that define whether a country is eligible to join the EU:
-must be a democratic country
-Human rights must be preserved
-Must be a market economy
-Accepts the obligation and intent of the EU - Schengen and the Euro
-Protection of minorities
Who are the members of the EU?
Ireland, Portugal, Spain, France, Luxembourg, Belgium, Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, Austria, Slovenia, Poland, Slovakia, Croatia, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria, Greece, Cyprus
Why was the EU created? What was created to stop this?
To end war and prevent another one from happening that the EU couldnt afford
Schuman Declaration 1950 - combined Europe politically and economally and the coal and steel industries as they were the backbone of the war which tied war production with your enemies making war less likely
Which countries joined the European coal and steel community in 1952?
Germany, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy
What did the EEC do? Why was Charles de Gaulle unhappy? What compromises were made as a result in 1965?
-EEC created 1958
-Common price for agricultural goods, a custom union and common market with no tariffs in an exchange of goods with a customs union with trade regulations being removed
-De Gaulle (french president_ thought too much power was being handed to the European Union as he was a nationalist and was upset that Britain and the US were trying to push for an EEC and were dominating France
-When de Gaulle pulled out in 1965, they agreed that any EEC country could veto a key issue, create a common agricultural policy, and decisions would require permission from the states if the issue was an important one
What were the goals of the 1967 merger treaty?
-Merged the European coal and steel community, the EEC and the European atomic community into one
-Wanted to: expand to other countries, create a fund that would help poorer regions and make it easy for goods to travel between countries - led to the founding of the European communities
Why did the UK decide to become a member of the EEC in 1973? What was the European regional development fund?
-Because of the economic benefits because many of their regions were destroyed economically after the war and had some of the poorest regions in Western Europe so it could build up their economy, they were also losing more and more colonies
-a 1975 scheme that transfered money from rich regions to poorer regions to improve infrastructure, attract investment, and create jobs (accounts for 1/3rd of EU spending) to allow the rich to get richer as the poor would be richer - led to Spain being the 5th strongest economy
What does the 1985 Schengen Agreement say? What was the single European act of 1986?
-Anyone can travel between member states without being checked at the border, saving money on border checkpoints - people can live, work and study anywhere to unit in diversity
-This act stopped smaller coutnries being discriminated against like Luxembourg - 6 year programme to solve differences between contrasts in policy - led to more jobs, more coutnries doing business
Led to creation of the name European Union
When was the modern European Union founded? What countries can join the EU according to the Copenhagen criteria?
-1992 - communism collapsed and the Berlin Wall fell, Germany was unified
-Austria, Sweden and Finland in 1995, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Malta and Cyprus joined in 2004, Romania and Bulgaria 2007, Croatia in 2013
What was the Lisbon treaty of 2007?
-It was an informal new constitution of the EU that didn’t require a referendum which led to the EU being called undemocratic because this was previously voted down in referendums by france and other countries (new currency, reducing roaming charges, replace national constitutions, single agency to deal with foreign affairs, a seat in the UN and negotiate treaties)
What are the aims of the EU?
They are written in article 3 of the EU treaty:
-Establishing a monetary union
-Establishing travel without frontiers
-Promote peace
-Single market
-Combatting discrimination
What are the ways in which the EU aim of promoting peace and the EUs values has been met?
-No EU members have gone to war with eachother
-Membership criteria helps protect aims
-Tensions low between stats
-French and German war economies tied together to go to war
-Won a Nobel peace prize
-Has helped countries which were preovuosuly under authoritarian leadership to become democratic
What are the ways in which the EU aim of promoting peace and the EUs values has not been met?
-Doesn’t promote peace in the east - war in Iraq in 1990 and 2003
-Bombings in Northern Ireland and border conflicts
-Falklands war
-Yugoslavia no longer a country
-France intervenes in African conflicts
-Diplomatic conflicts
What are the ways in which the EU aim of establishing a single European market has been met?
-Free movement of goods - member states cant impose duties and taxes on good from other EU states, removing physical and technical barriers
-Free movement of services - professional, businesses and self employed people can establish
-Free movement of people - right to seek employment in another EU state and have the same rights on housing, pay and social security
-Free movement of capital - restrictions on capital movement like buying currency removed
-Created more than 2.5 million jobs and helped increase GDP 15%
-Largest in the world, promotes trade, investment and prosperity
What are the ways in which the EU aim of establishing a single European market has not been met?
-EU regulation can be expensive for small and medium enterprises and financial services
-Indaqueate enforcement of rules limited successes
-Businesses struggle to grow internationally
-Incomplete and over regulated
-Economic growth is weak and socioeconomic inequality is growing
What are the ways in which the EU aim of promoting economic, social and territorial cohesion has been met?
-Single market prompted greater EU role in policy to reduce disparities between and within member states
-EU structural funds for the poorer regions
-Effective reasonse across Europe for Covid
-All member states ensure cohesion
-Covid 19 European recovery fund fo relief
-Security cooperation in border
-ECFR cohesion monitor - highest cohesion since 2015
What are the ways in which the EU aim of promoting economic, social and territorial cohesion has not been met?
-Criticised by the right for imposing costs on businesses and not improving competitiveness
-Criticised by the left for imposing spending cuts and not tackling inequality
-Scepticism from southern coutnries e.g. Spain and Italy and Greece went bankrupt
-northern countrues fed up with having to bail out coutnries that might be corrupt or suffer from weak rule of law
-Brexit - opposition to political union
-Central Europe with human rights struggles and post soviet rule, they lack rules of law
-Lower resilience since Covid
What are the ways in which the EU aim of establishing an economic and monetary union has been met?
-The euro can replace national currencies if they’re abolished if they meet the mastricts treaty convergence criteria like having low inflation
-ECB - European Central Bank - implement monetary policy
-EMU - economic monetary union - was joined by 11 states in 1999
-340 million people use it
-Second most traded currency in the world
-Promotes cross border economies of scale and supply chains
What are the ways in which the EU aim of establishing an economic and monetary union has not been met?
-The UK and Denmark opted out
-By 2016, 19 of the 28 eu states were in the eurozone - differentiated integration
-Less sovereignty so 4 led to people actively avoiding meeting the convergence criteria and 1 opted out (Denmark)
-Southern states have higher rates of inflation which causes stagnation of prices
-Sovereign debt crisis led to instability of the EMU
-2012 fiscal compact placed stricter rules on state budgets
What are the ways in which the EU aim of establishing an area of freedom, security and justice without internal frontiers has been met?
-Schengen regime in 1985 guarantees free movement and enables every eu citizens to travel, work and live in an eu country (2014, 268,000 eu citizens went to the UK and 98,000 left the UK)
-Asylum laws
What are the ways in which the EU aim of establishing an area of freedom, security and justice without internal frontiers has not been met?
-19 TFEU
-Free movement and immigraiton policy controversial that it was one of the reasons why the UK left the Eu
What are the ways in which the EU aim of combating discrimination and promoting equality has been met?
-EU citizenship applies to citizens of member states - can vote in European Parliament, EU citizens can move to another member state to work or reside there
-Discrimination agaisnt eu citizens on the grounds of nationality is prohibited
-Eu laws protect workers rights by limiting working hours, improving health and safety, and prohibiting discrimination in the workplace
-EU charter of fundamental rights was proclaimed in 2000 and became, entrenching he ECHR, which includes freedom, equality and right to life
What are the ways in which the EU aim of combating discrimination and promoting equality has not been met?
-Hasn’t really discussed the exclusion and discrimination faced by the Roma community
-Muslim womne cannot were headscarves due to religious dress restriction like in france which has a negative imapct on their culture
