GEOGRAPHY
The European Union
*In the 20th century, Europe has not been unified, as it once was, by a
common religion, a common culture, or a dominant empire. However,
after World War II, many European leaders saw a need for greater
unity. As early as 1946, Winston Churchill called for the
creation of a ‘United States of Europe.’
*Today, much of Europe is joined in the European Union for three
reasons: to tie Europe together so closely it cannot start
another world war, to let Europeans trade with one another without
tariffs, and to make Europe powerful enough to compete with the USA.
*In 1951, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg (also known as
Benelux) joined with France, West Germany, and Italy to form the
European Coal and Steel Community, which placed all those countries’
coal and steel industries under joint management (in part to make sure
they were too dependent to ever go to war with each other again).
*In 1957, the six nations of the ECSC formed the European Economic
Community, which was designed to create a full customs union among its
member nations.
*Britain first began negotiating to join the EEC in 1961, but the
French President Charles De Gaulle feared this would let the USA into
Europe too freely, as he wanted to create a united Europe that could
compete with the United States. Britain was not allowed to join
the EEC until 1973. At about the same time, Ireland and Denmark
voted to join, and Norway considered it but its people rejected the
move.
*In 1981 Greece joined the EEC, and in 1986, Spain and Portugal did as
well, prompting fears that the European labour market would be flooded
by cheap labour.
*Things changed significantly after the end of the Cold War, when
Western Europe no longer had to fear the military and economic power of
the Soviet Bloc.
*In 1992, the Maastrict Treaty was signed (in Maastrict, in the
Netherlands), under which the EEC was renamed the European Community,
and made a part of the European Union, which added political
centralisation to the economic regulations and free trade rules of the
EEC.
*In 1995, Austria, Sweden, and Finland joined (and Norway again chose
not to in its 1994 referendum).
*In 2004, the EU almost doubled in size, from fifteen to twenty-five
members, as Cyprus, Malta, Slovenia, Hungary, Lithuania, Slovakia,
Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, and Latvia all joined the EU.
*Romania and Bulgaria joined the EU in 2007.
*Croatia is being considered for admission to the EU, but negotiations
were delayed by Croatian non-cooperation with the UN War Crimes
Tribunal in The Hague. Currently, Croatia is expected to join the
EU in 2009, but it may be later.
*The other Balkan nations would also like to join the EU, but only
Macedonia is currently on track to do so and no date has been set due
to disagreements with Greece.
*Ukraine also desires to join the EU, but this is not likely to happen
soon. Switzerland has even considered admission (and Norway
periodically does), but has still not joined the EU, although it is
moving towards closer integration.
*Turkey is officially under consideration for admission, which concerns
many Europeans, because it will expand the EU beyond Europe, and will
add a Moslem country to the EU (and a country that is relatively poor
by European standards, even if it is moderately well-off by worldwide
standards).
*The EU has no official capital, although many of its government
functions are performed in Brussels, and that is often regarded as its
capital city. Strasbourg, France, Luxembourg City, Frankfurt,
Germany, and The Hague in the Netherlands also have government offices
and structures.
*The EU does not have a constitution, but rather a complex series of
treaties that have created the union out of the original ECSC,
typically with each treaty amending (while recognising) earlier
ones. The EU has tried to ratify a constitution, but all member
states must agree to it, and in spring of 2005, France and the
Netherlands (two countries typically strongly in favour of European
integration) opposed it, partly out of fear that increased integration
would cause their countries to be overrun by cheap labour from Eastern
Europe (a million Polish plumbers).
*The EU has a flag, blue with a circle of 12 stars.
*The EU has its own currency, although currently only 15 member states
use it. This is the Euro (€), divided into 100 cents, and it is
one of the strongest currencies in the world. It is controlled by
the European Central Bank, located in Frankfurt, although every member
nation (as well as Monaco, San Marino, and the Vatican City) mints and
prints its own version of the bills and coins—all with a common obverse
and a national reverse.
*The nations that officially use the Euro are Austria, Belgium, Cyprus,
Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta,
the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, and Slovenia, collectively known as
the Eurozone. Other EU countries (and Andorra) must adopt the
Euro over the next few years, although Britain and Denmark are exempt
from that rule, and Sweden shows no signs of trying to follow it.
It is also accepted in some other countries in and out of the EU.
*The European Union is in some ways a federal government, and in some
ways it is a confederation. The government in Brussels runs some
things directly, especially monetary policy and agricultural subsidies,
but the member countries also run many of their own affairs.
*Its agricultural policy—subsidies called the Common Agricultural
Product—is run from Brussels (this is sometimes criticised by
non-Europeans as unfair competition against poor third world growers,
and is also resented by some rich European countries who grow tired of
supporting poor farming countries or regions, and also the fairly
wealthy nation of France—in fact, the UK receives a special rebate to
make up for the fact that it would otherwise pay so much more than it
gets in the CAP).
*The most powerful nations in the EU are France and Germany, which
overcame their ancestral hatred to try to rule Europe between them,
with Germany supplying the economic power for the EU and France
speaking for Germany, which does not want to look too assertive.
The other major nations are Italy, the UK, and Spain, as these five are
the most populous and productive of European nations.
*The EU does not have an army of its own, but it is trying to create
something like one (although not a standing army), and soon may have a
European Union Rapid Response Force of 60-80,000 troops contributed as
individual, national units from the member nations.
*If the EU as it stands today were one country, it would be the 7th
largest in the world in area, 3rd largest in population, and have the
world’s highest GDP. To many Europeans, the EU is meant to be a
counterbalance to the military, political, cultural, and economic power
of the United States, although some Europeans feel that it is doing so
at the expense of national sovereignty (or even the friendship of the
United States, which some Europeans still value, particularly the
British, who have always felt the have a special relationship with the
USA).