see also: European Union - debates, current issues
EU Overview:
The European Union, abbreviated as EU, is an economic and political union of 27 European countries. The EU was established on 1 November 1993 by the Treaty on European Union (Maastricht Treaty).
The European Union is a geo-political entity covering a large portion of the European continent. It is founded upon numerous treaties and has undergone expansions that has taken it from 6 member states to 27, a majority of states in Europe. "The European Union and the United States together account for more than half of global gross domestic product. How the two interact and cooperate is thus a matter of global significance. Of particular importance will be the U.S. relationship with Germany, since the German economy drives the Continental dynamic." Stratfor.com
"In 1957, six European countries (Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) formed the European Economic Community, which has grown and now includes most of Europe, and has been renamed the "European Union". The two major areas of importance for business are the effects on trade policy, and the effects on agricultural policy . For international trade, the effect was good in that it lowered tariffs between countries (creating a customs union). With respect to agriculture, the effects were not so good, in that the result was a massive export subsidy program (see common agricultural policy)"
Key Issues:
- France may be "open to an alliance of sovereign European states, but not to the creation of a federation in which France would be a province" Read more: France's Strategy | Stratfor
Objectives of the EU
1. Peace - see discussion here: peace through trade - interdependence
2. Democratic welfare state - designed to improve economic justice through various social safety nets
3. European Unity - symbolized by the creation of the EURO
Quotes:
"The European Union functions best in crisis, and the political will to preserve the eurozone should not be underestimated." Peterson Institute of International Economics
The EU: a PEACE project:
- "the EU is first and foremost a peace-building project," Austria's commissioner for regional affairs, Johannes Hahn
Two competing "peace" theories for Europe:
- Trade for peace
- UK, US - "Anglo-Saxon" model
- Free trade zone is not just "enough", but any more is "not desirable"
- favored less political integration, more free trade
- Think NAFTA - free trade zone, but NOT a political integration of US & Mexico - no single market, no dreams of single currency, no free movement of people (wall along border)
- Integration for peace
- France, Germany, BENELUX - "continental model"
- Free trade alone is not enough to ensure peace on the continent (not after experience of 3 major wars in 60 years
- Need more
- Political integration in addition to "single market" (free trade) is necessary to ensure peace
- Result of this line of thinking?: Commission, European Parliament -- push for more supra-national (less inter-governmental) organization of Europe
- Think European Union - more than just a free trade zone - includes dream of single market, single currency, free movement of people, goods, service, and capital.
see more on our page here: peace through trade - interdependence
Table of Contents:
Video overview of the EU
Links - related pages from GloboTrends
see also:
Political:
Education:
Business
Regulations
Finance & Economics
Politics & History
Cultural
Development
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Course - Introduction to the EU
see: course: Introduction to the European Union
Module 1: Background
- The lessons of European history
- The evolution of European integration
- The impact of the 2008-2009 global economic crisis on the European Union
- European Union Institutions and political framework: including The European Commission, The Council of Ministers, The European Council, The European Parliament, The European Court of Justice
- European Union Treaties: including The Treaty of Paris, The Treaty of Rome, The Single European Act, The Maastricht treaty, Amsterdam Treaty, Nice Treaty, the (failed) Constitutional treaty, and the Lisbon Treaty
- The costs and benefits of European integration
- History of European Union enlargement; ECSC 1952, the original six, First enlargement 1973, Second enlargement 1981-86, Third enlargement 1995, Fourth enlargement 2007-07, future enlargement issues
- Characteristics and impact of the Single Market Program
- The changing membership of the EU
- The growing importance of Eastern Europe
- The debate over Turkey’s admission to the EU
- The future of EU enlargement
Module 2: Country focus
- EU understanding
- Countries we will visit:
- Other countries to discus:
Module 3: Culture & Society focus
Module 4: Economics and Business focus
EU News -
From EU Observer:
- Headline News
- Political Affairs
- Foreign Affairs
- Economic Affairs
- Social Affairs
- Justice & Home Affairs
- Defence
tweets followed by GloboTrends
More from GloboTrends
Intro to the EU - key points:
Defining the European Union: what is it?
- A country?
- International organization?
- inter-governmental?
- super-national?
The EU is NOT the same as Europe. Europe is antique. The EU is new. Europe is geographical. The EU is political (and economical). Europe includes all countries. The EU is a smaller subset of countries.
Make sure you are aware:
Switzerland is NOT a member of the EU (even though it's right in the middle of Europe, and even though Switzerland is one of the two biggest international financial areas in Europe - the other being London, UK (which is not in the Euro zone). In addition to being one of the major financial centers in Europe, Switzerland also has:
- Two of Europe's biggest drug stocks (Novartis, Roche)
- Two huge banks: Credit Suisse and UBS
- Two of the world's biggest insurers: Swiss Re, Zurich Financial Services
- The worlds biggest food company: Nestle
And, it is NOT apart of the EU!
Consider this: "The European Union is an association-at most an alliance-and not a transnational state. There was an idea of making it such a state, but that idea failed a while ago. As an alliance, it is a system of relationships among sovereign states. They participate in it to the extent that it suits their self-interest-or fail to participate when they please. ...In the end, what we have learned is that Europe is not a country. It is a region, and in this region there are nations and these nations are comprised of people united by shared history and shared fates. The other nations of Europe may pose problems for these people, but in the end, they share neither a common moral commitment nor a common fate." source Stratfor.com. Read more here
Treaties - legal foundation for the EU
Institutions of the EU
see page:
Country guides - European Union + neighbors
Regions
country by country guides from GloboTrends
Form of Government
parliament Bicameral parliament unicameral Presidential system
Types of Government:
Legend
Map
The continental territories of the member states of the European Union, animated in order of accession. Before 1993 it was called the European Community.
Norway... "no-way" (not a member)
Norway: Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg, leader of the Norwegian Labor Party, was reelected for a second term (Christian Science Monitor) after a close contested race, dimming the prospects of Norway's joining the EU.
Game to test your knowledge about Europe:
This Traveler IQ challenge compares your geographical knowledge against the Web's First
Travel Blog's other 4,456,840 travelers who have taken this challenge as of Thursday, August 27, 2009 at 04:23PM GMT. (TravelPod is part of the
TripAdvisor Media Network)
Understanding the EU
EU Geography and Development:
Europe is the second-smallest continent on the planet but has the second-largest number of states packed into its territory. This is not a coincidence. Europe’s multitude of peninsulas, large islands and mountain chains create the geographic conditions that often allow even the weakest political authority to persist. Thus, the Montenegrins have held out against the Ottomans, just as the Irish have against the English. source: Stratfor.com
read more from GloboTrends here: European geography and economic development
Macro Trends in the European Union:
Time and demographics will not improve the situation. Europe's population has levelled off at about 500m and is rapidly ageing. By mid-century the percentage of Europe's adults who are older than 65 is projected to double. Fewer will be of military age; a smaller number will be working to support the retired.
Agriculture in Europe - government distortions
The European Union has a common agricultural policy (CAP) which subsidizes the farmers to above the world price. This has many effects on the world trade of agricultural products. Click here for more info.
EUROPE: Czech Court Hears EU Treaty
The Czech Constitutional Court has begun hearing (BBC) the legal challenge brought by seventeen Czech senators who argue that the Lisbon Treaty would infringe on Czech sovereignty.The Czech Republic is the only country that has yet to sign the treaty.
Politics:
Internal Political parties in Europe
Geopolitical issues:
International Geo-Politics:
EU as counter-weight to the US?
"There was another impulse behind the idea of Europe. Most of the European nations, individually, were regional powers at best, unable to operate globally. They were therefore weaker than the United States. Europe united would not only be able to operate globally, it would be the equal of the United States. If the nation-states of Europe were no longer great individually, Europe as a whole could be. Embedded in the idea of Europe, particularly in the Gaullist view of it, was the idea of Europe as a whole regaining its place in the world, the place it lost after two world wars.....That clearly is not going to happen. There is no European foreign and defense policy (see EU foreign policy), no European army, no European commander in chief. There is not even a common banking or budgetary policy (which cuts to the heart of today's crisis). Europe will not counterbalance the United States because, in the end, Europeans do not share a common vision of Europe, a common interest in the world or a mutual trust, much less a common conception of exactly what counterbalancing the United States would mean." source Stratfor.com. Read more here
Oil & Energy:
- see our page on Turkey
- "German, energy dependence on Russia, and was told that Germany only imports 30 percent of its energy from Russia. I had thought it was 45 percent, but still, I see 30 percent as a huge dependence. Cut that percentage off and the German economy becomes unsustainable. And that gives Russia a great deal of power. And while Russia needs the revenues from energy, it can stand a cut in revenues a lot longer than Germany and Europe can stand an energy cutoff." ... Read more: Geopolitical Journey, Part 7: Poland | STRATFOR
European Union and NATO:
"NATO provided added benefits of security with little financial commitment, allowing Europeans to concentrate on improving domestic living standards, giving Europe time and resources to craft the European Union and expansive welfare states. For the Americans, this was a small price to pay to contain the Soviets. A Soviet-dominated Europe would have combined Europe’s technology and industrial capacity with Soviet natural resources, manpower and ideology, creating a continent-sized competitor able to threaten North America." Read more: NATO's Lack of a Strategic Concept | STRATFOR
Debates about NATO:
This disagreement goes beyond the question of Afghanistan to a long-standing debate over NATO’s intended security mission. NATO was formed during the Cold War as a U.S.-dominated security alliance designed to protect the European continent from internal and external Soviet aggression. Since the end of the Cold War, however, NATO’s scope has widened, with only limited agreement among members over whether the alliance should even be dealing with the broader 21st century challenges of counterterrorism, cyberattacks, climate change and energy security. More important, NATO has pushed up against Russia’s borders with its expansion to the Baltics and talk of integrating Georgia and Ukraine, worrying some states that they may need to bear the burden of Washington’s hardball tactics against the Russians. Germany, which is dependent on Russians for energy, has no interest in restarting another Cold War. The French have more room to maneuver than the Germans in dealing with a powerful player like Russia. But the French can only work effectively with the Russians as long as Paris avoids getting (permanently) on Moscow’s bad side, something U.S.-dominated policy of trying to resurrect NATO as a major military force could bring about.
Before taking any further steps in Afghanistan, the Europeans, including those Central and Eastern Europeans who mostly take a hard-line stance against Moscow, first want to know how Obama intends to deal with the Russians. Even with the Poles going one way in trying to boost NATO security and the Germans going the other in trying to bargain with Russia, none of the European states can really move until U.S. policy toward Russia comes into focus. The last thing the Poles would want to do is to take an unflinching stance against Moscow only to have the United States cancel BMD plans, for example. Conversely, the United States is unable to formul ate a firm policy on Afghanistan or Russia until it knows where the Europeans will end up standing on NATO, their commitment to Afghanistan and their relationship with Russia. Add to this classic chicken-and-egg dilemma a financial crisis that has left Europe much worse off than the United States, and the gap between U.S. and European interests starts to look as wide as the Atlantic itself.
read more from Stratfor...http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20090309_obamas_diplomatic_offensive_and_reality_geopolitics
Business & Finance
see our page Doing business in Europe
Investing in Europe
Investment agencies:
- Austria Austrian Business Agency
- Belgium Ministry of Economic Affairs of Belgium
- Cyprus Cyprus Investment Promotion Agency
- France Invest in France Agency
- UBIFRANCE
- Germany Invest in Germany
- Greece Hellenic Center for Investment (ELKE)
- Ireland Enterprise Ireland
- IDA Ireland
- Italy ICE
- Sviluppo Italia
- Luxembourg Luxembourg Board of Economic Development
- Malta Malta Enterprise
- Netherlands Netherlands Foreign Investment Agency
- Portugal ICEP
- Invest in Portugal
- Spain Invest in Spain - INTERES
- Switzerland Location Switzerland
- United Kingdom International Business Wales
- Invest Northern Ireland
- Scottish Development International
- UK Trade & Investment
Currency
see our discussion on the Euro
Euro as a reserve currency?
Macro Man (blog) says "cannot help but wonder if the last year or so hasn't put a dent in the attraction of the euro as a store of value. After all, many FX reserve holders in Asia and the Middle East have belatedly come to realize that holding euros isn;t any good if you need dollars to defend your currency. That in and of itself would argue for a higher dollar weight than a purely markowitz approach would dictate."
Europe Exports
65% of the EU10's exports are destined for the Eurozone
Inflation
Countries & Credit Ratings:
Jan 2009:
S&P:
External Links
European History:
Summaries from Spark Notes:
The Roman Empire (60 BCE-160 CE)
The Fall of Rome (150CE-475CE)
Early Middle Ages (475-1000)
High Middle Ages (1000-1200)
Italian Renaissance (1330-1550)
The Enlightenment (1650–1800)
The Scientific Revolution (1550-1700)
the French Revolution (1789–1799)
Napoleonic Europe (1799-1815)
Europe (1815-1848)
Europe (1848-1871)
Europe (1871-1914)
The Russian Revolution (1917–1918)
World War I (1914–1919)
The Interwar Years (1919-1938)
World War II (1939–1945)
Highlights from Wikipedia;
"In 1957, six European countries (Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg) formed the European Economic Community, which has grown and now includes most of Europe, and has been renamed the "European Union". The two major areas of importance for business are the effects on trade policy, and the effects on agricultural policy . For international trade, the effect was good in that it lowered tariffs between countries (creating a customs union). With respect to agriculture, the effects were not so good, in that the result was a massive export subsidy program (see common agricultural policy)
European integration also grew in the post-World War II years. The Treaty of Rome in 1957 established the European Economic Community between six Western European states with the goal of a unified economic policy and common market.[109] In 1967 the EEC, European Coal and Steel Community and Euratom formed the European Community, which in 1993 became the European Union. The EU established a parliament, court and central bank and introduced the euro as a unified currency.[110] Beginning in the 1990s after the end of the Cold War, Eastern European countries began joining, expanding the EU to its current size of 27 European nations, and once more making Europe a major economical and political centre of power
Europe & USA comparison
There are provisions to how much debt you can issue. Spain can not simply debit and credit accounts like I wrote above. Plus, the ECB can not monetize any new EU debt via the primary markets, like the Fed can do with Treasuries.
USA states CAN run deficits, but they CANNOT finance them or borrow. They must cut expenses or tap into various reserves. The Federal gov't often bails out various states through various methods, but states CANNOT finance their deficits.
Central banks in Europe: The central banks of the eurozone nations really only have a few nominal responsibilities now...to uphold ECB mandates on a local level, issue EUR on a local level, maintain the sovereign's own reserves, help the ECB supervise local banks, and help the ECB by acting as a local clearinghouse. They are basically just around to "help out" with the ECB's duties.
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